Page 131 of Hell Hath No Fury

Ashley was behind Emma, her fingers gripping Emma’s short tresses. The steel blade pressed against her throat.

Nell stood mere feet from her, balanced on one leg with the steadiness of a practiced yogi. But her grip on the crutch made her look like a wild-eyed baseball player, not a yoga instructor.

If Emma didn’t have a knife against her neck, she’d have laughed at her younger sister.

“Let her go,” Nell said, raising the crutch over her shoulder as if ready to swing for a home run.

“I don’t think so,” Ashley hissed. “Move one inch, and your sister loses her head. For real. Drop that thing.”

Emma spotted the doubt in Nell’s eyes. Ashley surely saw it, too. “You’ve painted yourself into a corner, you know,” Emma said.

“Shut up.”

The blade was so sharp, Emma didn’t notice the cut at first. Not until she felt the tickle of blood trickling down her neck and saw the horror in Nell’s eyes.

“Think about it, Ashley,” Emma went on, tamping down the burning sensation and her own fear. “You might kill me, but my sister is gonna knock your head off your shoulders. The police are on their way. Look under your sofa.”

Emma sensed Ashley shifting slightly to do as she was told. Nell shot a glance there, too.

“When you weren’t paying attention, I called Matthias. My phone’s been on speaker this whole time. He’s heard every word you’ve said.”

“You bitch,” Ashley hissed into Emma’s ear. “I’m gonna kill you just because you’ve destroyed my life.”

“Come on, Ashley. You were never a killer before all this happened. You’re a mom. Do you really want Daphne to come out here and see what you’re doing?”

As if hearing her name, the little girl stepped out of her bedroom. Emma saw her. Ashley’s sharp intake of breath told Emma she’d seen her, too.

Emma prayed she’d learned something during Matthias’s attempts to teach her self-defense. She locked onto Nell’s gaze and gave an almost imperceptible nod. Nell returned it.

Braced to ignore the pain, Emma reached back and took a vicelike grip on the wrist that clutched her hair. With the speed he’d drilled into her, she shifted back into Ashley, hoping the move loosened the pressure of the blade. Emma didn’t pause to assess. She spun toward Ashley and ducked under her arm, much like a dancer twirling their partner. Except Emma kept a death grip, torquing Ashley’s shoulder, breaking her grip on Emma’s hair. Ashley screamed, and the knife dropped from her fingers.

“Let me go!” she wailed, struggling to twist free from Emma’s shoulder lock.

Emma didn’t dare.

She didn’t need to. In that moment, the house erupted.

Nell’s crutch whooshed past Emma, so close she felt the breeze. It connected with Ashley’s head in a dull thud. Daphne’s shriek was drowned out by the explosion of the front door splintering.

ChapterForty

TV cops made kicking in doors look easy. Matthias knew it wasn’t, but he’d heard every word; every threat Ashley had made. There was no way he was waiting for the county’s SWAT unit to arrive. Thanks to Eric manning his own phone while Matthias kept his tuned to Emma’s call, the special weapons and tactics squad was hurtling toward the Jones residence along with dozens of local and state police.

But Matthias got there first, and he wasn’t waiting for backup.

Thankful that Sonny hadn’t bothered to upgrade his house and that the front door wasn’t new or steel, Matthias had Eric hold the storm door open while he, firearm in hand, charged shoulder first dead center. The wood disintegrated, and he staggered through.

He could’ve saved his shoulder.

Ashley sprawled on the floor, moaning and clutching her head. Emma stood over her, a bead of blood dripping down her neck from a small nick. Nell balanced on her good foot, holding her crutch like a club, ready to strike again if Ashley made any kind of move. The child stood at the edge of the room, screaming.

“Oh, that poor baby.” Eric bustled past Matthias, pausing to inspect Nell and Emma. “Are you girls okay?”

“We’re fine.” Nell tucked her makeshift weapon under one arm, hopped over to the sofa, and flopped down on it. “And we make a helluva team, right, Sis?”

“One hundred percent,” Emma replied. She looked down and used the toe of her sneaker to kick a knife well away from Ashley’s reach.

Appeased, Eric continued to the little girl and scooped her up. “Now, now. Let’s dry those tears.” He shot a troubled look at Matthias that mirrored his own thoughts. Daphne Jones’s life was about to change in a big way. They could only pray it would be for the better.