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“Are you there?” he asked.

“I’m scared, Evan.” She was crying, he’d bet on it.

“Stay on the phone with me then, okay? I’m going to my car now and I’ll be there.” Again, nothing was said. “Kayla, talk to me baby so I know you’re there.”

“I don’t like being scared,” she admitted.

“I don’t like you being scared either.” Why hadn’t the dispatcher stayed on with her while the police came? Wasn’t that what they were supposed to do? It’s what they did in police shows anyway, but that was fiction.

Evan flew through the city with Kayla’s soft crying coming out of the speakers of his car. One thing he knew for sure, when he found out who did this, he was going to hunt them down for making Kayla this scared.

“I’m just around the corner, okay?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Red and blue lights flashed as he pulled up. “The police are here, baby. I’ll come get you, okay?”

She sniffed and he hoped she’d heard him.

ChapterFourteen

Evan

Evan had come and gotten her from her office as promised. He hadn’t left her side since. Kayla was torn between being comforted and feeling smothered.

Throughout the police questioning her, Evan had sat with her, his hand wrapped around hers the whole time. He hadn’t mentioned last night, and for that she was grateful.

She still hadn’t been out to see any of the damage. The only thing she knew was what she had seen when she ran down there, but it was a blink before she ran back up the stairs terrified. Then she’d called the police and then Evan.

“Miss, we are going to need to see that footage now,” an officer said to her.

She nodded. “I can pull it up in my office.”

Kayla stood and Evan came with her. She led them into her office and unlocked her computer, going to the security system. It was another few clicks to pull up the time and then she hit play.

They all watched as two men threw bricks through the restaurant’s windows. That was the sound she heard. They came inside after the windows broke.

“Wait,” Evan said. “Let me.”

He flipped back a few frames and paused it. There, leaning up against a car right outside the front door was a familiar face—Lauren’s mother.

“Why?” Kayla said shocked.

Evan chatted with the officer while she stared at the screen. She’d caused problems once already, but she was pretty sure Jake had paid the woman off. Plus, Jake and Lauren were living together, so what was her point here?

“We need to flip to the other camera now, okay?” Evan’s soothing voice washed over her. “I’ll do it.”

He took over, and she watched as the video showed the two men coming in and ransacking the lobby before going behind the curtains and yanking them down. At one point, she saw herself running down the stairs and then right back up them, terrified.

Evan moved to the other camera, and she watched the true damage unfold. In a matter of minutes, there was so much damage.

They wouldn’t be able to open tomorrow at all. A pit settled in her stomach. They weren’t going to be able to open for a while; it was a crime scene.

Without realizing it, her breathing had picked up, her heart racing along with it. Evan squeezed her shoulder and crouched down to see her face as she sat in the chair.

“It’s going to be okay. Take a deep breath,” he soothed.

She didn’t want to take a deep breath. She wanted to rage, to scream and fight, and then she’d go pull up her pants and deal with it. Instead, she did as Evan suggested and tried to even out her breathing. Freaking out wasn’t going to solve anything.


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