White lights flash through the windows as an ambulance comes to a stop at the curb. “Was anyone hurt?” There wasn’t any blood and no paramedics earlier, but I should have stopped and asked ten minutes ago.
Bennett keeps walking. “No.”
“Why is there an ambulance?”
“Standard procedure on this kind of scene, but no one was shot. Few bumps and scrapes from the running crowd. Sounds like weapons were discharged at the ceiling.”
I stop walking at the top of the steps to the main entrance. “Don’t you think I should stay and make sure everyone gets home?”
Bennett doesn’t even slow.
“Did you hear me?”
He finally stops and turns “Yeah, I don’t care how anyone else gets home. You’re my only responsibility right now.”
“They’re my friends.”
Bennett takes a deep breath and from the look on his face and the way his mouth moves, he may be silently counting to five…or ten.
“Anessa, you are the only one who had a gun held to your head tonight. You’re the only one who had a threat made against you. You’re the only one I’m concerned with.” He walks down a few steps. “Now I have to get moving so I can send Delores home before we all have to get up in the morning and figure this out because you forgot about the twenty thousand you stashed in a cupboard.”
He’s right. This is all my fault.
“I’m sorry. It’s not like I’ve found myself in this situation before.” I follow him down the few steps as quickly as possible to catch up.
We walk the last few feet in silence until we’re standing outside and Bennett unlocks the black company SUV he’s driving tonight rather than his normal black truck. I’m sliding into the passenger seat and buckling my belt when something he said triggers my memory.
“How did you know I had a gun held to my head?”
He puts the truck in gear and he reverses out of the space. “Spencer saw it happen.”
I let his words process for a few seconds. To make sure I heard him right.
Spencer?
Either Spencer was at the club, which none of us saw him, or Ridge has cameras in The Loft.
It’s an absolutely crazy idea. Regardless of what Tabitha may think about Ridge having cameras all over town, it’s impossible.
There’s absolutely no way.
It’s unbelievable.
By the time we round the corner to Bennett’s house I’m telling myself there’s absolutely no way Ridge has cameras in The Loft. Yet, the longer we ride together in silence with Bennett not offering a better solution, the more confidence I lose. We stop in Bennett’s driveway and he turns off the vehicle.
“Do we need to go back to the bakery for the money? Do you need my key?” I ask.
“I don’t need a key.”
“You have a key to the bakery?” Yes, I let Ridge install a few cameras at the front and back entrance, and one security panel, but I live in the bakery. This is totally overstepping his boundaries.
Bennett sighs. “There’s no need for a key because we don’t need the money right now.”
“How do you plan to give it to Frankie?”
Bennett jumps out of the truck. “Anessa, Zanetti’s men broke into a club in our city. And shot off bullets at Ridge’s girlfriend while taking you hostage. The entire team is pissed. There’s no way any of us will give Frankie a dime.”
“Oh.”
