“Annie’s gonna be pissed,” Matthew muttered. “You think this was meant to send a message?”
Bennett frowned, stepping deeper into the apartment. “Could be. Whoever’s behind this is doing just enough to set things back, but not enough to cause a full shutdown.”
Carter huffed a humorless laugh. “Yeah, well, they’re walking a fine damn line. Another couple of hits like this, and the whole project’s gonna stall anyway.”
He crouched near the gouged doorframe and frowned. It wasn’t just careless vandalism. This was intentional. Deliberate. And it made him wonder what the hell the endgame was.
His gaze shifted toward the kitchen cabinets, where glass shards littered the countertop below the two shattered door panels. This wasn’t the result of a dropped tool or clumsy accident. Someone had done this up close and with intent.
Bennett pushed to his feet, his mind already running through the possibilities. “Whatever this is, it’s more than just someone screwing around. Maybe Annie or Brandi might have an idea of who it could be.”
“Seems hard to believe either of those sweet women would have an enemy with a grudge,” Carter said with a shake of his head. “But you never know.”
Matthew nodded. “And the sooner we figure out who’s behind it, the better.”
Carter blew out a breath. “Guess that means I should go ahead and brace myself for a pissed-off designer and an even more pissed-off owner.”
Bennett didn’t bother sugarcoating it. “Yeah. Probably.”
“Great.” The guy groaned. “Just what I needed.” He muttered something under his breath, then shot Bennett a look. “You wanna be the one to tell Annie?”
He lifted a brow. “Not a chance.”
Matthew snorted. “Smart man.”
“Fine.” Carter sighed. “But if I get smacked with a dish towel, I’m blaming you two.” With another sigh, he shoved ahand through his hair before pulling out his phone. “Guess I’ll call them now. Better to rip the bandage off. Plus, I’m hopeful Gabe will be here soon should one or both get here and decide to kill the messenger.”
“Don’t worry,” Matthew said. “We’ve got your back.”
True, but both women would naturally and with good reason be upset. Still, Bennett didn’t think they’d be violent. He hadn’t met the designer, so he couldn’t exactly vouch for her, but he definitely didn’t peg Annie as the type to get physical, especially with her recent surgery.
Carter was just being dramatic again.
Stepping away from the broken glass, he walked to the far side of the area, scanning the open layout, taking in the details that mattered.
What he saw was sabotage.
The damage to the doorframes? Structural enough to require repairs but not enough to make the place unlivable. The shattered door panels? A mess, sure, but an expensive inconvenience rather than a full-stop crisis. This culprit wasn’t reckless, they were careful. Controlled. They wanted to slow things down, not completely destroy them.
Which meant they were planning to keep coming back.
Matthew cocked his head, arms crossed. “You don’t think this is just some random idiot vandal, either, do you?”
Bennett shook his head. “No. This is too calculated.”
Carter, still on his phone, held up a hand as the other line picked up. “Hey, Brandi,” he said, sighing again. “Yeah…listen, we’ve got a situation over here.”
Bennett turned toward Matthew. “If they were just screwing around, we’d see a lot more chaos. Spray paint, broken doors, holes in all the walls. This?” He gestured around the room. “This is sabotage. They want to delay things, not get caught.”
“Agreed.” Matthew nodded slowly. “And that means they have a reason to want this place shut down.”
Bennett’s jaw ticked. “Yeah. The question is—who? And why?”
Carter muttered something low under his breath, pulling the phone away from his ear as Brandi apparently reacted with the exact level of rage they expected. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. No, I don’t know who yet, but we’re looking into it. And the sheriff’s on his way. Okay. We’ll be here.”
Matthew winced and scratched his temple. “That went as well as can be expected. Annie next?”
Carter groaned, rubbing a hand down his face. “Let me survive Brandi first. Brace yourself. She’s on her way too.”
