Josiah turns to me. “I’m sorry, we won’t be long, but I have to deal with this right now.”
“We can catch a cab home,” I say stiffly, wondering what could be so important at this time of night. The company is closed. It’s Saturday.
“No, it’s okay, they can stay with me.”
I turn to frown at Alara. “The twins need to get to bed.”
“We can set them up in my spare room. They can sleep until the guys get back,” she assures me.
I sigh, not understanding any of it. Then I shrug and give in. “Alright, but please don’t be long. There will be hell to pay tomorrow if they don’t get enough sleep,” I mutter.
The whole atmosphere in the house has shifted. Everyone seems tense. The three of them are exchanging secretive looks as Alara waits at the front door to lock up behind them.
My body is tense. My instincts are screaming at me that something is very off about all of this.
They are keeping something from me, and I don’t like it at all.
Chapter 7 - Josiah
“It’s too coincidental,” I snarl, driving away from Alara’s place. “For someone to attack the operation that was set up solely as a practice run for the operation with the West Coast alliance…especially after things have been running smoothly for so long. Someone is trying to scare them off and stop them from allying with me.”
“I don’t know, man. It’s probably just some assholes taking a chance. I don’t think you need to worry about it. We’ll go check it out, and it’ll be nothing,” Isaak says, not worried in the least.
I am not as easily convinced.
“I was just reassuring Nestor this morning that my teams are brilliant, and we very seldom have outside interference even when we run big operations,” I mutter, disappointed that this is happening now.
“But who else knows about the new alliance?” Isaak asks.
I push my foot harder against the accelerator, wanting to get there faster.
“I don’t know,” I say.
We aren’t going to the warehouse. The truck was ambushed on the way to the client, but that was too much information to share with Kayla standing right there.
Both Alara and Isaak picked up on the issue immediately. I hated leaving her and the twins like that, but there wasn’t any time to drop them home first, and there was no chance in hell I was letting them make the trip alone. Not after an attack against my name like this.
For all I know, it could be a distraction, and the real target is my children and new wife. I never take anything for granted. In this world, you expect the worst from people. In doing so, you can keep the ones you love safe by staying one step ahead of everyone who wants to take you down.
It doesn’t take us long to arrive at the scene. But it’s eerily quiet.
“Where is everyone?” I mutter, climbing out of the car.
Isaak follows me as we walk towards the truck with our guns drawn.
It’s dark, and I notice too late that there are blood stains on the road. The scene has been tidied. Bodies have been dragged away.
“Get down!” I shout to Isaak, who immediately drops as bullets skim through the air right above our heads.
Men pile out of the hijacked truck, eager to attack after waiting inside to ambush us.
Their faces are covered in black masks. They fire a steady stream of bullets at us as we duck behind my SUV. The gunfire thuds a steady stream against my bulletproof car. “We have to get back in the car!” I shout over the noise.
“Go, I’ll cover you, then you can cover me!” my brother shouts back.
I nod once, then bolt for the open driver’s door. Isaak opens fire on them, but there are so many of them, it’s impossible to distract them all.
I feel the bullet skim over my thigh, stinging across my skin. But I ignore it.
