His expression darkened, a shadow passing over his features like a storm cloud.
‘Tis a sect that calls itself Nightshade,’ he revealed, his inflection heavy with warning. ‘Control of the flotilla in its entirety - from its resources to its security is what they seek.’
‘Fokk,’ Saba whispered.
Her late-night visitor nodded. ‘They’re collaborating with Phantom Codex, which is determined to stop the Sauvage Corporation. Codex is a covert network of elite business leaders, billionaires, cyber criminals, and rogue technologists who thrive in the darkest corners of the digital world. It has built its empire on sophisticated digital attacks, dark web extortion schemes, and complex encryption scams, manipulating the smaller houses within the fleet from the shadows. Unlike typical criminal syndicates, Codex operates with surgical precision, their operatives functioning in cells to maintain anonymity and avoid detection.’
‘Damn,’ she breathed.
‘Indeed,’ Zolan went on. ‘Nightshade and, by extension, Phantom Codex view Sauvage as a grave threat. They loathe that the Sauvage family owns a significant portion of the energy, hydrogen, and synthetic steel production and distribution within the fleet.’
‘What do they want with Mak?’ she asked, her mind racing with possibilities, each more sinister than the last.
Zolan’s gaze bore into hers. ‘Their core mission is to dismantle Sauvage Corp’s defenses and expose its secrets using espionage, sabotage, and blackmail to cripple their operations,’ he stated in a blunt growl. ‘If they win this deadly chess game,it threatens to tip the balance of power and security within the flotilla. Worse, your husband’s position as head of the Sauvage family has made him a target for assassination. They might have even been responsible for the attack -.’
He paused and flicked his eyes to the door.
Saba flinched at the tread of distinctive footsteps marching toward them.
‘Saba!’
Mak’s roar reverberated through the lodge, and panic coursed through her.
Zolan’s gaze never wavered from hers as he assessed her expression.
‘Are you scared of him or of disappointing him?’ he muttered, his eyes narrowed on her.
‘My marriage is none of your business. It would be best if you left now,’ she urged.
‘As the lady orders.’
Zolan’s lips turned up; he gave her a mock salute and strode for the lounge door, which flung open before his hand fell on the knob.
Standing in the doorway was Mak, his handsome face cold with raw, unbridled frigidness.
‘Cousin?’
His eyes locked onto Zolan, narrowing with suspicion and anger.
Enmity crackled between them like a storm about to unleash its wrath.
Without warning, Mak leaped forward, grabbed Zolan around the collar, and lifted him, snarling with rage. With unworldly one-handed power, he flung him against a wall.
Fokk.
Mak bared his diamond-tipped fangs, and they extended until they almost pressed into Zolan’s neck.
‘Forgot ‘bout your party trick,’ Zolan murmured, yet Saba caught a trace of fleeting fear on his face.
She took a shaky breath, biting back the urge to shout at Mak to leave his cousin alone.
But she dared not, lest he turn those fangs on her.
Mak railed at his kin in a hoarse, raw, unfettered roar. ‘Did you plan the hit on me on the launch deck? Which summoned Koda and left my woman unprotected so you could swoop into my house, thinking me dead?’
Zolan’s eyes narrowed, genuine worry etched on his brow. ‘Nada, I’ve had nothing to do with your troubles. Brother, while I might wish you dead, the actuality would rob me of my reason for living.’
‘It was not you?’
