Page 42 of The Pakhans’ Curvy Prize

Russ steps forward, his light eyes hard and dangerous. "Disabled how?"

"Cut the feeds before they came in," the guard says. "Whoever did this knew our security setup."

Alex moves past us toward the office area at the back of the warehouse.

I follow him, with Russ close behind.

The office door is open, and inside the safe sits with its door hanging loose. Papers are scattered across the desk, and file drawers hang open.

"They searched the records," Alex says quietly, crouching near the safe. "Financial documents, shipping manifests, and client lists."

"What did they take?" I ask.

"That's the problem." Alex stands and looks at me. "Nothing obvious. They looked through everything, but I don't see anything missing."

Even though this is my business, Alex and Russ have intimate knowledge of it since we're merging our families together.

But with nothing stolen... that troubles me even more.

If they'd stolen money or documents, I'd know what they were after. But searching without taking anything? That means they were looking for specific information.

"Inside job," Russ says from the doorway. His voice is flat and cold. "Had to be."

"We don't know that," I say, though I'm already thinking the same thing.

"The hell we don't." Russ's hands curl into fists. "They knew the security rotations, the camera positions, and what was in which truck. That's not outside intel. That's someone on the inside."

Alex nods slowly. "He's right. This wasn't opportunistic. It was planned."

I turn back to the warehouse floor, my mind racing through possibilities. Who would betray me? Who had access to this level of information? The list is short, and every name on it is someone I trusted.

One of my guards approaches, the same one from before. "Boss, the cops want to talk to you."

"Tell them I'll be there in a minute."

He hesitates. "They're asking a lot of questions about what we keep here."

"I said I'll be there in a minute."

He backs away quickly, and I turn to Russ and Alex. "We need to figure out who talked. Fast."

"Let me handle the interrogations," Russ says. There's violence in his tone that makes my jaw tighten.

"No."

"Nick—"

"I said no." I step closer to him. "You're too emotional right now. You'll kill someone before we get answers."

"Maybe that's what we need," Russ snaps. "Send a message that this shit doesn't fly."

"Or maybe we need to think before we act," Alex says calmly. "Killing people won't tell us who's behind this."

Russ rounds on him. "You think I don't know that? But sitting around talking about it won't either."

"Then what do you suggest?" Alex's voice stays level, but there's steel underneath. "We start beating confessions out of everyone who works here?"

"If that's what it takes."