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Now she felt anger at the way these men would treat a person, not to mention a woman. She took two steps and let the men bump into each other as they tried to grab her.
Now she stepped to the far end of the bench. She needed them to come to her.
“I hope whoever you work for didn’t pay you too much. You must be new to this.”
It was an insult—and, more important, it was an insult coming from a woman. She knew that would force one of them to come at her.
It was the heavier man who moved first. He stepped forward, still unaware that she had a weapon in her hand. He reached behind him as though he had a gun. She wasn’t going to wait to find out if he really did.
Alex took a step to the side and then, almost like a ballerina, shifted her weight and stood up on her toes as she drove the stiletto into the man’s solar plexus and up into his heart.
She knew she had hit the target immediately. The way the man stopped midmotion, and the way his eyes went blank, instantly told her he was out of the fight.
As she stepped away, pulling the stiletto from his chest, the man crumpled and tipped over the low seawall into the East River. She couldn’t have planned it any better.
She had no time to admire her handiwork and immediately had to parry a lunge from the man with the big knife. It was a good thrust, but all she had to do was turn sideways, and the blade missed her completely.
She grabbed the young man’s wrist with her left hand and drove the butt of the stiletto hard into his forehead.
She caught him as he lost consciousness. She said, “Have a good sleep. You’re going to need it.”
Chapter 47
I was sitting on the couch trying to hide how tired I was from Mary Catherine and Juliana. I was recovering, but the long days seemed to hit me hard in the evenings.
I never wanted to say anything to the family, because I cherished these evenings at home with the children. Working on school projects, talking sports, listening to their dreams and hopes. It was magical. Usually.
At the moment, I was in a serious conversation with Juliana. I know that an eighteen-year-old in New York can legally make her own choices. But that’s not what parenting is all about. I’m not naive. Sometimes you can’t be the fun dad who always cracks jokes. This was one of those times.
Juliana said, “You don’t even know Cade.”
I said, “You mean Carter?”
“I mean the man I’m currently dating.”
That stung a little bit. I didn’t like to think of my daughters dating. But I was realistic. She was a beautiful girl, and now she was going to be on TV. I had to watch what I was going to say.
“You mean the twenty-six-year-old man you are currently dating.” So much for watching what I said.
“I’m legally an adult. It doesn’t matter how old he is.”
Now Mary Catherine leaned in and said, “This isn’t getting us anywhere. Let’s take a break and talk about it tomorrow.”
With that, Juliana stood up quickly and said, “Fine.” She stormed out of the room and left me shaken.
I looked at Mary Catherine and just shook my head.
She put an arm around my shoulders and said, “She has a point. She is an adult. Maybe it would be better to give her a little space and not push too hard.”
“It’s just that I don’t like to see my children make mistakes. I’m trying to save them from going through the same things I did.”
“But we all make mistakes. I would think a man of your advanced years would know that by now.”
That made me smile. Only for a moment. Mary Catherine was absolutely right, but I was still a father worried about his daughter.
Mary Catherine said, “Is there something here I don’t understand? Or are you just trying to set a certain bar for the other girls as they get older and start to date?”
I dropped my head into my hands and admitted, “I just don’t want to make the same mistakes I made with Brian.”
