“She sounds great,” Jasmine said with false enthusiasm. “What did you say her name was?”
“Katherine.”
A gasp turned Jasmine’s attention to the doorway leading to the main dance room. Katie stood there. Her face had lost all its complexion.
Jasmine got to her feet. Ginnie did the same. Her face morphed into one of exaggerated cheer, her smile as wide and false as a caricature.
“Katherine!” she exclaimed, starting toward Katie.
Katie stumbled back a step and encountered the edge of the doorway. A wet trail appeared down both of her legs.
She had soiled herself.
Jasmine surged forward, planting herself in front of Ginnie. “Stop right there,” she snapped. “Alima!”
“Katherine, honey, it’s me. It’s Nana.” Ginnie tried to shove Jasmine out of the way, her huge smile locked in place. “Let me go!”
“Hell no. You need to leave right now, lady.”
The older woman was astoundingly strong and seriously determined. She also had a couple of inches of height and a good fifty pounds on Jasmine. Jasmine’s slippered feet slid on the hardwood floor as Ginnie pushed against her. When the woman jerked her elbow and struck Jasmine in the mouth, it ignited her adrenaline. She lowered her shoulder and used her upper body strength to give Ginnie a more solid shove, sending her staggering back, bumping into a chair, and thudding to the floor.
While Ginnie gaped at her in shock, Jasmine reached down and tore off her dance shoes. “Alima!” she shouted again. “Call the police!”
Ginnie’s face morphed into rage. Jasmine’s blood went cold.
Behind her, Katie whimpered.
The office door flew open. Alima had the phone to her ear. She was rattling off the address as Ginnie used the chair to push herself back to her feet. Then Ginnie lifted the chair with the clear intent to wield it like a weapon.
“You bitch.”
“Get Katie out of here,” Jasmine ordered, not taking her eyes off Ginnie.
The furious woman swung the chair with all her might. Jasmine dropped to the floor. The chair whooshed harmlessly overhead. The momentum of the swing propelled the chair against the glass of the front window with a horrible crack.
Jasmine heard the sound of the phone striking something hard as Alima ran to Katie and lifted her from where she’d frozen in the doorway. They disappeared into the instruction room. Jasmine leaped back to her feet as Ginnie struggled to right herself after dropping the chair.
“The police are on their way,” Jasmine said, holding her hands up in a placating gesture that she knew wouldn’t work. “Don’t do anything more you might regret.”
“Shut the fuck up and get out of my way!”
Ginnie surged forward. Jasmine lowered herself again to brace for the impact of the woman’s full weight as she barreled into her. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to stop her otherwise, Jasmine tripped her.
They fell. There was an audible snap. Pain slammed through her. The collision with the hard floor beneath Ginnie’s sizeable bulk robbed her of breath.
“It’s Nana, Katherine,” Ginnie called out, fighting to get up as Jasmine clung to her. “Katherine. I’m here to take you home!”
Jasmine planted her feet and used her legs for leverage, thrusting upward and rolling the other woman off her. She quickly reversed their positions, grasping Ginnie’s flailing wrists to keep her down. Fear and agony banded her chest. She struggled to draw a full breath.
“Let me go, you deceitful whore!” Ginnie screeched. “If it wasn’t for you, Carol Ann would have convinced that bastard to give Katherine back to her by now. She’s my granddaughter. I have every right to be with her!”
The words gave Jasmine added strength, helping her keep the woman down. “No, you don’t. You lost that right the moment you first turned your anger on her.”
Ginnie’s face once again distorted into the raging fury that Jasmine firmly believed was the cause of Katie’s trauma. She lurched up and smashed her forehead into Jasmine’s face. Despite the resulting bright pop of pain, Jasmine wouldn’t let her go. Two drops of blood dripped onto the other woman’s face. Then two more. She didn’t seem to notice.
“Let me see her!”
“No. You’ll never see her again if I have anything to say about it.”
“You have nothing to say about it,” Ginnie spat. “You’re not her mother.”
“I am in every way that matters.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Will had never known fear like what he experienced as he pulled into Pirouette’s parking lot and saw the myriad of flashing lights from the emergency vehicles parked there.