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Oliver shifted his focus from Ez to Hugo, then to Alice, then back to Hugo, trying to find who would break first. The one to give away the prank.

Yes. This is all a prank. They’ll bring everything back, and we’ll all laugh.

He turned to Carol, his rock. She clenched her hand into a tight fist and pressed it against her lips. She glanced off into the distance, lost in thought. He wasn’t being pranked. This was real. They were dealing with vampires like in the old movies.

“Let’s think this through,” Ez said. “We don’t know if they’re targeting everyone in this room. I work in the beverage business. It’s a tough business. There are business disputes all the time. It could be a coincidence.”

Oliver pulled the business card out of his pocket and handed it to Hugo. “This is their card. Maybe you can call them and work something out.

Hugo took the card and flipped it over. He gasped. “Oh, shit,” he said as he slumped his head and drooped his shoulders.

“What is it?” Alice asked.

He handed the card to her. Her face turned pale and lost all expression.

Alice focused back on Oliver with narrowed eyes and a curled lip. Her solemn face now showed a hint of anger. “When did they firstcontact you?”

“Over a week ago,” he replied. “Their representative was in here a day before the launch. He gave me an ultimatum. Take down the display or lose everything. I called his bluff.”

“This logo is tattooed on Sebastian’s forearm.” Alice handed the card to Ez.

She took the card and flipped it over a few times to examine every corner.

“It’s them.” Alice ran a hand through her hair.

Oliver focused on a stack of papers, so he didn’t have to see the disappointment on Alice’s face. He couldn’t let her down, even though he risked it all and lost.

Oliver glanced over to Carol. Her face expressionless. Her hand still in front of her mouth. Carol’s eyes glazed over as she was enveloped in the shock. He tapped her forearm a few times before his hand came to a rest in hopes of comforting her. Carol snapped out of her haze and returned the glance to him, tears in her eyes.

“It’s all my fault. I’m sorry I put you through this,” Alice said. “I’m really sorry. If you had told me, I would have pulled every bottle from your store.”

“It’s not your fault, sweetie,” Carol reassured her. She placed both hands in her lap and sat up. “None of us are to blame.”

“No, it’s my fault,” Oliver said. “I told him no one comes in here and threatens me in my store. I can deal with this. I can fix it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ez said. “If they were going to target you, then they would have found anything. It was an easy target.”

Her words were like a warm blanket to soothe his frayed, anxiety ridden nerves.

“Ez is right,” Hugo said. “They would have found anything. They must have been spying on us for weeks. They knew about the restaurant and took it over. They knew about our connection here and acted. If not the wine, it could have been anything. How has the staff been?”

“We’re still understaffed,” Carol said. “They’ve been calling in sick.”

“Some kind of illness . . .” Oliver said. He paused for a moment, then dragged his eyes toward Hugo. “Do you think . . . ?”

“As I said, they would have found any weakness,” Ez answered.

“So, what do we do?” Oliver asked.

“We need to go to your house right now,” Hugo said.

“I’ll put a protection spell on your house, so no one can enter without a special key,” Alice said. “They can’t get inside, and you’ll be protected.”

“You’ll have to close the store early,” Ez said.

“We can’t close early,” Oliver said. “Our weekday traffic is higher in the evenings.”

“You’ll be vulnerable at night,” Ez said. “They can only move at night and may try to strike. It’s the only way to protect yourselves and your employees. Close before sunset.”