The police officer who called it in came back, and the look in his eyes told me everything I didn’t want to hear. “I’ll drive,” he said. “Let’s go.”
We ran to the police car, Ryan and Liam on our heels. He sped away, lights and sirens on, his urgency terrifying. A minute later, still too far from home, he turned the lights and sirens off, but didn’t slow. “We’re going in silent. Officers are already on scene.”
“For?”
“Assailant with a knife.”
Ryan cursed. I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t talk, couldn’t breathe. I felt hands on my shoulder, squeezing.
“We’ll save your girl,” Liam gritted out. False reassurance, but I latched onto it anyway. I needed Juliette to be safe.
“I’m trusting you to let the officers handle this.”
I nodded. Lied. I’d do whatever it took to protect my Juls.
He sighed because he knew.
And then we were there. Parked down the block, walking in silently, too slowly, still too far away to help.
We heard Kayla yelling before we could see them. “Shut the fuck up. I’m cutting this shirt off and I’m cutting everything under it. Dylan won’t ever want to look at you again, bitch.”
We made our way closer, using the parked cars as cover. Officers were crouched behind the cars surrounding Kayla and Juliette, the few closest to us within sight, glimpses of feet the only sign that the rest were there.
A hand squeezed my shoulder hard, and Ryan whispered in my ear. “Keep it together. Juliette needs you to do this the smart way.”
Fuck. He was right, but I couldn’t just sit there and let Juliette get hurt. I caught the eye of an officer ducked behind thecar across from me. The officer nodded and held up five fingers. Thank fuck.
Five seconds later, officers popped up from behind the cars, yelling and pointing their guns. I didn’t give a fuck that they were pointed at Kayla. Juliette was too close, and it was too chaotic.
“Drop the knife.”
“You can’t shoot me without hitting her.”
Kayla sounded out of her mind.
I shook off Ryan’s restraining hand and stood. Fuck. Blood poured from Juliette’s mouth and soaked the front of her shirt, which hung off her, sliced apart in jagged cuts. So much blood. I couldn’t tell where it came from. Please let it be a cut on her face. If she’d coughed up that blood… God, it couldn’t be.
Juliette was clearly in shock. Her eyes were wide and unfocused, her chest heaving in fast, unsteady breaths. I wrenched my eyes from her, away from the knife at her bloodied throat, and forced myself to look only at my ex-wife.
“Kayla.”
Her head whipped around as her eyes searched for me, but she didn’t move. She sneered as her eyes met mine. “And there he is. The big hero firefighter. Of course you’d come to save your precious Juliette.”
“It’s not too late to walk away from this. Let Juliette go and come here. I’ll help you.”
“You don’t want to help me. You’re the one who ruined everything. Again.”
Juliette winced as Kayla pressed the knife against her throat. I felt Juliette’s desperate eyes on me, but I didn’t allow my attention to waver from Kayla.
I slowly walked closer, hands up, fighting back the rage and terror threatening to overtake me. “Kayla, I care about you. Idon’t want to see you get hurt. Please. Put the knife down. I don’t want any of these police officers to hurt you. Let me help you.”
Kayla shook her head, her fist tightening around the knife. “Don’t come any closer.”
“Please, Kayla. I’ve always cared about you. Put the knife down so I can come to you. I want to help you. Are you okay, Kayla? Did you get hurt?”
“I’m okay,” Kayla said slowly, her face showing slight confusion.
“Good, I want you to stay that way. These cops want to hurt you. I’ll protect you. I couldn’t bear to see them hurt you. Come to me, please, Kayla.” I prayed that she was out of her mind enough for this to work.