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“Here,” a voice said.

Opening his eyes, he looked up at Liam, who was holding a glass of water out to him.

“You need to stay hydrated.”

“Thanks.” After downing the water in one long swallow, he blew out a long sigh. He would never take water for granted again.

“I’ve missed you, man,” Liam said.

More guilt hit him. Not only had he broken Serena’s heart, he had hurt his best friends. The six of them—him, Liam, Ash, Gideon, Xavier, and Hawke—had been through hell together. They had watched one another’s backs, saved one another’s lives, and would die for one another. And he had turned his back on all of that.

“I’m sorry, Liam. For so much.”

He shrugged. “I figured you had your reasons.” He glanced over his shoulder and turned back to him. “I think Ash is going to need more than an apology, though.”

Yeah, he knew he’d have to bare his soul, and it was no less than he deserved.

As if that had been his cue, Ash walked down the aisle toward him. “Jazz and Xavier are headed over to Serena’s. They’ll call us as soon as they find something.”

His gut told him that whatever they found would be the key to getting Serena back.

Settling into a seat across from him, Ash leaned forward, his expression a blend of anger and determination. “I know you feel like shit and need rest, but right now, I need answers. You ready to talk?”

Blowing out a breath, he ignored the pain that followed and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Before we get started, I have two questions. One, are you compromised in any way? And two, do you want back in?”

“Not compromised. My loyalty will always be to Option Zero. And yes, I want back in.”

“Fine. Now tell me what the hell happened. Where have you been, and why did you leave?”

It was a long, sorry story, and he had no one to blame but himself. Instead of celebrating and remembering Emma’s life and the beautiful, precious angel she had been, he’d buried the memories, trying to escape the pain, and had told no one, not even the people he trusted the most. His baby girl deserved to be celebrated for the amazing gift she had been to him. For so long, he had tried to force himself to forget, telling himself that if he didn’t think about her, it wouldn’t hurt as much. In doing that, he had not only dishonored her memory, but he had alienated the people he loved, especially his wife. That stopped right the hell now. Emma should be remembered for the sweet, sassy, amazing child that she had been.

Taking in a shaky breath, he started from the beginning, from Emma’s birth to the car accident that stole her life. He poured out everything. Both Ash’s and Liam’s eyes were filled with horror and pain. They were new fathers, and he knew they would identify with how awful losing his child had been.

“I tried to put it all behind me and thought I had. Turns out, I had a trigger I didn’t even know existed. When Hawke returned, and I found out Serena knew he was still alive and kept it from me, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It shouldn’t have. She had every right to keep it to herself. But somehow, it triggered an avalanche of emotions I wasn’t even aware existed. I felt like Serena—and you, Ash—had betrayed me. I was stupid and wrong. I’m sorry about that.”

Ash nodded, accepting his apology, then said, “And I’m sorry you felt that way and that it hit you so hard.”

Sean took a shallow breath and continued, “My stepmother recently passed away. I found out that she had, without my knowledge, believed Emma was somehow still alive. She never once told me that. Apparently, she had some dreams and then started chatting about it online.”

Both men nodded, already understanding what had happened. The sad and the lonely were the most vulnerable when it came to online catfishing.

“She ended up with someone who was sophisticated and evil enough to convince her that Emma was indeed alive and that they could rescue her.”

“For a certain sum, no doubt,” Ash said.

“Exactly. When I found out what was going on, I contacted them, pretending to be Brenda. I told them I needed a face-to-face meeting.”

Sean winced when he said the last part. Yeah, most dumbass move of his life, which was saying something.

“Wait,” Liam said, “it was the Wren Project who catfished your stepmother?”

“No. Not at first. Kingsley’s people picked up on the chatter on the dark web, recognized my name, and took over from there. I have no idea what happened to the original scammers.”

“So you went to meet these people, and they took you,” Ash said flatly.

“It was a stupid thing to do. I knew better. I was trained better. I just…” He shook his head. He had no good excuses. “I was armed, but there were a half-dozen of them. Guy in charge is named Colton Kingsley.”