Chapter 10

The luxury yacht cut through the ocean, carrying an unstable mix of allies and captives within its steel hull.

The traumatised siblings, the female assassin, Gina, and Panyin were all scattered across different decks.

And tucked away in the master cabin, heavily guarded, was Benita.

She lay resting while Malaika's private medical team monitored her vitals.

​Eliav stayed by her bedside until the lead physician gave a reassuring nod.

A security detail informed him that the meeting room was ready and the other division chiefs were waiting.

​The yacht’s lower lounge had been converted into a tactical meeting space. The golden dimmed lighting cast a warm glow over the plush cream leather of a circular sofa. At the center sat a low, polished mahogany table.

The tension in the air was thick enough to choke on.

Nonso straightened up, eyes tracking Eliav as he marched to his seat. "How's Benita?"

Eliav settled down. "Fairly stable. The sedatives are wearing off, but she's still slipping in and out of consciousness."

Omari pursed his lips, though his head remained turned aside.

Faris was in a tailored three-piece suit despite the midnight hour. He leaned forward. "I called this briefing so we can iron out the internal details, establish exactly what we're facing, and dictate our next steps. Dare, take us through the timeline."

​Dare tapped the top of his digital tablet with a sleek black pen. "Benita and Gina went shopping at ten o'clock this morning. Their last check in included a photo to Eliav and a voicenote to Omari, both from Benita's secure device."

The men watched him silently, waiting.

He went on. "The photo was a selfie of Benita herself and Gina in what seemed to be a restaurant at the mall. The voicenote to Omari, transcribed verbatim, reads 'if there was an Eliav d!ck-riding contest and Nonso turned up as my competition. I'd genuinely be scared.'"

Faris and Eliav tried not to smile.

Nonso's jaw dropped.

Omari leaned in. "We were kinda gossiping about you, bruh. Sorry."

"Why—"

"Moving on." Dare cut in with a smirk.

His professional demeanor locked back into place as he narrated the summary of the past twelve hours, since it was confirmed the girls were unreachable, detailing the frantic grid searches up until that point.

He came to a conclusion. "Our people of interest breakdown as follows, first, Chamanea and Abraham, the civilian siblings who supposedly found Benita. Second, Omari, who neutralised ninety percent of the hostile force but hesitated on executing Hez himself."

Faris tapped his fingers on the leather arm by his side.

"Third, the female assassin, who goes by the name Quartz, explicitly tied to Hez's network. Finally, Georgina, whom Benita directly identified as the person who injected her with the memory-wiping agent. The first two targets will be handled by Faris. The primary suspects will be interrogated personally by Eliav."

Faris’s hand stopped tapping. "I object to that."

Eliav's gaze snapped to him.

"I handle all interrogations." Faris reminded. "That is my explicit mandate. No offense, Eliav, but if you step into that room, you're only going to cause permanent damage to Gina's psyche."

"She betrayed Benita."

"She was coerced under extreme duress. Treating her like a hardened cartel criminal and threatening her life isn't going to work, E."

"You're just being sentimental because you're sleeping with the girl."

The other brothers exchanged looks.

Faris didn't flinch. "My personal life has nothing to do with this. In fact, I'd counter that you're the one letting emotion dictate protocol tonight. This is my division. I handle Internal Affairs because I know exactly how to extract truth without destroying the asset."

"Not when your judgement is clouded, Faris," Eliav said. He leaned over, firing in a low tone. "Have you put into consideration she is a highly placed honey pot?"

"She's not."

"My point. You're completely compromised, Faris."

Faris let out a dry, humourless chuckle. "With all due respect, Eliav, everyone literally busted their asses tonight looking for your wife. You summoned us, the heads of the divisions, not low-level street thugs. You paused global operations and burned through millions just to clear your personal conscience. So please, do not sit there and preach professionalism to me."

Nonso raised his hands. "Guys, come on. We're on the same team here—"

Eliav ignored him, keeping his focus locked entirely on Faris. "Your argument is baseless. Even looking at this strictly from an operational standpoint, Benita is an invaluable asset to Malaika."

"Oh, so Gina is useless?"

"I didn't say that. Benita has just been with us longer. She has proven her loyalty to us time and time again."

"Yet you are bringing civillian strangers to base just because they 'helped your wife'. You might as well pull a gun on Gina right now because you're p!ssed."

"It's not your business if I do or not. As far as I'm concerned, Georgina is a high-level traitor to this organisation, and she will be broken as such until proven otherwise."

​Faris scoffed, turning his face away.

"And your blatant defiance of my direct orders right now can easily be interpreted as a conspiracy to protect her, so you will be joining the hot seat as well." Eliav looked to the other men. "Will anyone else care to trade words with me tonight?"

Silence.

​Eliav stood up, adjusting his cuffs. "Dismissed."