Plan A was for Jasper to talk Violet into putting the weapon down.
Plan B was for Noah to tackle her from the side.
The police had been relegated to Plan C, except it wasn’t so much aplanas it was a hope that they’d show up if they were needed.
Noah wasn’t worried he wouldn’t be able to take her down. He outweighed her and had the element of surprise.
He was worried she’d fire that weapon and kill someone he loved.
Noah inched forward, trying to get Violet in sight.
There she was, in the far corner, the wall to her back.
He shrank into the shadows again and held very still.
“You think I’m stupid?” Anger hummed in her accusation. “You think I don’t know what you’re doing?”
She wasn’t buying Jasper’s story.
Noah braced himself, ready to lunge.
He was terrified that he’d be the reason she pulled the trigger. That he’d be the reason someone died.
“I’m telling you the truth.” Jasper’s voice held steady, that practiced charm bleeding through even in this nightmare. “I’ve thought about you every day since I left. About what we could have been.”
“Liar.” But something in Violet’s tone had shifted, uncertainty creeping in around the edges of her anger.
Delaney pressed herself against the wall as if she could push herself right through it.
“Look at me, Vi,” Jaz said. “Really look at me. Do you remember that night we took Lottie to the beach? She was just a baby, remember? She was so little and perfect. You were looking up, said you’d never seen stars like that before. But I couldn’t take my eyes off you and her. You two were the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.”
Silence stretched. Noah held his breath.
“You remember,” Violet whispered, a hint of awe in her voice.
Delaney seemed to hear it too, relaxing a fraction.
Charlotte was a ball in the corner, her small shoulders shaking.
“I know you don’t believe me,” Jaz said. “I wouldn’t believe me either. But I came back. I came back for you and our daughter.”
This was it. Either Jasper would convince her, or he wouldn’t.
Come on, Violet. Trust him.
“Really?” The word carried on a breath of hope. “You really mean it?”
Jasper took a step closer to the crazy woman. “Of course I mean it.”
It was working. He was going to talk her down.
Maybe Charlotte felt it, too, because she looked up.
And locked eyes with Noah.
“Daddy!”
Violet swung her body—and the gun—toward the corner. Her eyes were wild.
