Chapter 23 - Ari

As he normally did, Benedikt lazed in the chair across from me as he looked through some paperwork, scanning through it at his leisure.

Of course, I never let him act quite so nonchalantly in front of the others, but so long as he was doing his work, I didn't mind. I was willing to make certain exceptions for my siblings if they didn't run too far with them.

"According to my numbers, we would have a better return on our investment by going with warehouse A instead of warehouse C," he murmured, turning the paper around to show me. He pointed at respective pictures. "We'd have to dump more into A initially, but the return would be far more worth the cost than the other."

Nodding, I considered it, stroking my chin absently. "What about B?"

"As far as I know, Andrei put his bid on that one. He's still finalizing the sale."

"Damn him," I mumbled. "He's always on it."

"Maybe, if you ask him nicely, he'll let you utilize some of the space."

"Nah," I said, waving off the idea. "I'd like to keep us as separate as possible. I can't have him thinking we're not capable of running our side of things on our own."

"What, you don't want to owe him any favors?"

"Of course not," I retorted, snickering. "One moment I'm asking him for the space, and the next I'm kissing his ass just to get more. You know how he can be."

Benedikt laughed to himself. "He's Mr. Charity, then conveniently needs our guys for something after."

"Exactly," I agreed, despite being on good terms with Andrei. "We're strapped for manpower as it is. between getting those new jobs ready and keeping tabs on the De Lucas."

"Speaking of, has Vivian asked about her family lately?"

Recalling the last time the topic came up, I could only think about how much of a difficult thing it was for her to talk about. We weren't able to finish our conversation about what side she would choose, but at that point, I didn't need to hear the answer. I already knew she was with me, and that wouldn't change because of her abusive brothers.

"I was the one who brought them up before. I was trying to get some more insight into them, and I didn't plan on telling her the details, but she managed to get them out of me anyway," I explained, walking him through it. "She didn't have much else to share that I didn't already know, but she did seem upset knowing they were interfering."

"Did it come as a surprise to her?"

"It seemed to. I don't think they ever stuck their necks out for her before, so it must be strange to her."

Benedikt cocked a brow. "And if they did come for her, you're certain she'd stick by you?"

Letting go of a breath, I nodded. "By now? Yes. If it happened weeks ago, I'd have my doubts."

He looked at me with scandalized interest. "Things are getting better at home, huh? I had half the mind to assume she wouldn't let you close enough to—"

"Alright, alright," I interjected, waving him off before he could cross any lines. "No more talking about my wife."

Benedikt chuckled and returned to his papers with a shit-eating grin. "All I have to say is, she must be one brave woman to get past that mean mug of yours."

"Shut up, will you?"

Before he could say anything else, shouting came from the first floor of the warehouse, and immediate gunfire volleyed back and forth, echoing all around us.

Looking at Ben in confusion as the sound continued, realization set in, and we were both on our feet in an instant.

"For fuck's sake," I muttered, drawing my pistol as we ran out of my office.

It never seemed to fail. Right when everything was operating smoothly and moving as it should, we still couldn't seem to shake the constant interruptions.

"Who do you think it is this time?" he asked as he followed behind me, focused on the path ahead.

"Doesn't matter until we stop them."

We rushed down the iron steps and hurried through the warehouse, watching as our guys flooded out the bay door. With their guns raised, they fired at the assailants, shouting their usual commands and finding their places.

Given how often it happened, it was protocol to run through the necessary drills to make sure everyone knew where to go and what the main priorities were every time something of this nature happened.

Most of the action was outside, our men aiming for several men on foot as they ran back to their vehicles waiting on the lot.

By the time Ben and I made it to the open bay doors, it seemed the outsiders had been chased off with very little force, immediately making me feel suspicious.

The assailants who managed to get away shouted at their drivers to go once they reached the armored SUVs, and they peeled away. The others were either gunned down or tried to leave on foot, too.

But as one of the cars pulled out and sped away, I recognized the man sitting in the passenger seat firing back at our security, seemingly enjoying the action far too much.

It was Dante. Vivian's brother.

Gritting my teeth, I watched as they rolled out, splitting up the moment they hit the highway.

"Send a group out to trail them!" I shouted as our guys pulled back and assessed the potential damages.

At once, several men did as I said and ran for the nearest vehicle, hopping in before chasing after them.

"What the hell was that about?" Benedikt asked, stepping out as he, too, looked around.

