Page 93 of Fearless

And she was safe, too. Away from the ravages of that soulless house. She should be feeling immense relief and peace. But she knew the screams would not cease until she came to terms with what had happened.

A knock on the door brought her head around. Jazz stuck her head inside the room. An anxious-looking Eve stood behind her. “Hey,” Jazz said. “You up for company?”

The grieving, screaming part of her wanted to turn away from her friends’ concerned eyes and cover her head with a pillow. But the wiser part of her knew she needed to surround herself with love and warmth. These two women epitomized both.

“Sure.” She sat up gingerly, unsure how her body was going to feel, and using only one leg was a bit awkward. She didn’t feel any real pain right now, but the bruises were still sore. Oddly enough, her broken ankle didn’t hurt at all. Dr. Max had wrapped and elevated it a few hours ago. She remembered him saying the break was clean and that he would come back later to fit her for a boot.

“How are you feeling?” Eve asked. She sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed a strand of hair from Serena’s face. Few were privileged to see the tender side of Eve Wells. People outside of Option Zero saw only the tough and efficient trained sniper who could put a three-hundred-pound man on the ground just as quickly with a bullet as she could with her fighting skills. But to Serena, and her other OZ family, she was both compassionate and loving.

“I’m better,” Serena said. She tried to smile but couldn’t get her mouth to move in that direction. “Just relieved to be with my family again.”

Jazz joined them on the bed, sitting on the opposite side from Eve. She took Serena’s hand and squeezed gently. “We’ve been going crazy worrying about you. Every time you sent a message, we’d gather around the table and try to read between the lines to see how you were really doing.”

Jazz was the little sister she’d never had. Seeing her healthy and glowing after the hell she’d endured last year gave her a jolt of peace she desperately needed. If Jazz could survive three gunshot wounds, along with starvation and dehydration, then she could darn well recover from her ordeal.

She continued to ignore that screaming woman in the corner of her mind, reminding her that it wasn’t a physical injury that was causing her pain. She would get through this. She had to.

“Sean’s been…” Jazz stuttered to a stop and sent a panicked look at Eve.

“Amazing,” Eve finished the sentence in her matter-of-fact way. “Once he told us what was going on—about his daughter—it was hard to stay too angry with him. We did give him a pretty hard time about how he treated you.”

That was something she and Sean would have to discuss at some point. Was he back at OZ for good? Was he ready for them to try again? She forced her mind away from those questions. Now was not the time.

“How’s it going at the processing center for Kingsley’s victims?”

“Surprisingly well.” Eve shook her head and gave a wry grin. “I don’t know why I said ‘surprisingly.’ Kate’s people are amazing. They’ve already managed to send more than a dozen hostages back to their families.”

And there was another wave of peace. Lives had been saved, families restored.

“Any word on where Kingsley might have gone?”

“Not yet,” Jazz answered. “We did get some interesting intel, though. Seems like he’s on the outs with his employers.”

Serena frowned, surprised at the news. “Because of the raid on his compound?”

“No. Brody sent us a message a few minutes ago. He said Kingsley got demoted the other day, while he was at some big WREN shindig. So he might not just be hiding from OZ.”

That was why he had returned in such a monstrously foul mood. He’d told her about Dr. Mosley’s suicide. Apparently, Kingsley’s superiors were holding him responsible for that. That’s why anger and frustration had been practically dripping from him when he’d marched into the house and murdered⁠—

She slammed the door on that thought. She couldn’t go there. Not yet. Soon, she would have no choice. Just not yet.

She cleared her throat, refocused. “Do they need my help with anyone?”

“Yes,” Eve said, “but only when you feel up to it. Everyone is being treated well, even the questionable ones. They can wait.”

“If you can get me some photos, I can go through a few of them today.”

“We’ll do that,” Jazz said. “Xavier is helping out. I’ll text him.”

Another knock sounded, and then the door opened, revealing Sean. Even now, burdened with exhaustion and sorrow, her heart flipped over, and she lost her breath. She’d had that reaction the moment she’d met him, and despite everything, that hadn’t changed.

“Okay if I come in?” he asked.

Jazz and Eve sent her a quick look, and apparently seeing something in her eyes, they both sprang to their feet. “We were just leaving,” Jazz said.

On the way to the door, Eve looked back and winked at her. “We’ll be back later.”

They disappeared in a flash, and then Sean stood before her. How many nights had she dreamed about seeing him again, healthy and whole? Emotion clogged her throat, and she gave an audible swallow.