Dangerously Quiet

8.

Urgent chatter over radio channels, emails, and texts containing codes and locations, lists were being made, relevant authorities been contacted and soldiers taking their positions all over the city, it was a regular afternoon for Arianna. Behind the closed doors of her office, she received private calls from her sons about their locations and her daughter's arrival at home. Raizon was underground prepping weapons for the raid that was about to take place in a few hours and Arianna was a bit annoyed, unable to join him. She understood his reasoning but she wanted the first-hand contact to search for those missing girls. They've been able to connect the patterns of the teenage girl abductions and where the new drug, 'Dice' have been surfacing. The popularity of the drug in each hot spot has been covering the abduction. Dominion has been selling bad drugs to spread the police thin. Missing person reports require manpower and she knew how lacking they were. She has been doing her own investigation along with her team, visiting the girls' families, tracing their last steps, even their social media. After their abduction, their phones have been destroyed and their identities were probably hidden or altered somehow. The last group of girls they were able to rescue was all due to laziness and over-confidence from their handlers. Since their screw up, they've become more vigilant and it has been pissing everyone off. 
They had to go deeper to find out where these girls are. It was a route she knew she had to ask her husband to pursue. A path his family and allies refuse to take with their connection in the underworld. It's their only shot with so many consequences. 
Arianna glanced at the recent family photo, the kids were grown and adapted very well into the family business even their little princess but the fear was there. Going this path will put them all in danger. Not only her kids but her friends, her family. The ladies of each mob/mafia/syndicate, whatever the outside world calls them, spoke of this on their last vacation. The fear was real for their family but those girls.

"We can't," she whispered. Tracing the image of her little girl, her heart ached from dismissing that idea to get these girls back. 

Pausing her present search, she called out to Vinny and waited for her loyal companion to join her side. He was at the age to retire peacefully as a guard but he was active not wanting to relinquish his post. Going at a slow pace, Ari talked to her friend like old time with him responding with his whines, gruffs or sharp barks, her Vinny was one of a kind. He saved her life and the kids so many times over the years and it seems like he's content with his new recruits. She chuckled when the twins' dog came running in followed by Lucifer's. The adult kuvasz was named Blanc by the twins because of his white as snow fur. The rottweiler who silently sat before her awaiting his orders was  Daemon, loyal to his master Lucifer to a fault, very protective and always demand respect from Blanc and the younger dogs within the family out at the estate. Vinny barked once at the two and in response, they followed him and Arianna to the front hall. Tails began to wag when they heard Rejeanne bidding her guards goodbye, opening the door in the same breath. 
When she entered and closed the door, her eyes so identical to her father's widen with happiness when she saw her mother waiting for her. Arianna motioned for the dogs to greet their little mistress in which they did with full energy. Standing watch over her playing with the dogs, she felt Raizon's presence before she felt his arm snake around her waist. A soft kiss was placed on her bare shoulder then neck before he settled in to watch Rejeanne with the dogs. 

"It's time for her to get a pet," he voiced. 

They've done everything pertaining to the kids depending on their maturity and grasp of the real world. At the age of six, the boys understood what their family business was really about and their place in the world as heirs to a billionaire empire. They knew what role to play in public, what to say, what to do and how to act. Rejeanne understood also at the same age the boys' debut to the world but Raizon and Arianna's fear of her being used as a tool to get to them was huge. They decided to keep her in France longer than her brothers. She asked to come to the states, they agreed knowing it wasn't fair to treat her differently from her brothers.