"It has to be Dante leading them," I said, scrubbing a hand down my face. "I saw him."

"Sure, that's likely, but why? What did that possibly accomplish?"

"I have no idea," I mumbled, walking over to where Kir was busy talking to one of our higher-ups with Ben in tow.

"What were they aiming for?" I demanded, angered by the hit itself, even if our forces defended the place easily enough.

"They snuck into one of our flatbeds. They waited until the truck came here, and they blew the back open, but as far as we can tell, they didn't take anything or anyone," Kir said dutifully, getting straight to the point. "Everything's accounted for."

At a loss, I looked around in disbelief. "Either they're trying to distract us, or they're really that dense. How many times are they going to try the same thing and keep underestimating our numbers?"

It wasn't the first time the De Luca family tried to hit our warehouse, and while the first time they managed to get a slight gain on us, they didn't accomplish anything this time. They hardly managed to take any of our men down, and they didn't take anything.

They only succeeded in getting some of their men killed, and Dante threw away any doubt that he was involved.

"Do you think they're trying to test our boundaries? Maybe they're looking for a weak point," Benedikt suggested, watching as our guys took care of the cleanup.

"There's a chance that might be their angle," I murmured, trying to connect the dots. "If they came in on one of our trucks, it's likely they're looking for an in. They got tabs on our operations and now they're trying to find a fool-proof way to ambush us."

"They're trying anything and seeing what sticks," Kir murmured.

I nodded. "That also tells me Edoardo doesn't have a hand in this. He wouldn't waste his resources poking at our defenses. Vivian's brothers don't have any experience in this game and it's showing."

Benedikt crossed his arms over his chest. "If they're inexperienced, then we'll certainly have the upper hand. They shouldn't be difficult to take care of."

"Even if they haven't been much of a threat yet, it's clear they're pulling their punches. That was the first time they attacked directly since I married Vivian, and they're getting bolder," I said, considering all angles. "They could be holding their full strength back on purpose to force our guard down. But we can't let that happen."

My brothers nodded in agreement.

"Tell Lukyan to recover the security footage and send it to me. I need to see what we're working against," I directed to Kir. "If they're using any specific explosives or schemes, we need to know."

"I'm on it," Kir said, pulling out his phone while he walked off and started talking to Luk.

"If they continue at this rate, they won't have any men left," Benedikt murmured.

"Which makes me wonder why they're so willing to dispose of their forces like that. I have the feeling they won't wait much longer to show us their real plan," I returned, aware of how that would complicate things even more.

"I'll wait for any word from the team that went out. If there's anything worth noting, I'll let you know," Benedikt said, making himself useful.

With a single nod, I began back toward the warehouse. "Make sure someone is on them at all times. We can't take our eyes off them."

Understanding what I wanted from him, Ben split off in another direction, and we both went back to work.

My blood was boiling as I went back inside, still able to see Dante's face in the back of my mind. Even though they lost, he looked smug, and I knew that wouldn't bode well for us.

There was something we didn't know about them yet, and I wasn't looking forward to finding out what it was or how it might lead back to Vivian.

The moment I reached my office, my phone went off in my pocket, and it was the surveillance footage from Luk.

Dropping myself into my chair, I hit play and watched the attack all the way through before scanning nearly frame by frame.

I focused as much as I could, trying to discern anything from the video that might give us the upper hand.

From what I could tell, it seemed to be a standard issue explosive, and nothing too technical. They had been inside the C-can, waiting for the chance to blow the doors open and pile out into our lot.

While it didn't tell me much, I did note how strange it was for them to cause so much commotion, just for them to turn around and flee the moment they faced any opposition. It felt more like a drill than anything—a practice run before they tried anything more.

With a sigh, I put my phone down and leaned back in my seat.

It wasn't anything new, and the attack only instilled more questions in me.

I told Vivian about her brothers prying into our business, and while I didn't want to in the first place, she got it out of me anyway. It was enough to let her know they were causing trouble, but I didn't want to mention the explosion.

Knowing she was pregnant and needed to keep a level head on her shoulders for the babies' sake, it was better she didn't know. I wanted her to relax at home and visit the ranch to pass the time—I didn't need her worrying about what her brothers were doing. She didn't deserve to endure that stress just because her brothers somehow got their hands on Edoardo's resources.

But as much as I didn't want to let her in on it, I knew I wouldn't be able to hide it from her forever.

At the very least, I could keep it to myself and handle the situation before she ended up hearing anything else about it.