Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

Molly hesitated. In a way she had, but daren’t tell him that. “My aunt reported Oliver’s disappearance but not mine?”

“It looks that way,” Oliver replied.

Molly wondered if it was because Mrs Taunton had seen her leave with a bag. Even so, she had to wonder why Edith hadn’t reported her departure to the magistrate.

“He was reported missing several weeks ago,” Jasper whispered.

Molly looked at him. “It isn’t like him to do anything like this. He isn’t the kind of boy to run away.”

“Why did he then? How do you know he wasn’t kidnapped?” Jasper challenged.

He knew there was a wealth of information she wasn’t telling either of them right now. He wanted to demand she talk, preferably while she was willing to and before she ran away again. When the shadows in Rigley Row began to move, though, both he and Oliver knew it was time to leave.

“You have to come with us,” Oliver informed her.

“Who are you?” Molly demanded. “I am not going anywhere with you until you tell me who you are.”

“All you need to know is that we are the people looking for the kidnap victims who have been taken from Leicestershire and Derbyshire,” Jasper stated calmly but firmly. “Now get into the carriage and don’t bloody try to run away again.”

His voice was so rife with disgust that Oliver grinned momentarily before he turned to watch the Rigley Row shadows creep ever closer.

“Hurry up,” Oliver grumbled when Jasper yanked the door open, but Molly made no attempt to climb aboard. “You are coming with us if I have to arrest you.”

Molly gasped and looked at him.

Oliver quietly slid his cloak to one side, so she – and the Rigley Row thugs - could see the gun strapped to his hip.

“I will use it if I have to,” he warned loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Molly’s gaze turned to Jasper. It was evident that he wasn’t armed, but she suspected he was no less dangerous.

The affect this man had on her emotions was enough to drive her out of her mind. She had never felt so overwhelmed, so emotive, being close to anybody before.

But then I have never been as close to anybody before as I have been to this man. This stranger.

Without thinking about what she was doing, her feet began to move to the now open door of the carriage. She didn’t glance behind her as she climbed board and settled down in the darkened interior. Molly was glad to leave the street behind, especially when they returned to the lit streets of a more salubrious part of London.

“Where are we going?” she asked with a sense of calmness she truly didn’t feel.

Inside, she was a seething mass of emotions she couldn’t comprehend. She was scared, confused, worried, and didn’t want to feel anything yet wanted to experience more of this man, this stranger’s protection and the feelings he brought her. The contradiction was confusing. What had just happened on that street had changed the way she now viewed life and what she wanted from it, but she still couldn’t quite decide if she should want a deeper connection with anybody, especially a man like Jasper who seemed to move about in places like Rigley Row as though he was familiar with them.

“Who are you? I keep asking but you don’t seem willing to tell me. What do you know about the kidnaps in Leicestershire? How do you know of Oscar? Why are you carrying guns? What aren’t you telling me? Are you the kidnapper? I warn you now that if you try to kidnap me, I shall scream.”

She tipped her chin up in a brave display of defiance that reminded Jasper of a spitting kitten. He smirked because he knew screaming would make no difference to the final outcome. She was going with them to the safe house, and that was that.

“We work for the government,” Jasper replied. “My colleagues and I are in London to try to find the people who have been kidnapped from Leicestershire and Derbyshire. One of them was your brother, Oscar. So, I am afraid that now you have to stay with us.”

It was with no small measure of relief that Jasper said that. He truly felt as though something in his life had finally been resolved.

At least if she knows who we are she will be less inclined to keep running away and putting herself into bloody stupid situations.

“The government?” Molly whispered, awed despite her wariness.

Jasper nodded. “We are going to a safe house we use to regroup and meet colleagues who are working on cases in London. You will be safe there. If you give me your address, I will arrange for someone to go to your lodgings and fetch your belongings. You can’t go back there now.”

“Why? I cannot stay with you,” she protested.

Jasper turned to look at her with such certainty in his gaze that Molly knew that whatever she said to this man, whatever objection she put forward, she was going to stay in this safe house and wouldn’t leave until he agreed to it. It was horrifying, just as much as it was a huge relief. If there was one thing her adventure tonight had taught her it was that she was horribly out of her depth trying to find her brother in a city like London alone. Out of her depth, and in deep trouble. She needed Jasper. She might not want him – well, not much – but she needed him.