Then he’d be getting his ass down to the Melton House. He knew exactly where that old mansion was—the place was often rented for wedding and parties, and he had no doubt that a big crowd would be there tonight.
“He could be in danger,” Ivy said. She dialed again on the phone. “Maybe I can get Shelly…” She paused a moment, then Bennett saw her face light up. “Shelly! Shelly, it’s Ivy. I need to speak with Hugh, right now.” She paused and Bennett could tell by her expression that the news Shelly had just given her wasn’t good. “When? No, no, please try to find him. Then call me. I’m on my way there.” She glanced at Bennett. “Shelly said that he disappeared about ten minutes ago. She lost him in the crush.”
Hell.
“He’s not doing this,” Ivy said definitely. “That bastard…last night, he mentioned Hugh to me. He said it was a shame…”
A shame?
“What if he’s hurting my brother, in order to get to me?”
Or what if your brother is as screwed up as your father? And we just didn’t notice it before?
Because that accident that had taken Bennett’s aunt…it had happened right during Mardi Gras. Right during the madness.
Coincidence?
And, Hugh…he’d been in the back seat of his father’s car. He’d seen that nightmare go down, and he’d watched his father get away with murder.
“Let’s go,” Bennett said.
But Ivy was ahead of him. She was already running for the door. He knew how things worked with Ivy and Hugh. No one ever came between them. He’d tried. And he’d gotten shut down real fast. Ivy would do anything for her brother.
But could she see the darkness inside of him?
Chapter Seven
“Stop sir,” a big, burly bouncer ordered as he stepped into Bennett’s path. His bald head gleamed under the light and a diamond winked from his right ear lobe. “Tails are required for this event.” He glanced toward Ivy and shook his head. “And ma’am, you know those jeans won’t get you inside.”
Bennett lifted his badge. “How about this? Will this get us inside?”
The bouncer stepped back and smiled. “You should’ve mentioned you had the VIP pass,” he murmured.
Bennett just nodded as he took Ivy’s hand and hurried past the security check-in. Music drifted in the air, spilling out from the open doors and windows at Melton House. The mansion was on a secluded fifteen acres, and the long wrap-around porch on the second floor was filled with men and women. Some wearing masks. Some without.
He was really getting sick of the masks.
“Bennett…” Ivy stopped.
He looked back at her, only Ivy was staring up at the balcony. He followed her gaze and saw the man in the white mask and black tux. A man who seemed to be staring straight down at her.
“The men don’t wear masks at this event,” she said quickly. “It’s a party for the women’s Mardi Gras organization. They’re the ones in masks, and Shelly’s group picked out green masks, I saw them at her place last week.”
Sonofabitch.
The man up there—he bowed to Ivy.
“That’s him,” she whispered. “Oh, my God—”
“Stop!” Bennett bellowed.
The man didn’t stop. He turned on his heel and started pushing through the crowd on the balcony. “Dammit!” Bennett kept his hold on Ivy and started running toward the entrance to Melton House. That jerk had been waiting out there. He’d wanted Ivy to see him.
He lured her here. He lured us both here. Bennett tightened his hold on Ivy. He wasn’t going to let her out of his sight.
When they burst inside the house, Bennett’s gaze swept the packed scene. Ivy had been right—none of the men in the lower area of the house were wearing masks.
What is his plan? Bennett wondered as he looked around. What does he want? He looked up, and then Bennett raced toward the spiral staircase.
“Ivy!”
Hugh stood in the middle of that staircase. He had on a black tux, with tails, and his dark hair was pushed away from his face. He smiled at Ivy. “What are you doing here?” Hugh asked her. “You—”
Bennett’s left hand slammed into the guy and he shoved Hugh against the railing.
“Bennett, no!” Ivy ordered as she tore free from him. “Stop it! My brother isn’t the one you’re after!”
She seemed so very certain, but then, Ivy didn’t trust anyone else the way she trusted Hugh. She’d do anything for Hugh. Lie. Fight.
Leave me. Yes, he’d known that, even years ago.
“What’s your problem, Detective?” Hugh demanded.
It had gotten very, very quiet on that staircase. Bennett glanced around and saw that they had nearly everyone’s attention in the immediate area.
“Where is your phone?” Each word was a growl from Bennett.
Hugh just blinked. “Uh, in my pocket?”
Bennett let him go. “Give it to me. Now.”
Hugh pulled out his phone. “You’re a crazy SOB, you know that?”
“You had this phone all night? You never let it out of your sight?”
Hugh looked around. His cheeks reddened. “You interrogating me, now?”
Ivy pushed against Bennett. “The man we’re after is getting away!”
Was he? Bennett wasn’t so sure…