“Look, I already cleaned out the cash register, but I’ll get you into the safe.” I put my hands up in front of me in an early defensive move.
He laughs twice, the sound deep and disturbing. “I don’t want your money. You’ve already taken all of mine.” His gaze searches out to his left and stops on my brand-new stove against the wall. The same one I found a heck ton of money behind.
At that moment all the pieces fall into place.
Kevin, the guy who used to rent from Pierce. The one who probably used this place to launder money and run drugs. That’s the same Kevin who stands less than a foot away from me now. The one preoccupied with my oven.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“You did good things to the place. It’s a little pink for me, but to each their own.”
I stay on the ground not moving as he continues to survey the kitchen almost like he’s reminiscing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long. At least not long enough for me to make it to the security panel and hit the panic button.
“I’m gonna need you to come with me,” he says, his attention finally returning to me.
I shake my head. “That’s not a good idea.”
He sighs. “That’s too bad, you looked nice. I thought I’d be able to do this without a lot of violence.”
Violence?
He drops the hand from behind his back and I wish he hadn’t. What is it with adults and the overuse of guns? I’ve seen so many the last two weeks, my reaction to another is totally out of character. Meaning I do nothing. There’s no screaming, or flinching, nothing but a bunch of deep breaths.
“Okay.” I stand up with my hands in the air.
He smiles the same hole between his teeth standing out. “This is the kind of listening I like to see. Let’s go.”
“Go?”
“To my car.” He waves his hand like he’s ushering me out of the door, not kidnapping me in broad daylight. While I hesitate, he reaches over and steals the bag of cookies I’d packed for everyone tonight.
Looking back on the situation, it probably wasn’t my best idea to fight Bennett about stationing someone at the bakery at all times. I didn’t see how a small bakery owner needed a bodyguard for twenty-four-hour protection, but now I see the error of my ways.
I’m always willing to admit when I’m wrong.
Normally.
At least when a gun is pointed at me.
Parked at the base of the steps, slightly at an angle, his car takes up one and a half parking spaces and is an old rusted out white hatchback. The backseat full of… crap. Empty fast food wrappers, blankets, I think I see a shoe. For split-second I almost consider letting him shoot me rather than get into the car. It probably has more germs than a morgue.
Kevin catches me hesitating and stops to open the passenger side door. At least this portion of the car seems clean. There’s a floor mat underneath only a few hundred straw wrappers littering the top.
I should probably fight, or scream, or do anything, but I don’t. At the last second I turn, making contact with the camera hanging over the back door and widen my eyes. Hopeful somebody is actually watching the screen and will let Bennett or Ridge know I’m in trouble. Again.
Once I’m in the car, Kevin slams the door and I have another second when I consider locking the door and keeping him out. But I don’t have the car keys and he’d probably shoot me through the window, so I toss out my idea before he makes it to his side.
“See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” He starts the car, one hand holding the gun in my direction, but keeping it low enough no one outside would see.
“This will all be over soon.”
“You mean you’re going to kill me?” I ask my voice rising with the question. How wrong is it to tell me that before he does anything?
“No!” he yells like he’s offended. “You’re no good to me dead.”
My heart rate slows down, but only a beat or two. I am kidnapped after all.
“I have a little place outside of town. You and I get to vacation there for a little bit while I negotiate with Ridge.” He turns a corner and heads down the road out of town.
