West clapped his hands together and rubbed his palms against each other. “Alright, Dally. Show us what we’re working with.”
CHAPTER 18
NOELLE
Every breath, every soft moan, reminded her that the man just a few feet away was dying.
Noelle listened to Tony’s half of the conversation on the phone.
His tight, clipped words.
His bursts of anger.
And every few minutes, a kick, landing squarely on the wounded man, bleeding out on the ground.
“Please.”
The word came out because she couldn’t… wouldn’t stop it.
“Please, let me help him.”
Tony dropped the handset of the phone to the counter before turning his attention back to her.
“What,” he spoke through clenched teeth, “do you want from me?”
“I want to help him.” She gestured at the man on the floor. “He’s bleeding out. Please, let me try and help.”
Tony opened his mouth to speak.
“Let us go!”
Noelle turned her attention to the woman and her children cowering behind the table of plant starters.
The woman’s face was livid red, her face streaked with tears.
Her children clung to her, one sniffling, one hiccupping along with soft sobs.
She felt for the children. She couldn’t do anything else.
Even their mother’s fear pulled at her heartstrings.
“Please, let us go!” The woman pulled one of her children around from her back to hold him in front of her. “I have small children!”
Noelle bit back her own words.
She had a little girl, too.
She just wasn’t sure if that would soften Tony toward her.
Noelle knew that she was in his crosshairs with or without his gun.
“You,” he shifted and pointed a finger at the woman. “Shut up!”
Instead of quieting her down, the woman dissolved into tears and Noelle watched her children cling to her, their knuckles nearly white with pressure.
She understood their fears.
She felt them, too.
