Page 77 of Victorious: Part I

“Nighthawk!” Poppy races across the floor, a streak of blonde hair and boundless energy, throwing herself at Nighthawk without hesitation.

Nighthawk catches her almost in midair, a genuine smile breaking through her stoic expression for the first time. “Hummingbird,” she says softly, using Poppy’s bird name. “Look at you!” The club watches in stunned silence as Poppy hugs the woman who killed her mother.

Alpha’s face is a storm of confusion and concern, but he says nothing. However, I can tell from looking at him the racing emotions swirling inside are almost too much to contain right now.

“You’rereallyhere?” Poppy asks, pulling back to look at Nighthawk. “I thought, I mean, after what happened with Mama…” Poppy’s eyes begin to water.

Nighthawk’s face falls. “I’m so, so sorry about your mother, Hummingbird. IswearI didn’t know who she was when Javier tasked me with that mission.”

Poppy nods, wiping at her eyes. “I know. Haven explained it was a mission. It’s not your fault. As a bird, we all know the mission comes first. No matter what,right?”

The room remains silent, the club members exchanging bewildered glances.

They can’t comprehend the bond birds share—how it transcends conventional relationships.

Even in the face of death.

Alpha audibly groans and starts walking. “Let’s head upstairs,” Alpha finally states, gesturing to the Chapel. “We have a lot to discuss.”

Everyone moves to the stairs, ascending one by one. Poppy is sticking close to Nighthawk’s side. As we enter the Chapel, the brothers take their respective seats, and to my surprise, Ink grabs a spare seat for Nighthawk and gestures for her. She winks at him while I sit directly across from her on a stool with Alpha beside me in his presidential chair.

Alpha glances around the room at everyone and exhales. “Okay, I know this is a tense situation for everyone, but Nighthawk is here of her own volition to help us with Javier, seeing as she has been working closely with him for the past few years. Does anyone have any pressing issues with that other than the obvious?”

Everyone sits back in their chairs, looking extremely uncomfortable, but Loki is the first to talk. “Yeah, I think I speak for everyone here, Pres, when I say, what thehellhappened to the Chapel table? Why the fuck is it cracked like this?”

My head snaps to Alpha, his eyes meeting mine as we both try to hide our smirks. The rest of the club quickly catches on.

Loki raises his finger. “You know what, I withdraw my question immediately. I really,reallydon’t want to fucking know.” He places his hands on the table, glances down, then instantly screws up his face, quickly removing his hands. Then subtly pulls out some sanitizer making everyone else widen their eyes and remove their hands from the table too.

Alpha clears his throat. “Okay, back to business. Any pressing issues?” Alpha asks, but this time, no one says anything. So, I decide to take the lead to take some pressure off Alpha because I understand how hard it must be to even be in the same room as Nighthawk right now.

Lifting my chin, I gain her attention. “Okay, Nighthawk, start at the beginning,” I urge. “When did Javier bring you in?”

She folds her hands on the table, her posture perfect—a result of years of training. “I was on assignment in Eastern Europe when Javier contacted me directly, told me The Nest had been compromised, but I was to continue my mission as planned. When I completed it, he was waiting for me at the extraction point instead of my usual handler.”

“You didn’t question that or what happened to The Nest for it to be compromised?” Montana asks skeptically.

I interject to give clarity. “We’re not trained to question,” I explain. “We’re trained to adapt.”

Nighthawk nods in agreement. “He told me he was rebranding, that Rico had put contingencies in place. I believed him because it made sense. The Nestalwayshad backup plans. But I had absolutelyno ideaat this point what his plan was. And I didn’t need to check because I was still on mission with Javier.”

Furrowing my brows, something she says piques my interest. “Your assignment in Eastern Europe, you went there… What? Maybe four years ago?”

She tilts her head. “Maybe three and a half, give or take. Actually, from memory, I left a couple of months after Poppy was brought in.”

Poppy smiles. “You were my first trainer. You were so kind to me. Especially when I was having trouble because the other girls were stronger than me. Then you had to go on assignment, and I kept failing the tests until Blue Jay found me in my room that day. She gave me the pep talk I needed.”

Nighthawk and I both smile at Poppy. “Pretty sure Blue Jay gave me the same pep talk. She’s good like that.”

Alpha weakly smiles at me, but I continue with my train of thought. “So, if you were in Europe three and a half years ago, how long were you on mission there for before Javier called you to work for him?”

She exhales, clearly seeing where I am going with this. “I was done in Europe within two weeks. I was back in Los Angeles soon after and have been working strictly for Javier ever since. I thought it was strange having a mission go for this long. But it’s not unheard of to have extended duration duty, especially because Rico was still around at the time, and I had interactions with him. It all seemed legit. Whatever Javier needed me for, the creation of his plans was for the good of The Nest. I didn’t realize until much later that Javier had clearly taken over the entire operation and was in charge. I didn’t know where Rico was. It wasn’t my job to ask. It was my job to serve Javier. It was my job to help expand The Nest. And I did that. What Ididn’tknow was The Nest I thought I was still a part of, The Nest I thought I was helping expand, was no longer a functioning entity. And it wasn’t until I saw you in that meat packing facility that it smacked me square in the face that something wasverywrong. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Javier played me. For over three fucking years, and I wanted out of my goddamn cage.”

I sense it.

The shift in the atmosphere of the room.

How the clear hostility in everyone’s faces eases, if only a little toward her.

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