Page 146 of What Comes Around

I felt… calm.

Sirens cut through the air a few minutes later, growing louder until they stopped just outside. Doors slammed. Voices multiplied. Apple’s cries sharpened instantly, louder, more desperate now that she had an audience that mattered.

“Help me! Please!”

The neighbors were probably glued to their windows, soaking it all in. This was a quiet neighborhood. Drama like this didn’t happen here.

I barely moved.

Then, through the noise, I heard something new, and Apple’s voice climbed higher, almost frantic.

“Knox! Knox, please! She tried to kill our baby! She pushed me!”

I went still.

He was here.

I couldn’t hear what he said, if he said anything at all. Apple kept crying, her voice breaking as she begged, “Please! Don’t let her get away with this!”

The sound of the front door broke through it all.

I looked up as it opened and shut again.

Knox walked in without hesitation, Titan following close behind him, but Knox’s attention locked onto me immediately, as if nothing else existed. Behind him, faint through the door, Apple’s voice still carried.

“Knox! Come back! Don’t leave me!”

He didn’t even glance back.

He crossed the room in a few quick strides and dropped into a crouch in front of me, his hands settling lightly on my knees. His gaze moved over me, sharp and thorough, taking in my face, my shoulders, my arms, searching for something wrong.

“Ashley,” he said, quieter now. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I said. “She didn’t touch me.”

His gaze searched my face a moment longer, as if confirming it for himself. Then he gave a small nod, a slow breath leaving him as some of the tension eased from his shoulders.

“Apple’s being taken to the hospital,” he said.

“I didn’t push her.”

His expression didn’t shift. “I know.”

There was no hesitation in it. No doubt.

“But even if you had,” he added, quieter now, “I wouldn’t have cared.”

Something dark flickered behind his eyes, cold and controlled, gone almost as quickly as it appeared. “She had it coming.”

I held his gaze for a second, taking that in, while outside Apple’s voice still carried faintly through the walls, high and desperate, still performing for anyone who would listen. Knox didn’t even acknowledge it.

“She told the police you shoved her,” he went on. “Said you attacked her without warning.”

“Of course she did.”

“They wanted to speak with you, but I told them they can talk to Lena instead. She saw everything.”

Relief settled quietly into my chest. I hadn’t realized how much I’d needed to hear that until the tension eased.