Page 106 of Nanny for the Bodyguard
I know Kowalski is alluding to capital punishment, so there it is.
Neil has a choice; his life or Hazel’s. Which is more important to him?
I'm not surprised in the least when I see him toss down the knife and shove Hazel forward, because he's a fucking coward.
There's nothing that Kowalski can do now to keep me away from her, and I shove past his arms and reach for Hazel, yanking her against my chest.
Neil tries to make a sidestep into the back of the room where there might be another door, using this moment between us as a distraction.
But I let go of Hazel, and run forward to grab his shirt and pull him towards me before I collide my fist with his face.
He crumples onto the ground, whining and squealing as his nose pours blood.
“Mr. Hawke!”
“I only punched him. He's got a broken nose. I wanted to do much worse, trust me.”
Kowalski and the others deal with Neil as I go back to Hazel and press her to my chest.
“Are you okay? Please tell me you're okay. Did he do anything to you? Are you alright?”
Hazel looks up into my eyes, and I can see that she's too shocked to put anything into words. Then, realization clicks in her brain that I'm actually here, that she's not going crazy.
“How? How did you do this? How are you here?”
Guilt and relief war inside me as I meet Hazel's eyes, and a tiny scoff leaves me.
“I had a feeling you would do this. You were off earlier when you got that phone call. I had to assume that Neil called you,that he wanted to make a trade. I really,reallywish you wouldn't have done this. It wasreallystupid.”
Dropping her chin, I can tell that Hazel feels terrible.
“But thank you. I know you were trying to protect Jade. I know that you were trying to do everything you could to keep her safe. And I was doing everything I could to keep youbothsafe.”
She shakes her head, dried tears clinging to her skin. “You were asleep when I left, though, and I deleted the message from my phone.”
“I wasn’t asleep. I was pretending, and before we went to bed, I called the sheriff to make sure that everyone was on standby. We followed you here. They had to get everything set up to arrest Neil before we came in. I'm sorry it took so long.”
Hazel sags against my chest, her head hitting me with a solid thump. “It's okay. I just…I'm really glad that you're here. I'm really glad that I'm not…that he is…”
I lift up her chin, kissing her forehead. “I know, I know, baby. I'm glad, too. Please don't do anything as reckless as that again, though, all right?”
Hazel nods against me. “I won't, I promise.”
I smile down at her, so damn happy that she is okay.
“Jade! I sent her running. Is she?—”
“She's alright. She's outside. I'm sure she'd like to see both of us. Come on.”
We start to leave the office. I know Kowalski wants to talk to me about punching Neil and all this nonsense, but I don't care right now.
I just want my girls to be together, and I want them to be in my arms, safe against me. We rush across the warehouse towards where the front door is held open, and the flashing blue and red lights of the EMT trucks are reflecting off the ground.
I'm surprised Hazel is able to run so fast, but we get through the door to where the ambulance is parked.
“Hazel! Uncle Easton!”
Jade leaps up from where she’s seated at the back of the ambulance, running over towards us. Hazel opens her arms, kneeling down on the ground, and Jade smashes into her.
