Page 25 of Noel Secrets

Then Jayda’s head turned. Her eyes met his across the rink. For an instant, fear flickered into relief. Then her captor noticed too.

The man’s free hand went for his pocket, then steel glinted. A knife.

“Jayda!” Michael bellowed, his voice cutting through the Christmas music.

Heads turned. A few gasps rippled across the crowd. The man jerked Jayda toward the park’s exit, moving faster now. Michael’s stomach knotted—he’d never make it at this pace.

He jumped back to his feet and sprinted—or the ice-booted version of sprinting—straight toward the railing and launched himself. His knee slammed into the barrier, pain jolting up his leg, but adrenaline numbed it. He vaulted over, landing hard on the walkway just as the man dragged Jayda into the shadows beyond the rink.

“Let her go!” Michael roared, charging, closing the gap between them.

The man turned to face him, the knife pressed to Jayda’s ribs. Her captor’s voice was low and cold. “Stay back, or she bleeds.”

Michael froze, chest heaving. His fists clenched helplessly. Every instinct screamed to tackle the guy, but he couldn’t risk it—not with the blade at her side.

Jayda’s gaze flicked to him. Wide. Afraid. But beneath the fear… something sharp. Calculating. One leg moved and then the other, but it buckled right away.

And then it hit him. She’d been tasered, probably with her own stun gun. He locked his gaze on her, drilling into her eyes the support to try again. A memory came to his mind. A much younger Jayda, wiry and furious, flooring him in Ginny and Ed’s living room after he’d teased her too far. A move she’d pulled from God knows where—one second he’d been laughing, the next he was staring at the ceiling with her knee in his chest.

He remembered exactly how she’d done it.

“Jayda,” he said, steadying his voice. “Remember the move. The one you used on me once.”

Her brows flicked. She knew.

He nodded once for her to do it.

Jayda tested her legs again, this time more stable.

The man sneered, confused at their conversation. The time gave Jayda what she needed.

In the next second, she twisted hard, slamming her heel down on his instep. The man hissed, knife jerking just enough.Jayda bent low, grabbed his wrist, and pivoted—using his own momentum against him. The same move she’d used on Michael years ago.

The man hit the pavement with a grunt, knife clattering free.

“Good girl,” Michael said, lunging for the weapon. He kicked the blade away and drove his fist into the man’s jaw. Bone cracked under his knuckles. The man went slack, groaning.

Michael hauled Jayda upright. “You okay?”

Her breath puffed white, shaky but defiant. “Yeah. Now, I am. But I might still need you to hold me up.”

He chuckled. “Your stun gun?”

She offered a wobbly smile with a little chagrin. “Thanks for the reminder…about the move.”

“Don’t mention it.”

But their relief lasted only a heartbeat. When they turned, two more men stepped from the shadows, a feral expression on their faces. Both wore dark coats, their hands resting casually inside—concealing weapons, no doubt.

Michael shoved Jayda slightly behind him, his pulse hammering. “You want her, you’ll have to go through me.”

The first man shook his head almost sadly. “You don’t understand. This isn’t about you. Walk away, and maybe we’ll let you keep breathing.”

Michael wasn’t about to wait for them to make a move. But Jayda wasn’t ready to run. He did the only thing he could, scooping her up to cradle her, and sprinting back to the glow of the Christmas bazaar. The police would have hopefully arrived already. He weaved through stalls but this time remembered a cab parked on the right side of the fair.

At last, they burst out onto Michigan Avenue, where the taxi still waited at the curb, the driver eating a donut.

They’d made it. Barely.