Hetty halted on the curb outside the Astoria to stare at a trio of men. They were clearly drunk, judging by the way they were staggering about, but what stopped her was what they were focused on. The men were shouting at a young woman. A frightened boy clung to her side as she tried to walk down the street. But the drunks had noticed them and cornered them.
“Come on, lovey, don’t be like that!” one man said with a laugh as he reached for the woman, and she knocked his hand away. He tossed a brown bottle at the woman’s feet. The sound of the glass shattering echoed sharply down the darkened street, blending with the woman’s sharp cry of alarm.
Fury roared through Hetty, and she stepped off the curb. Before she was even halfway across the street, another one of the drunkards let loose a st
