Chapter 31: Chapter 31



He sat behind his large desk with his hands behind his head, and a small frown etched on his brow as he listened to his second in command relate the vivid details of the events that took place a few hours ago. The truth was, he wasn't listening to a word they were saying. They were just spouting gibberish.

"We tried to extract the code from him Boss, but you know how headstrong---"

"I know." He said softly. It wasn't too loud but it was enough to shut his second in command up, along with every single living thing that was fifty feet away from him.

He chuckled.

"Where is the girl?" He asked slowly, as he picked up the knife that was lying breathtakingly on his desk and swirled it around his fingers. He had always loved knives. It has saved him one-two may times.

"She should be at her hotel. We have men on their way there now."

"Very good victor, very good. Who dropped her off last night?"

"Charles," Victor said lowly, something akin to fear flashing in his eyes. Victor wasn't known to fear anything or anyone. Except for him of course.

"And has he realised who she is? What her mission is? Or is he still oblivious to the whole situation?"

"He appears to be in love, Boss."

"What a shame. She would have made an amazing in law. Get the code from her and kill her."

"What if she wasn't successful in finding the code? Remember no one knows in what form the code was hidden. We only assumed it was a key. If she couldn't find it, what do we do?"

There was a heavy silence in the air as everyone waited for the Boss to speak. After a few excruciating seconds, he finally spoke.

"Then, we'll have no choice but to activate plan Python."

Picking up a cigar, he placed it between his lips, then signalled to one of his boys who quickly came forward with a lighter in hand and lighted the heavy stick.

At the mention of Python, Victor's eyes widened.

"Sir, do you mean to kill your son?"

"I don't have a choice now do I?" He said as a sinister smirk formed at the corner of his lips. He slowly reclined on his plush seat and took a deep drag of his cigar.

Victor didn't dare to reply. It would be useless anyway. The boss always got what he wanted. He just hoped they got the information they needed from that girl so that Charles could be left alone.

He had to relay this information to his real boss immediately. She wouldn't like it, but at least he knew she was capable of handling the situation.

There was a commotion at the door, then an angry-looking man busted into the room in large strides, a murderous look on his face as he pointed towards the boss.

"You bastard! We had a deal. I ignore your son's request to fund his company and you leave my brother alone! How could you do this?"

"Hello Rum." The boss said calmly, not shaken one bit at Rum's explosion.

"You fucking killed him!" Rum yelled as he lunched for him but Victor was quicker. He grabbed Rum around the waist and held him still.

"He refused to give me the information I needed. You know how desperate I am right now."

"I don't fucking care about your desperation! Go sort out your family issues at home. For what you have done, I'll come for your fucking empire.

There was a pause as a deep laugh erupted from the bosses throat. He took another deep drag of his cigar then said, " Rum, Rum, Rum," Clicking his tongue he continued, "You think a bunch of under-trained assassins can take down my empire?"

"Under trained assassins working for the government you mean?" Rum fired back, a smirk on his angry lips.

"What you don't know is, 'I am the government.' I have them in my fucking pocket. Who do you think funds your organization? The government? Or me?"

Without warning, he launched the knife that was in his hands at Rum. It swirled through the air and lodged itself into Rum's left thigh.

An agonizing scream pierced the air as blood tickled down Rum's thighs to the floor, realisation hitting him. Edward Harrell was the fucking Syndicate. He had always hidden under legitimate businesses and charity events. To the world, Edward was a fucking country hero. But now Rum could clearly see the real Edward. What he showed to the world wasn't real. This right here was his real identity and he had just spilt his deepest secret to him. Rum couldn't help but wonder what that meant for him.

"Next time, think twice before throwing threats around," Edward said with a smirk.

Rum looked up at Edward and stared at him as if seeing him for the first time. How deep exactly were his crimes? How corrupt exactly was he? How could he be so celebrated and yet so evil? He'll have to find that out later because right now, his biggest problem was getting out of here alive.

He whimpered as he struggled with the throbbing on his thigh, thankful for Victor's arms around his waist.

