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I waited until the barrage of questions ended. “That fink Vincent told you, didn’t he?” I was going to get back to him for not keeping this to himself.
“He worries about you. We all do. So what happened?”
“Car accident in the hills. I’m a little banged up, but nothing time won’t heal, and it was a work car, so my wheels are fine. The only thing you can do to help is make sure it doesn’t go any further. I don’t want Mom or Dad to hear about this.”
“I get ya. They won’t hear it from me,” he promised. Zach had seen Dad’s smothering first hand.
“I gotta go, Zach. But everything’s good. Thanks for calling.”
“Later.”
I put the phone back in its cradle. Yes, I was safe here, but I had to figure out my next steps. I needed to call work. That was a given, but inhaling some food was higher on my priority list.
I checked the fridge and decided a yogurt was the quickest way to take the edge off my hunger. My shoulder hurt, and a peek inside my shirt showed I was going to have a nice seatbelt bruise as well.
Dad’s advice echoed in my head,“First things first.” The question of why me didn’t have an easy answer, so it would have to wait. I needed to get cleaned up and call work. Plus, I needed to get my purse and phone, and get my life back on track.
Scraping the bottom of my yogurt cup, I pondered that. Maybe it hadn’t been such a great idea to escape the hospital in a rush. Would my things be there, or in my car at some junkyard, waiting to be stolen?
After that would come the search for protection. Of all my brothers, Dennis and Vincent were the most likely to help me without tipping off our parents, but I now knew Vincent was negotiating for a job in Boston working for Bill Covington. He could be leaving any day, which made Dennis my best choice.
Since he was away on business, it probably made more sense to call Dennis this evening.A Benson always picks herself up and gets on with life.I’d learned the hard way that I had to face my fears and live. But I was safe here, and getting on with my life could wait a few hours.
Maybe a nice hot bath…
Ding.
The loud ding startled me, sending the almost empty yogurt cup and my spoon to the floor. I froze in place, my heart racing.
It was the front yard sensor—somebody was walking up to the house.
There had to be one or two good reasons for somebody to be at the door, but the one very bad one dominated my mind—I’d walked away from protection, and my pursuer had found me.
CHAPTER 7
Duke
When pressingthe buzzer and knocking on the door got no response, I bellowed, “Serena, open up.” She had to be here. This was the address she’d given Winston for the Uber driver.
Nothing.
I opened my phone and found a message I hadn’t heard.
WINSTON: Her things are at the Temple substation.
I sent a reply.
ME: Who is the property owner of this address?
I waited.
WINSTON: Two Benson Castle LLC
It figured. Opaque property ownership was a gimmick of the privileged, and she’d run to one of her father’s properties.
After three more tries, a faint “Go away,” came through the door. It was Serena’s voice. At least I was at the right house.
“Open up, Serena.” I stood back to look less imposing if she used the peephole.
