And Mara—
She stepped inside with him, pausing just long enough to take in the room and the men gathered there.She didn’t hesitate.Didn’t shrink.Her shoulders were squared, her expression composed, the calm of someone who had already weathered worse than whatever this meeting was going to bring.
Luca stayed where he was.
He didn’t reach for her.Didn’t guide her.He let her choose where to stand, where to sit.After everything, it mattered.But he had to admit it felt perfect when she chose to sit beside him.
Elias took position at the head of the table, standing rather than sitting, hands resting on the back of the chair as if grounding the room by sheer will.Dominic leaned against the wall near the window, arms folded, eyes on the perimeter even as his attention stayed locked on Elias.
“We’ve had a development,” Elias said.
He didn’t raise his voice.Didn’t need to.The room shifted anyway, attention snapping to him like a pulled wire.
Dominic pushed off the wall, boots scuffing softly on the floor.“Okay,” he said.“That’s vague.What kind of development?”
“I have received some information,” Elias replied.“It didn’t come through Covenant channels, but it’s good.”
Mateo’s fingers paused over the screen.“Meaning?”
Elias’s mouth curved just enough to suggest he knew exactly what they were thinking.“Meaning I know a lot of people and many of them work outside the Covenant, but have similar values.The information is solid.”
Rafael frowned.“Solid how?”
“Because it’s not tied to us,” Elias said calmly.“We have not paid for it, nor have we pressured anyone for it.They are not trying to curry favor.It’s a group who’s been right before and doesn’t benefit from it either way.”
Luca felt the room tighten as the implication landed.
Translation—someone the traitor could not influence, who didn’t need them, didn’t fear them, and didn’t profit from lying.
Luca felt the tension in the room rise.If this information was solid, then it was something that meant they needed to act sooner than later.
“We know that the traitor within the Covenant and Havelock are connected.My guess is that the traitor benefits financially from Havelock’s operations, and he steers us away from his trafficking and bullshit so as not to stop his payday.But they are planning to kill some of the women,” Elias continued, voice level, unflinching.“The ones who aren’t viable.Injured.Sick.Anyone slowing their ability to move and won’t bring in the profit they need anymore.”
“Fuck,” Luca growled.“And then they will grab other women, possibly children, to make up for it.”
The words settled like ash.
Mara’s breath caught, quiet but audible in the sudden stillness.
“And the rest of them, the ones they can sell?”she asked, her voice tightening over that last word.
“They will be moved,” Elias said.“Tonight.”
Mateo swore under his breath.Kol, seated at the far end of the table with his laptop angled toward him, spoke up, his voice tight and precise.“That accelerates the timeline significantly.”
“Yes,” Elias said.“Which means we accelerate ours.”
Luca leaned forward, palms braced on the table.“We were waiting to flush the traitor.”
“We still are,” Elias replied calmly.“But the women can’t wait for that, so we’ll simply make our move.It will mean that the traitor will know we are moving on him and his cash cow, and that will make it more difficult to find him but so be it.”
Rafael nodded once.“So, we move without confirmation of the traitor.”
“We move with intention,” Elias corrected.“The location is solid.Industrial holding site.Tertiary warehouse.Guard rotation suggests they expect time.”
“We risk spooking them,” Mateo countered.
“We risk lives if we don’t,” Elias replied.“And our code does not allow us to risk lives to save lives.”
