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"Did Leighton or Joey find anything?" I asked.

"Aside from missing crates and a truckload of red spider lilies? Not a damned thing. If it weren't for theonemother fucker doing his job, we may not have realized we'd been hit for days."

"This is good, though, right? It means that Colin knows something the Jackals don't want us to know. We've taken out plenty of their low ranking guys in the past and they've never retaliated at this level. A few gun fights, sure, but not this."

Rich raked a hand through his hair before collapsing into his chair. "I hope to hell you're right about that. Nothing has gone to plan since the fucking Gala."

I hadn't seen Rich this stressed since we were kids. Baby-faced, barely adults, trying to carve out our place in this world. I worried he would stress himself into an early grave if something didn't give soon.

"I'm sure if we give them time, Joey and Leighton will find something." I said, hoping that would allow him to relax a little before he had a stroke.

"Boss, I got the inventory logs for you. Looks like we're not missing anything that was supposed to be packaged for sale." Phil's voice cut through our conversation, and I looked over my shoulder toward the door. Rich motioned for him to enter the room and held out a hand for the clipboard he was carrying.

"What are we missing?" Rich asked, briefly scanning the document before looking at the other man.

"Just a couple crates of The Little Brother's prototypes. Everything we have for shipment is still secure," Phil said grimly.

"That's gonna piss Joey off," I said, groaning.

"Yeah. He worked on those designs for some time to get them matched to his specs," Rich spoke contemplatively.

"I also had the estimated times sent to Craig so he can look through the security feed as well."

"It's likely it will be the same as the center. It'll be corrupted, but maybe they left something other than fucking lilies behind." I interjected. "Any news on the safe house yet, or is everyone still securing the warehouse?"

"When I left to come here, Leighton was on his way to the safe house. Joey was still dealing with cleanup at the warehouse. There were four bodies to move and the rest of the guys seemed alright, just groggy from whatever the Jackals knocked them out with." Phil replied.

"How's the perimeter around the manor?" Rich asked.

"We're still secure, Boss. Leighton called in Jace's crew to reinforce the men already here. If anyone is stupid enough to try to breach our perimeter, they'll end up sold for parts."

"Leighton and his fucking psychopathic cronies." I shivered in disgust. "Jace and that lot seem like overkill. No pun intended."

"Yeah, well. We might not like their methods, but at least they're our weapons to use. Better than if they were being used against us," Rich said with a shrug. "Is anyone in this line of work really stable?"

"Not for nothing, Boss, but I see a shrink on the regular. Keep my head on straight and all that." Phil chuckled. "Just cause I'm fucking her, don't mean it ain't working."

"All I'm saying is if Jace comes in this house, I'll put him down myself. I can deal with L's brand of crazy, but no way in hell are his little pocket crazies getting anywhere near the Princess." I shrugged.

Phil looked at me momentarily, a smirk playing on his face. I raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking if he had something to say. He quickly covered his mouth with a fist and let out a few unconvincing coughs to cover himself. Rich didn't even conceal the smirk that crossed his face. Should have kept my mouth shut.

"Yeah, we can have them operate out of the security building at the front gate. If they need to contact us directly, they can call, or Leighton can meet them down there. She's got enough dangerous men around her. I really don't want to add to the number." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, leaning back in his chair. "Besides that, we obviously have a leak somewhere that needs plugging, so I don't want to track a bunch of people through the house until we find it."

"You need anything else from me, Boss?" Phil asked, checking his watch discreetly. "I got a therapy appointment in a bit." I chuckled a bit, given the information he'd provided earlier.

"Just… Get with the boys tomorrow after they finish running their combs through the scene, and then get started on finding that leak. Let us know if you need anything for the job. Now go on, wouldn't want your appointment to be canceled." Rich said with a smirk. Phil gave him a nod and made a hasty retreat to the exit.

I stood, made my way toward a small table with a decanter of whiskey, and poured two glasses.

"We've always had small squabbles with the Jackals. What is it about the Princess that has got them so feral that they want to court more trouble? Not just with us, but with everyone based on how they're acting now…"

"Who knows? For some reason, she seems to have more than a couple people in a twist." He said, cocking a brow as I handed him his glass.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You tell me. Feeling a little protective?"

"Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing? I mean, shit. Everyone was up my ass about 'being mean to her,'" I said, punctuating the phrase with air quotes. "So I'm trying to make peace with Her Highness, and now ya'll got jokes."