Chapter Six #2
The window was completely blown out, the jagged edges of glass clinging to the frame. Shards littered the seat and floorboard.
Her hands started shaking.
Not again.
She fumbled for her phone and dialed the police first. Then Church.
She couldn’t force out the words when he answered, but the patrol car pulled in with its lights flashing. And luckily, the officer took the phone and explained to Church what happened.
The officer was calm and polite. He asked if she was hurt and to step away from the broken glass while he took a look inside the truck.
Another officer joined them shortly after, and suddenly Zee was standing beside Church’s vehicle answering question after question.
Each one was the same as ones she’d answered before.
And that same sense of hopelessness that nothing would be done, that the perpetrator wouldn’t be found, flooded her.
She tried to answer, but frustration kept creeping into her voice. “Nothing was visible,” she insisted. “There was nothing to steal.”
The officer nodded while writing in his notepad.
He asked where she’d come from, and she told him about the movie set. That came with a dozen more questions about any people who might have followed her, or if she had any problems with the crew.
“No. Everyone is really nice.”
She thought about telling them that this had happened before—in another town. And nothing was ever determined after that time either. Or the time after that.
Tears bottled in her throat, leaving it aching. It was all too obvious that she was a target in those places because they didn’t break into the Porsche on one side of her. Or the Land Rover in the opposite row. They broke into her old Ford.
The crimes weren’t random. They were all connected to her.
The cops in those cities never asked the right questions, and somehow by the end of the conversation she always walked away feeling like she was the problem. Like she was paranoid and this was only a random crime.
She might have believed that the first time.
She blinked at the shattered window. She could pay for the repair. But it never should have happened in the first place.
“We’ll file a report, Ms. Davis.”
Of course they would. They always did. And that’s where things ended.
Zee pressed her lips together, the familiar frustration tightening her chest. The worst part was the timing.
She’d just started to like it here. The training facility, her new bosses. The people on the ranch. The way the mountains seemed to surround everything like they were standing guard.
And Grant Upchurch…
For the first time in years, life had started to feel possible again.
Now this.
An engine growled into the parking lot. She looked up as the unfamiliar vehicle came to a hard stop near the patrol cars.
Church stepped out immediately, gaze locked on her. The tension in his shoulders seemed to ease slightly when he saw she was unhurt.
He crossed the lot in long strides. “Are you okay?” His hands hovered around her but didn’t land.
“I’m fine.” She wrapped her arms around herself, but nothing could stop the tremor in her voice. The apology spilled out before she could stop it. “I’m so sorry.”
His brows drew downward. “For what, Zee?”
“For this.” She waved helplessly at the truck. “I should’ve stayed on set. I shouldn’t have borrowed your truck. I should have waited and taken my own car.”
His gaze flicked to the officers, then the shattered window, and back to her. “This isn’t your fault.”
He addressed the police. “Is there anything else you need from her?”
The officer tapped his pen on the notepad. “We got what we need. We’ll be in touch.”
As they started walking away, Church faced her again. “Come on. I’ll drive you back to the ranch.”
“What about your truck?”
“I’ll get it later.”
“I’ll pay for the window.”
He slipped an arm around her shoulders, and his masculine scent enveloped her with as much warmth as his strong arm. “It’s not important. What is important is that you’re okay.”
“It kind of is my fault.”
“It’s not. You went shopping.” He looked at the bags scattered on the pavement, some of the mats rolling.
“I shouldn’t have left the set. I shouldn’t have left the ranch.”
He searched her eyes. “Zee. It’s not like this is a regular occurrence.”
A hollow laugh escaped her. “You’d be surprised.”
He didn’t respond, but the brackets around his mouth carved deeper. “Let’s get you in the vehicle. I’ll get the bags.”
He guided her to the vehicle and closed the door after she was seated. A minute later, he placed her purchases on the back seat and got behind the wheel.
One thing she loved about her friendship with Church was that they didn’t need to fill the space with talk. Their silences weren’t awkward, only peaceful, like they’d known each other for ages. Which they had.
She sat stiffly in the passenger seat, staring out the window while the town faded behind them. The mountains that never truly left the view seemed to swell larger as they climbed higher, the late afternoon light washing the land in gold.
Normally she would have admired the view. Today she barely saw it.
The gates of the ranch opened when they approached, and they rolled inside. Security cameras watched from the entrance. Fence stretched along the property lines. Everything here was designed to keep trouble out.
Not if the trouble drives in.
Zee swallowed hard. She didn’t want to be the reason trouble found its way onto the Black Heart Ranch.
When they parked near the lodge, she sat for a moment before reaching for the door handle.
“I’m sorry.” Her murmur was barely audible.
Church turned to her. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Come up to the suite. I’ll make you some tea.”
She felt herself nod because she didn’t know what else to do. But the uneasy feeling in her chest refused to fade.
The people here had welcomed her so easily. They trusted her.
The thought planted itself deep in her chest, painful. Because if whatever followed her here didn’t stop…
She didn’t think she could stay.