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His mind and will coalesced and then settled into concrete. No matter what they did to him, no matter what pain he had to endure, he would never give them what they wanted.

Resolved, Sean gave his own smug smile and said softly, “Bring it.”

Chapter Eight

OZ Headquarters

Montana

Serena stifled a yawn as she closed her office door behind her. She didn’t move until she heard the satisfying click of the lock. It was just a little before midnight, and though most of OZ had gone home hours ago, a skeleton crew always worked through the night. Evil never stopped, so neither did Option Zero.

As she made her way down the hallway, she inhaled the delightfully delicate scent of lilacs. The environment her people worked in was almost as important to her as their safety. The intel offices were located below ground, beneath the main house. Working in secrecy didn’t mean you had to work in darkness. She had taken great pains to ensure their workplace was both pleasant and healthy. Everyone under her direction was valuable and precious to her.

Years ago, when Ash had asked Sean to work with him at Option Zero, Sean had asked her to come along, too. They had been dating for a while by then, and the idea of working with him had been a dream come true. When Ash had given her carte blanche to have her own tech team, she had been thrilled. She had never regretted saying yes. She hired her own people, vetted them, and loved each one of them like family. In return, they worked their butts off and accomplished amazing feats.

A smile lifted her lips as she thought about her newest employee. While Isabella Mercer—Belle to her friends—was barely sixteen years old, she was light-years ahead of most people in intelligence. Belle had gotten herself into trouble more than once for hacking various governmental agencies. Federal charges had been on the table when an old friend from the State Department had contacted Serena to ask if she would be interested in mentoring the young woman. Serena had known what that meant. No one wanted to put a brilliant young person in prison, but Belle needed direction and purpose. Serena had been more than happy to bring Belle into the fold.

Belle’s mother, a single mom who worked two jobs just to make ends meet, had been thrilled to have her daughter not only employed, but doing something that wasn’t going to get her put in jail. Belle was finishing high school online and worked part time for OZ. Though she was shy and awkward around most people, she and Serena had hit it off instantly.

Since secrecy and discretion were of utmost importance at OZ, Belle was given only limited information. But that hadn’t stopped her from offering some phenomenal contributions already. Serena could not wait to see what Belle could do once she found her purpose in life.

Reaching the top of the stairway, Serena stopped for a moment and considered going up to the second floor and just crashing there for the night. There were five bedrooms in the main building, and as far as she knew, all were unoccupied at the moment. She had spent many nights here, and the thought of sinking into one of the exquisite beds that felt like a cloud was almost too much of a temptation. But she couldn’t do it. She planned to take a couple of days off to finish some home projects. If she stayed here tonight, that meant she’d start the morning running behind on all the things she wanted to accomplish.

When she returned, things were going to be even busier because they would be going all out to uncover the head of the Wren Project and end their reign of terror at last. Even though she still felt like she’d barely uncovered the tip of the iceberg about them, she already knew they had caused destruction and irreparable damage to so many.

Right now, her focus was on Lazarus. Just because she had identified that he existed and seemed to be in charge didn’t mean she had been able to find him. So far, she had only a trail of bodies and small clues. When she returned from her time off, she would share what she had with both her tech team and OZ operatives.

After the assault in Francine, when they’d come after Jazz, it had been OZ’s unanimous decision to shut everything else down and focus one hundred percent of their efforts on the Wren Project. The shadow organization had tentacles and roots throughout the world. Only by giving it their all would OZ be able to destroy them forever.

Since they were all gearing up for what came next, everyone was taking some time for themselves, just like she was. Ash was spending time at home with Jules and their son, Josh. Jazz and Xavier were taking a belated honeymoon in Greece. Liam was focused on his wife, Aubrey, and their baby girl, Lily, who was only a few months old.

Eve and Gideon were taking a long overdue trip so she could meet Gideon’s brothers and sister, and Hawke was with Olivia and their daughter, Nikki, in Florida.

And Serena? A sad smile tweaked her mouth as she walked out into the dark night to her car. If Sean were here and things were back to the way they should be, they would have spent the mornings in bed, laughing and making love. In the afternoons, they’d either take a bike ride or a long hike up one of the many trails close to their cabin. Instead, she would be spending her days off doing some home projects. In the almost two months since Sean had asked her to give him time, she had not heard from him.

She had signed the divorce papers, but since she had not received a final copy of the decree, she was telling herself that was a good sign. She prayed every day that he hadn’t and wouldn’t file them. She was also practical. If he decided to go through with the divorce, she knew she would want to sell their house. They had purchased it together, but the memories were too strong and painful for her to want to stay in it alone. A couple of rooms needed a fresh coat of paint. If she could get that done, along with one or two other projects she had been putting off, she could mark those off her checklist.

Settling in the driver’s seat, she pressed the ignition switch and immediately turned the heater on high. Being a Wisconsin girl, she was used to extreme cold, but living in the mountains of Montana, she had learned that there was cold, really cold, and then there was next-level cold.

Her mind on the more pleasant thoughts of getting a good night’s rest, she turned onto the main highway toward her house. Sleeping well hadn’t been easy this past year. She usually had to work herself to exhaustion, and even then she managed only about five hours before her mind clicked back on and told her to get to work.

The snow was coming down heavier than before, and Serena flipped on her wipers, anticipating the cup of hot tea she planned to indulge in before she went to bed for the night.

Between the swooshing of the windshield wipers, she spotted red blinking lights in the distance. Squinting, she tried to make out the image through the now blinding snow. She slowed even further and was about ten yards away when she realized a large SUV was pulled over to the side of the road. A young woman stood shivering behind the vehicle, looking at a flat tire. She felt her heart turn over when she spotted a child of about five standing in the back seat.

Braking to a stop behind the SUV, she quickly pulled her phone from her pocket and then gave an angry growl when she saw she had no signal. Cell service in this area was frustratingly spotty sometimes.

She switched on her emergency flashers, put her car in park, and opened her door. If nothing else, she could take the young woman and child home with her until a tow truck could fix the tire. Changing a tire that weighed three times more than she did in the middle of a snowstorm wasn’t something she planned to attempt.

Wrapping her scarf around her neck and buckling up her coat, she opened her door and stepped onto the pavement. She quickly checked to make sure she was out of the road enough and deciding she was, she turned to the young woman, who looked equally terrified and frozen.

“Hi there. Looks like you have yourself a flat. Were you able to call for help? I can⁠—”

Darkness descended around her, and for a second, Serena could not fathom what had happened. When strong arms pulled her against a massive body, she knew in an instant that this was a setup.

Controlling her breathing, refusing to panic, Serena listened to her surroundings. There were at least two men. One was holding her, and the other was talking to the woman. She heard a harsh, female sob and then a child crying hysterically. And then she heard a voice that sent chills up her spine.

“You did good, Jessica,” a man said.