Page 44 of The Bratva's Knocked-Up Bride

“I do, in fact. Something I’m sure you’ll appreciate,” I replied, feeling somewhat pleased with myself. Not that Lukyan had been giving me much resistance since I started working alongside him, but up until that point, I hadn’t been deliveringthe desired progress as efficiently as I could’ve been. I hated seeming incompetent, but with a name and the concrete start I needed, I felt that I was onto something.

He gave a huffed response, although it didn’t pack much of a bite. Instead, they both led me through the building. “Alright, then. We’ll talk it over in the office.”

“Good timing, too, Novikov,” Kir added with a faint smirk. “Ari was getting restless and we’re all getting sick of listening to him bitch—”

The ever-increasing sound of a vehicle approaching cut Kir off and stopped the three of us in our tracks as we all turned to see what was happening.

Through the glass door at the front, a heavily armored truck came barreling forward, managing to crash through the front gate while men started running and shouting. Anyone inside and able to see what was happening as the truck surged on tensed, bracing themselves as more yelling rang out inside.

Before we could do anything, almost like everything was unfolding in the span of a few seconds, the truck collided with the front of the building, making it rock on its foundation as concrete, steel, and other debris went shooting into the main area.

The shock and force of it made me unsteady on my feet for a moment, but as the dust moved in, I shielded my eyes and reached for my pistol.

More yelling ensued as the doors on the truck opened and men came pouring out, opening fire on everyone inside.

Not wasting a second, I started firing back, trying my best to aim despite the heavy cloud of dust in the air and how everything seemed to be moving so quickly.

I nearly swung as I felt a hand grab my shoulder from behind, but I stopped myself once I realized it was Lukyan. He pulled me back behind a tall metal shelf full of wrapped products while Kir shot, covering for us both.

“Get down!” he shouted at me, pulling out his own gun and opening fire on the assailants.

Between the men running in and the Levov forces retaliating, the sound of volleying gunfire echoed throughout the steel and concrete structure and made my ears ring.

Regaining my senses after taking cover and finding a space in between the items on the shelf in front of me, I slotted my pistol through the opening and continued to fire, defending the Levov property right alongside them.

At first, it seemed like the wave of men just kept coming as more flooded in from the caved-in wall, but with Levov reinforcements and pushing as hard as we could, that flow eventually came to an end.

Soon enough, we were able to ease up and catch our breath, watching as the dust began to settle.

“Jesus Christ…” Kir muttered as he put his pistol away and moved out from behind his cover. We followed behind all the while their guys moved in completely and made sure the assailants were down for good.

Luk cursed to himself, shaking his head as he dragged a hand down his face. “How? How did this possibly happen?”

“Who in the hell was it this time?”

Ari’s voice reverberated within the warehouse as he stood on the top steps of the iron framing throughout the place. Everyone else flinched at the raw anger in his voice.

In all fairness, I couldn’t blame him. I’d be pretty pissed myself.

“I think I might have an answer to that,” I said, voice moving easily through the almost deafening silence within the shaken-up warehouse.

Ari’s gaze landed on me as he pointed in my direction. “You. Luk and Kir. Get up here now.”

The brothers next to me sighed, surely aware that they weren’t going to escape some sort of scolding for the incident, even if they couldn’t have anticipated it.

That was the curse of being a younger sibling. I knew it well enough myself.

Hoping to not anger him further, the three of us made our way to the second level and moved into the office as we adjusted ourselves and dusted off from the attack. Luckily, we were all in decent enough condition.

As soon as we sat down in the office, Ari looked at me pointedly. “Tell us whatever the hell you know. And be quick. I’m not exactly in a good mood right now.”

Knowing he meant that, I cleared my throat and nodded. “I was followed the other day and managed to capture and interrogate them…they gave up the Pesci name. I heard it while escorting Sky, Gemma’s employee, to conduct interviews about crimes happening in the city. Apparently, they’re the ones who have been targeting your operations, and they’ve been sniffing around us as well.”

“Pesci…” Ari murmured to himself in thought.

“How the hell did they know the front gate was compromised?” Kir questioned. “Or how much weight they needed to bust it down?”

Luk sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I called Ben the other day while he was at Gemma’s office, and I mentioned how the contractors couldn’t fit us in until the end of next week. Maybe someone overheard?”

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