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It was only after meeting Serena that he had started living again. She had been his bright, shining light—his salvation. Unfortunately, he’d put her so high up on a pedestal that when the least little thing had happened, like her not telling him that Hawke was alive, he’d blown it entirely out of proportion. All that pain he’d buried had erupted like a geyser, and he’d thrown all of it at her.

“Serena said she’s forgiven me. I don’t know how that’s possible,” he whispered.

Hawke gave a humorless laugh. “I’ve done a lot of dumb-assed things in my lifetime, including accusing my wife of trying to kill me. She forgave me. Serena loves you. Sometimes that’s all it takes.”

That might be so. Serena was that good and that sweet. He wasn’t sure he’d ever forgive himself, though.

A buzz sounded. Hawke pulled his phone from inside his jacket and read the screen. “Meeting is delayed a little longer. Looks like Kate’s headed here.”

“I’m sure that was a hard conversation for both Ash and Kate. Why is she on the outs with the team?”

“She knew for years where Brody, Jazz’s brother, was.”

“Wow. That’s…”

“Messed up?” Hawke said. “Yeah, we all thought so, too.”

“And to think he ended up saving my life.” He gave a disbelieving snort. “That’s a helluva note.”

“Yeah. Life’s weird.” Standing, Hawke laid a comforting hand on Sean’s shoulder. “I know you’re worried about Serena. We all are. But you also know she’s smarter than all of us combined. She’ll play their game until she gets what she wants, and then, when she’s ready, she’ll let us know, and we’ll go get her.”

When she’s ready.

And that was the crux. Serena had known she was being hunted and would likely be taken, and she had prepared for such an event. She would be giving them intel that they might not be able to get any other way. When she was ready, she would give them the heads-up that she was ready to be rescued.

What churned his gut and clawed at his insides was what might happen while she was there with that monster. Kingsley looked like a regular person, but Sean knew what lay beyond the facade. The man was a narcissistic, sadistic bastard and would lie like Satan to get what he wanted. What would Serena have to endure before she pulled the plug and requested rescue?

While the engines droned beneath her, Kate Walker sat at a table on her private jet and stared at the photograph in her hand. It had been one of the last ones taken of her and Lars before everything had been destroyed. They’d gone on an impromptu trip to the Amalfi Coast. The photo showed a tanned, deliriously happy couple so in love with life and each other that they thought nothing could destroy them. She used to tell herself that it hadn’t been arrogant for them to think that, but now she knew that wasn’t true. They’d allowed themselves to be blinded by their own contentment. When the enemy had struck, they’d been pitifully unprepared.

She and Lars had found each other later in life. She had been thirty-five and stubbornly single. She had just left her job at the FBI, jaded and raw but determined to find a new purpose in life. Lars had been fifty, a longtime widower, who, despite his wealth and experience, hadn’t been the least jaded. They had met at an art show for a mutual friend. They shouldn’t have clicked—their backgrounds were so different, so diverse. Somehow, they just had. From the first smile Lars had given her, she had been hooked.

Within a couple months of meeting, they were married, and happiness she had never known existed had been theirs. The adventures had been nonstop, the laughter and love overflowing. But it had ended abruptly, tragically, and much too soon.

Early-onset dementia had been the diagnosis. He’d been in his late fifties and in seemingly perfect health, and the very idea that her big, strong, athletic husband whose mind had been as sharp as a twenty-year-old’s could have such an awful disease was beyond comprehension. They had seen doctor after doctor, and not one had given a different diagnosis.

He hadn’t even lasted a year, and if she was grateful for anything about that awful time, she would be grateful for that. Watching him waste away to nothing had been one of the most excruciating experiences of her life.

At forty-two years old, she’d become a widow and one of the wealthiest women in the world, but also one of the most brokenhearted. Nothing would ever heal that pain. True, she had made a fulfilling life for herself, but the aching loneliness never went away. She knew it never would.

“Kate, we’ll be landing soon.”

This came from the flight attendant standing at the doorway to the cockpit. Kate could tell by the expression on the woman’s face that she had likely made that statement more than once.

“Thanks, Louise.”

She buckled her seat belt and returned the photo to her purse sitting beside her. The next few hours would not be pleasant, and while she was prepared for hostility, she was no pushover. She owned the choices she’d made. Others might have done things differently—she was far from perfect. But every single decision she’d made had been, in her mind, the right one.

Asher Drake would likely have a different opinion.

The second the plane touched down, a text from Ash appeared on Kate’s phone. When she read the terse message, she huffed out a sigh. Her emotions were close to the surface right now, and she had hoped to have a few more moments of solitude before she had to face the music. That wasn’t going to happen. Apparently, Ash was sitting in a vehicle at the private airstrip and wanted to speak with her before she even left the plane.

Even though she had known she would have to reveal everything soon, getting a call from Ash demanding to know about Lazarus and her late husband had thrown her for a loop. That information was known to only an elite few. But now the cat was out of its proverbial bag, and she had some explaining to do.

Ash hadn’t forgiven her for keeping the secret about Jazz’s brother, Brody, to herself. She couldn’t deny that his anger stung. Jules, Ash’s wife, was like a daughter to her. Their son, Josh, was her godson. And with her help, Ash had received the justice he deserved for the awful betrayals he’d endured years ago. She had naïvely believed all of those things would give her some leeway with him, but she had been wrong. He had been furious at the secrets she’d kept and hadn’t forgiven her. Now that he had learned an even more monumental secret that she hadn’t revealed, she doubted their relationship would ever recover.

Thankfully, Jules didn’t share his distrust and anger. While she had been shocked, she had quickly forgiven her. Even Jazz had eventually accepted her apology. Kate couldn’t deny the sting of hurt she’d felt when she’d learned that Jazz and Xavier had gotten married, and she hadn’t been invited to the wedding. But finally, she and Jazz had talked. Things might never be the same between them, but she knew Jazz held no grudge against her.

Not so with Ash. He no longer trusted her, and that was a blow that hurt all the way to the bone. Lars had thought the world of Ash. For him to even consider that Lars, the most wonderful, big-hearted man in the world, had been dirty not only infuriated her, but it also wounded her beyond bearing. Her husband had been the best of men.