Neither Vega nor Hall had instigated any speeding vehicles to cause massive damage, but they’d been deadly just the same. Not only was Hall on Pena’s payroll, he was also the owner of TH Services. He’d sent those regular payments to Alayna on behalf of Mayor Radcliffe. Hall had been corrupt for years and had just gotten a little greedier where Alayna was concerned. After a search of his apartment officers found proof that he was trying to blackmail Pena about Alayna’s existence. It was a good thing Ben and the others had gotten to him first, Hall was definitely on Vega’s hit list.
So everything as far as the case was concerned, was falling into place. Now, all he had to do was go into court next week and get a guilty verdict.
No, she also had to deal with Ben. There was no doubt in her mind he’d be waiting right outside that door and he’d be rightfully pissed at her for leaving him in that hotel room and not mentioning that Alayna had contacted her. As reserved as she was about their confrontation, Victoria had never been one to run from her problems. She left the interview room with her note pad firmly beneath her arm and her head held high. She could handle Ben Donovan and whatever he dished out. She was almost positive of that fact.
Just as she’d expected Ben had been sitting at another officer’s desk, just outside the interrogation room. The minute he heard the door open he turned to see her coming out. She tried for a small smile but it died the moment his gaze met hers. He was not happy, not at all. Well, okay she knew she’d been wrong by keeping him out of the loop, but really hadn’t he done the same thing by taking so long to tell her everything that was going on? That made them even, she thought as she made purposeful strides toward him. She was an arm’s length awaywhen her cell phone rang. She’d taken it off vibrate after she’d called her mother and Grace to let them know she was alright. Now it echoed throughout the room like a siren. Good thing it was a normal ringtone and not some inappropriate song that normally blared through their office.
Stopping, she pulled the phone from her pocket and glanced at the screen. With a small curse she answered, “Hey Grace. I told you I’m fine. I’m just about to leave the police station and I’ll call you when I get home,” she continued without waiting for a greeting. Grace’s response had her pausing. “What? Okay, I’m on my way!”
She’d barely switched the phone off when she felt his hand on her elbow.
“Grace is having the baby?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Let’s go,” he said before halfway pulling her across the room.
Chapter 20
Victoria
They rushed to the hospital. Their confrontation or conversation about today’s events dashed by Grace’s frantic call to announce she was finally in labor. Victoria was more than exhausted but adrenaline ran through her veins the moment she clicked off her cell. To his credit, Ben who she sensed was still a little on edge, had simply grabbed her by the arm and led her to the elevator at the police station. He took one of the SUVs Trent and Devlin had used and drove, not saying one word to her.
She supposed she could’ve talked to him during the ride, tried to explain her reason for leaving without telling him, but she didn’t. Instead she stared out the window wondering if it were going to be a boy or girl. That seemed to be the easier train of thought, the more realistic one indeed.
The moment he pulled up in front of the hospital she grabbed the door handle. “Thanks for the ride,” she tossed over her shoulder as she moved to get out.
His hand on her elbow was just as unexpected, as the words he spoke.
“I’m going to park and we can go in together.”
“But that’s not necessary,” she argued.
“It’s what I’m going to do,” was his only response.
Victoria didn’t reply, mainly because he’d kept right on driving, quickly dispelling her get-out-of-the-truck idea. After parking, he grabbed her hand once again and took fast strides to the parking garage elevators where they boarded one and took it to the main floor.
“Grace Ramsey?” she asked when they’d made it to the information desk.
“Labor and Delivery, fifth floor. Go right down this hall, make a left at the circle, take the elevators to the right,” the sour-faced nurse informed her without once looking up from her computer.
On any other day Victoria might have called her on her rudeness but today wasn’t that day. Instead, she turned, reciting the directions in a whisper as she walked away. On the elevator for the third time in what seemed like the last half hour, she sighed and decided it was time for the inevitable.
“Look Ben, I know you’re pretty upset with me right now and I can’t really say I blame you. But this is not the time. My best friend is having a baby and there’s nothing else I want in this world but to stand by her side at this glorious moment. I appreciate you bringing me down here but it’s fine if you leave now. I’ll call you in the morning.”
“Are you finished?” he asked releasing her arm finally.
Victoria took advantage of the moment and stepped away from him. “I’m just trying to be honest,” she said.
“Oh, now you want to be honest.” Ben chuckled, but it wasn’t filled with any sort of humor or animation. “Look Victoria,” he began mimicking her. “You are on point with the fact that I’m upset with you right now. But I’ve been to a few childbirths in my lifetime and I know that they are a time of joy and love. So I’m not going to go over how foolish and immature your actions were. I’m not going to say that you harassed me about beingup front and honest with you, only to turn and do something dangerously stupid behind my back. No,” he said holding up a hand when she would’ve began speaking again. “I’m not going to say any of that, right now. For the moment I’m going to go to the fifth floor and sit in the waiting room while Grace, an old college friend, has her first child. I’m going to smile and rejoice with her and her husband for this miracle they’ve brought into the world. Then I’m going to take you home.”
The doors to the elevator opened and so did Victoria’s mouth, only to snap shut quickly because she didn’t know what to say. So she simply walked off the elevator, approached another nurse about directions—this one moderately nicer than the other—and headed to Grace’s room. She was happy to see Ben hadn’t followed her, but smart enough to know their real confrontation had only been postponed. If there was one thing she’d learned about Ben Donovan in these last couple of weeks it was that he was a man of his word. If he said he was going to be waiting right there for her after Grace had the baby, that’s exactly what he meant. She didn’t know how things with the two of them would end or begin again, or whatever, and when she walked into the room to hear Grace’s high-pitched scream she figured she didn’t really have time to consider it any longer.
Ben
After three hours of sitting in the waiting room, nodding off, going for coffee, playing some game on his phone, and trying desperately not to think about the gun that had been pointed at Victoria’s temple, Ben was more than ready to call it a day. It had been a very trying twenty-four hours and to tell the truth he wasn’t sure he could take much more.
But when he heard a rumbling that sounded strangely like wheels he looked up. Every muscle in his body seemed to tense and retract in the span of ten seconds as he stood and watched while Victoria, with a nurse pushing a baby bassinet right beside her, flashed him with a million-watt smile. He walked to where they stood and was scarcely able to pull his gaze from her but for the tiny sound coming from the bassinet. He looked down and everything about today, every second of worry and doubt, of fear and helplessness, of adrenaline and impulsive action was washed away.
