Chapter 4: Selene

I laid in bed thinking of all the ways this could go wrong. Not only did Arthur want me to deliver him Kilbrook, but he wanted me to take down The Venator Family in the process, by any means necessary. I didn't know how I was going to accomplish such a f*cking task.

The Venator Family ruled over Kilbrook, dealing in drugs and arms. They were also rumored to take mercenary jobs. And that was just their illegal business dealings. Compared to my father, their legitimate business was much more well established.

While they were a newer family, they were still brutal in their reputation. There was a reason they climbed so high and so fast. They ruled their city equally, the three of them. And each of them was supposedly more brutal than the last.

Aaren Westhold apparently had a penchant for the sadistic sh*t. Morgan was rumored to be lethal with a blade, and enjoyed using them. Bradley seemed to be the f*cking Devil himself, a true demon come to walk the earth. I hated the idea of getting involved with any of them.

I rolled over and played the conversation with my father over in my head. Arthur wanted me to devise a plan to infiltrate The Venator Family. But it wasn't that simple; I couldn't just walk in there and ask to be let in, I would be well known to them. They'd probably kill me on sight just because of who my father was. I had to get them to take me in.

There was no guarantee that they wouldn't kill me once they took me in, but I would worry about that when it came up. First things first, I needed to get their attention. I grabbed the manila envelope that my father had given me and flipped it open. It was filled with reports of some of their business dealings; my father had handed it to me in his office and told me to “figure it out”.

They had a shipment of cocaine and heroin coming in early April, I could probably figure something out with that. There was also a map of some of their properties in and around Kilbrook. I flipped through some photos of the properties until one caught my eye. It was a smaller warehouse, seemingly abandoned.

I noticed what looked like a few cameras placed around the building. Why would they need cameras for an abandoned warehouse? I searched for anything else on the building in the folder but there was nothing else. It was just a single photo of the building along with its location. I'd have to check it out myself.

No time like the present!

I rolled off my bed and grabbed the pair of combat boots from under it and began lacing them up, tucking a boot knife into one. Gathering intel was one of the few things I thoroughly enjoyed and I grinned as I grabbed my leather jacket from my bedpost and slipped my arms in. The pleasant smell of leather enveloped me.

I punched the address of the warehouse into the map on my phone and let it plot my route; two hours. It would be dark out by the time I got there so I grabbed my black beanie and pulled it over my chin-length dark brown hair. I looked in the mirror and heaved a sigh at my smudged eye makeup, oh well. No one would see me tonight.

I left my room and skidded to a halt when I almost ran into Harlow. She had a plate of food in her hand and was heading back to her room two doors down from me.

"Hey, where are you off to?" She plopped one of the pieces of cheese from her plate into her mouth and gave me a once over. She was already dressed for bed and her long black hair was pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head.

"Gotta go do some things for Arthur, I'll be back later tonight. Are we still going to the zoo tomorrow?" I tucked the folder under my arm in the hopes she wouldn't ask about it. Arthur would murder me if I involved Harlow in anything related to his dirtier side of the business.

She eyed me suspiciously but didn't ask about it. "I can't. I have a test coming up and mom is making me stay home and study." She made a pouty face and shrugged. "Maybe we can go next week?"

Harlow’s mom, Lydia, was a good mom. Definitely the best step-mom I could ask for. I don’t know what she was doing with Arthur though, she was much too good for him.

"Sure kiddo, good luck on your test." I stole a piece of cheese from her plate and kissed her on the forehead before turning and heading down the stairs.

"Love you Selene, drive safe," she called after me and I heard the heavy click of her door as I made my way down.

I grabbed my keys by the back door and locked it behind me. We lived on a massive f*cking estate; a gorgeous monster of a home complete with a tennis court and a bunch of other unnecessary sh*t. I hated living here, but I once tried to move out and Harlow had cried like I was torturing her. So I stayed, for her and for Frankie– my only brother.

My Subaru WRX sat unlocked in the driveway next to my sister's Jeep. Frankie's WRX STI Limited sat on the other side. He always had to do one better than me, the little sh*t-head.

Throwing the manila folder in the passenger seat, I pulled out my duffle bag from the trunk of my car and did a once-over to make sure I had everything that I needed. I had my .357 Magnum revolver that never saw the light of day and a plethora of knives that maybe saw too much light. I pulled out a switch blade and tucked it into my jacket. My night vision goggles and my regular binoculars were packed, as was my camera with a few different lenses. I placed the bag in the back seat and took off down the road per the directions of my GPS.

The drive to the warehouse was an easy one and I arrived around nine o'clock. I parked down the street from the building and pulled out the binoculars. I could see the three cameras from my position and they looked easily avoidable. They weren't the issue, but the two large vans parked in the front of the building might be.

Several men walked back and forth between the vans and the open door on the side of the building, carrying large flat objects covered in white tarps. They were bringing the objects into the warehouse and they were being quick about it. I waited and watched for a moment, waiting for them to be done.

After roughly twenty minutes, they finished up, closed and locked up the door to the warehouse, and finally left. I waited a little while longer just to make sure no one would come back, and then exited my car. Walking briskly up to the warehouse, I avoided the cameras and reached the back of the building where a large window sat just out of reach. I climbed up onto a dumpster and wiped away a small spot on the dingy windows and peered inside.

The interior was dark and I couldn't see sh*t. I was going to have to find a way in if I wanted to see what goodies the inside held for me. Silently, I climbed down from the lid of the dumpster and found the back door. I made quick work of the triple locks with my pick and crept inside.

Immediately, I spotted an interior camera aimed right at the back door as I entered. F*ck. I slipped into the shadow against the wall and toed the door shut quietly. The inside was immediately cast into complete darkness and I prayed that no one was watching the cameras. Keeping my head down, I pulled out the night vision goggles and pulled them over my face.

The interior lit up an eerie green and I tip-toed around, searching for my quarry. There were a lot of crates and boxes, things I should probably look into, but I had a task. The tarp covered objects were easy enough to find, all lined up, nice and neat, on the far wall. I leaned down and peeked under one of them only to see a picture frame. It took me a few minutes to check them all, but when I was done, I was positively beside myself with joy. They were all priceless looking works of art.

"What are you guys doing with artwork?" I contemplated aloud, a cheeky grin plastered on my face. "Stolen or fakes?" I pulled out my camera and carefully removed the tarps from each framed piece, one by one, and snapped a picture of each one. There were twelve in total, ranging in sizes and styles. Some classic looking portraits and a few more modern and abstract works. One of them looked vaguely familiar, like I maybe saw it in a textbook or something. I didn’t know sh*t about art.

I hazarded a glance towards the interior camera but thankfully there was a wall just in the way, so the flash of my camera shouldn't have been totally visible. Though, there was a strange glow coming from around the corner. Maybe one of the street lights had flicked on.

Snapping the photo of the last piece of art, the beginnings of an idea began to form right on the tip of my tongue. I covered up the paintings again and tried not to do a happy dance as the idea took on more and more life.

Oh, I knew exactly how to get the attention of The Venator Family. I wondered how mad they would be if these paintings suddenly disappeared?

I clapped my hands together after reverse picking the door and locking it behind me. It was time for a good ole' fashioned art heist, boys.