Page 175 of Stains of Desire

Dirk continues, "What's Malin doing? Emilia should have been delivered by now. I've always had full trust in him, but—"

"He's our brother," Andre growls.

"Something is off though," Ryker quietly says.

"He helped get Millie to safety. He urged me to leave immediately for Panama to rescue Penelope. If I hadn't shown up when I did..." I shudder, thinking about William on top of her, holding a knife to her throat.

"Whatever Malin is doing, there's a reason for it," Andre insists.

"Maybe it's time to call Kalim and lift the order to back off," Blaise says.

A flock of birds caw loudly in the sky, cutting through the silence as the six of us stare at each other, trying to figure out why Malin hasn't delivered Emilia to Bermuda, and how he could have lied to us all these years about not having any siblings.

The sun may be hot, but the chill digging in my bones only grows colder. And we haven't even touched on the Global Leaders. They still have plans in the works. Several main players are dead but not all. The movement is bigger than I could ever fathom, and there are so many secrets and lies on both sides, you don't know who is involved. And Malin has been hiding things from us for years, but I don't know why.

I look in the window and see Penelope eating pancakes with Millie. Happy smiles grace both their faces. I want to put them in a bubble and protect them from anything evil, and I hate the fact I can't.

But something else torments me. I shouldn't say it, but I do. "Malin always talks about things going on behind closed doors. What if he knows way more than he's let on all these years?"

"He's our brother," Andre booms.

But when I look at the faces of my brothers, standing on the deck, no one needs to speak. Everyone is grappling with Malin's actions.

The thoughts that nag me are: What is he up to? How many other secrets does he have? And why hasn't he delivered Emilia?