After a few seconds, Georgia says quietly, “I’m sorry, you guys. I just… I haven’t said it before. But I really am.”
All eyes turn to her. Maya asks, “Why are you sorry, G?”
Georgia casts a quick glance at Clara and Lily, making sure they’re absorbed in their book before continuing. “Because of that night. If I’d convinced him no one else was home?—”
Leo puts his hand on Georgia’s arm. “No, sweetheart. Nothing that happened was your fault. Not one single thing.” His expression clouds. “If it was anyone’s fault, it was mine.”
Of all of us, I think Leo’s been taking the break-in the hardest. And it’s not the first time he’s mentioned feeling guilty about it. “I installed the system,” he told us during our last team meeting. “I should have taken precautions against something like that happening.”
But really, how could he have ever predicted thatsomeone would buy an EMP—electromagnetic pulse—device on the black market so they could use it to effectively destroy our security system?
How could any of us have predicted something like that?
This piece of garbage, wanna-be security expert, was so jealous of Blade and Arrow he decided he’d do anything to shut us down. So he bought an EMP, waited until most of us were out of town, then set it off right outside the perimeter fence, so it shorted out all our electrical systems.
That’s why the generator didn’t work. Or the phones. The blast of electromagnetic energy was powerful enough to fry everything with electrical circuits. And once that happened, it was easy for Forrester to gain access to the building. Once he got inside, all he had to do was manually lock the door. And he never expected anyone to come home early and interrupt his sinister plan.
My jaw clenches again at the thought of it. Burning down the building would be bad enough, but to lock the women inside?—
“It’s not your fault,” Nora insists. “Don’t think that for a second, Leo. I promise, none of us do.”
Jack nods. “She’s right. What happened… none of us could have imagined it.”
“If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.” Rylan’s voice is heavy with guilt. His mouth droops into a frown. “I should have stopped him. It was my job to protect everyone. And I didn’t.”
“Ry.”Charlie grabs his hand and squeezes it. “Youdidprotect us. And what you did with the—” She stops herself before adding fiercely, “Anyway. It wasn’t your fault. At all.”
“It wasn’t anyone’s fault,” Elle says firmly. “Aside from that J-E-R-K,” she spells out, so Clara and Lily don’t know what she’s saying.
Clara’s head pops up from her book. “Who’s a jerk?”
Elle’s face turns beet red. “No one, Clarabelle. I meant to spell something different.” As soon as Clara starts reading again, Elle hisses at Cole, “I thought she couldn’t spell yet.”
Cole grimaces. “I may have been spelling that word a little too often lately.”
Finn chuckles. “Nice, Cole. She’ll be spelling like a sailor in no time.”
“There’s no point in blaming ourselves for things in the past,” Nora says. She casts a look around the room, her expression pensive as she does it. “We’re all here. Safe. Happy. And Leo worked his magic to make sure nothing like that can ever happen again. So I think we should focus on that.”
“Absolutely.” Jack strokes Nora’s hair. “It’s a good day. And I don’t know about you guys, but I’m feeling pretty dam—darn happy about it.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Cole replies with a smile. “It’s Christmas Eve. We’re all here, enjoying the holiday together. That’s the most important thing.”
Clara closes her book with a thunk. “And presents? Are we having presents yet?”
Everyone looks at Maya, the unofficial coordinator of our Christmas Eve gift exchange. She laughs andsays, “I suppose, since we’re all done eating, we can do the presents now.”
“Yay!” Clara tosses aside her book. Ansel and Porter glance at it, but, determining it’s not food, they turn back to their bones. “Presents!”
Maya pulls out a Santa hat from seemingly nowhere and plops it on Cole’s head. “Okay, Santa’s helper. Go pass out the presents.”
Cole chuckles and shakes his head. “No pictures,” he grumbles good-naturedly. “The last thing I want is the other teams seeing this.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Hanna replies cheerfully. “I have it on good authority that Rafe plays Santa’s helper for his team.”
Everyone laughs at the mental image of serious, intimidating Rafe wearing a Santa hat and handing out presents.
The next few minutes are a flurry of activity, as Cole collects armfuls of gifts and doles them out. Clara and Lily tear into theirs—a toy bow and arrow for Clara and a glittery tutu for Lily.
