Page 81 of Beni

It was Beni.

Or was it?

She didn’t know, but she intended to find—

“And you didn’t think to tell me at all about it?” Camilla demanded.

August let out a hard breath, turning to face her friend. “Do you tell me every single little detail about your life?”

“I at least try! You purposely kept this from me, August. Like fine, I get it … maybe you don’t want to be in Chicago, or whatever. But you could have just told me you had the meeting with Alessa. You didn’t have to keep it a secret, you know?”

That’s what she thought?

Honestly?

“You think it was just about me keeping a secret and not the fact that maybe this is a huge choice for me to make, and I might have wanted to do it alone without yours, or someone else’s, input, Cam?”

“I don’t know what you thought because you didn’t tell me!”

“A concussion, and some bruises?” she heard Tommaso ask. “Good, good, then he’ll come back from that after a couple of days of rest, no worries. Get someone on Beni, make sure he’s got an enforcer posted at his door, so he can do exactly that … no, I’ll call my father, and let him know. He’ll deal with the rest how he wants to … yeah, later.”

It was Beni.

He had been hurt.

Attacked.

August’s entire heart felt like it fell right out of her chest, and shattered to a million and one pieces on the floor. She turned on her heel, not bothering to explain to Camilla what she was doing or why she wanted to end their conversation, before heading to the living room where she found Tommaso slipping his phone into the pocket of his slacks.

“Is Beni okay?” she asked.

Tommaso nodded her way. “Yeah, looks like he’s going to be fine. Although, we don’t know who in the hell attacked him. Mostly superficial shit, but—”

“Where is he?”

The man’s gaze drifted behind August before coming back to her just as fast. “According to my man, he’s been released from the hospital, and should be getting back home anytime. If he follows my orders, that’s where he’ll stay for a couple of days until he’s feeling like his usual self.”

That should make her feel better.

She should breathe easier.

And yet …

Nope.

All it served to do was make her feel worse because all she had was third-party information, and she hadn’t actually seen Beni for herself. That was not going to work for her at all in this situation.

“Can you get someone to drive me over to his place?”

“Yeah, absolutely. Just let me call—”

“Are we not going to finish our conversation, then?” Camilla asked.

“We’ll talk about it later, okay?” she asked, slipping past Camilla in the entryway to grab the things she’d left in the hallway. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Or are you just trying to avoid it the way you didn’t even bother to tell me in the first place?”

August swung around on her friend, knowing and understanding damn well why she was mad, and that she had a right to be. At the same time … “Cam, I love you.”