"One more thing. Your brother was first, now your little niece will be next."

"No, no, no," Rum panted in agony, shaking his head from side to side. He had to do something, he had to revenge.

"Take him away."

"Wait, please wait," Rum grunted out hoarsely as victor began to drag him out of the office. "Let me talk to her. She will never give it out to someone she doesn't trust. You'll just kill her and all your hard work would be for nothing."

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes as Edward thought about his offer. "Okay then. This will be a redemption mission for you. If you succeed, you'll be back on my good graces and all your poor decisions will be pardoned. But if you fuck us..." He left the hidden meaning of his last statement hanging in the air. Everyone knew what would happen if Rum fucked up. With a flick of his hands, Victor began dragging Rum out of the room.

As Victor shut the door behind him, he knew without a flicker of doubt that this was the worst time to be a double agent. His only hope was his big mummy. If he ever got caught, he prayed she'd be available to save him.

*******"""""*******

Annabelle Williams.

As she stared at the file before her, she couldn't believe the mess that was about to occur. Victor sat quietly beside her, giving her time to munch on the Intel she just received. He was the most trusted agent she had. Always came through when she needed him. And right now, she was still finding it hard to grasp the information he had just given her. If not for the voice recording that stood as prove between them, she would still be in doubt.

That bastard!

That devil had never understood where to draw the line. How much more pain would he have to cause her and his son before he was satisfied? That selfish fucking bastard!

When she was younger and had to live on the street to survive due to the early demise of her parents, she had dreamt of a better life, a life filled with milk and honey, the kind of life she should have enjoyed if her parents were to be alive. She had watched them get murdered while hidden inside their bedroom wardrobe. And at that time, there was nothing she could have done. She was just a kid, and the situation had been out of her control.

After their death, she had taken to the street, living a life she wouldn't have wished on her worst enemy. So when Edward had picked her up from the whore house she had been in and made her into a wife, she had been fucking grateful. He had been her knight in shining armour, her everything.

That was until she found out that he had been the one responsible for her parent's death. She discovered how he killed them because her father refused to be bribed and had ruled against one of his men in court.

After the discovery, she had sworn vengeance. And so to punish him, she stole the code of a recent mission he had been on from right under his nose by double-crossing him. The code has contained prove against every dirty politician, cop and civilian in Africa. And of course, he was number five on the list.

But that hadn't been the reason she had stolen it. Anyone in possession of that code would have access and control over African itself. Making him or her the number one crime syndicate in the continent. And that right there was the reason she stole it. To cut off his dreams as he had destroyed hers. At that time, it had felt like the perfect revenge.

When he found out what she had done, he threatened to kill her and take Charles away. But then, she told him if he did, the code could be automatically sent to the UN and the public. She also told him the code was in Charles care. It had guaranteed their safety but it had also guaranteed his hatred.

From then on out, it became a tug of war between them. She had grown her influence over time using the knowledge she had to blackmail her way through society. But Edward wasn't happy about it, so he decided to find the code behind her back. And so, Hannah was introduced.

Hannah had destroyed her son's life in a bid to find out where the code was. It had all happened under her very nose and she had been too blind to see it. By the time she realized, her boy had already been damaged beyond control. Even though Hannah hadn't succeeded, she still couldn't forgive herself for being so careless. She couldn't forgive Edward for being so heartless.

Now, he wanted to kill her son so he could guarantee his safety and power? Oh, fuck no.

She needed to find Annabelle. They could be allies. Edward had made the biggest mistake of his life by fucking over the girl. Surely, Annabelle should have enough hate in her to work with the opposition.

"Have you acquired the girl?" She asked victor. She had to act fast or else it was gonna be checkmate for her.

"No ma'am, by the time we got to her hotel, she was already gone." He answered wearyingly.

"We have to find her before he does Victor. Don't let me down."

"Yes, ma'am. I will not." Victor said and stepped down from the car.

The line has been drawn. He wanted war, and war he would get.