Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

“We will help you find your brother, not least because he is still listed as one of the kidnap victims. Until we can find him and find out if he was taken or left of his own accord then we have to believe that he has been kidnapped, we just don’t know by who yet.” Jasper grinned at her. “Thanks to you, my colleagues and I have just received a massive clue to help us with our hunt for the missing.”

“You have? How? Did you know that man who tried to accost me?”

Jasper’s smile died. He slowly shook his head. “He might have just been trying his luck given you are young, beautiful and on your own.”

“Then how can I have helped you find the kidnap victims?” Molly frowned.

“Because we had searched Rigley Row but got nowhere. All doors were closed to us. Generally, people who venture in there rarely come back out with their lives or pockets intact. Now that we think at least one of the victims is there we can go back but will be a lot better prepared to get answers. Are you sure it was your brother you saw?”

Molly nodded. “I don’t understand why he ran away from me, though. Why would he not want to talk to me?”

“Because he might have been trying to protect you,” Jasper suggested. “If he was kidnapped, and he has seen any of the other victims, he would know that you are a perfect target. Running away is the best thing he could do for you right now.”

“How can you say that? Do you have any idea what it is like knowing that a young member of your family is in there? Did you see that place?” she gasped.

Of course he has seen that place. He has just said that he and his colleagues have already been in there looking for the kidnap victims.

“We all have. At some point, all my colleagues have ventured in there. It just isn’t somewhere we are happy to go, but we do anyway. Your brother will be fine given you didn’t follow him all the way back to his base. You will be fine just so long as you stay away from the area and leave finding your brother to us now. One thing I can promise you, Molly, is that we will find him now that we know where to look.”

“How can you be so sure he is staying there?” Molly whispered.

“Because nobody runs around Rigley Row freely. If he ran in there but didn’t get accosted then he had a place to go in there. It is telling that he wasn’t chased out like we were. They think he belongs there. We know differently.”

“He seemed so determined to avoid me. If he won’t stop for me, what makes you think he is going to be willing to stop to talk to you?”

“He doesn’t have any choice.”

There was something in Jasper’s voice that made her turn to stare at him. A determined hint of finality warned her that Oscar would do as he was told, just as effectively as she had been made to do what Jasper and his colleagues had wanted. Quietly, she settled back against the seat to contemplate that.

Moments later, the carriage rumbled into a large yard at the rear of a huge house in an affluent area of London. It was nothing like what she had expected a safe house to look like, but it was quiet, if a little haunting when shrouded in mystery and fog as it was. She had no idea of the true size of the large manor house she was going to temporarily call home. What she did know for definite was that it was about as far from Rigley Row as it was possible to get.

She still glanced around warily, though, when Jasper led her into a large kitchen in the centre of which sat a huge table around which sat four men in the middle of a meal. Despite the lateness of the hour, they were laughing and joking as they ate meats, pies, and a plethora of other food the likes of which Molly hadn’t seen for a very long time.

“Gentlemen, meet our new guest. This is Molly, Oscar’s sister,” Jasper began.

He swiped an apple off the table, too focused on making introductions to even be aware of the somewhat proprietorial arm he slid around Molly’s waist as he turned to face his colleagues.

“Molly, this is Rhys, Harry, and Albert, but don’t call him that if you want to keep your teeth. Al will do, and Will. You have already met Oliver, our coachman. The other men you saw were Niall, Phillip and Callum. I will introduce you to them later.” Jasper lifted his brows at his colleagues. “Miss Egerton is in a spot of bother. Her brother is in Rigley Row.”

“Jesus,” Rhys spat. He immediately looked contrite and muttered an apology.

“For now, nobody is to do anything. We will discuss it later, when Miss Egerton here has told us a little more about her brother,” Jasper warned.

He waved a hand to a doorway that led into the main part of the house. “I’ll go and show her to her room.”

“The garden room is free,” Harry called after them.

Jasper grinned at Molly and waved her before him. “Turn right at the top of the stairs. The garden room is the door facing you at the end of the corridor. Make yourself at home.”

Molly paused because it was evident that he had no intention of showing her the way, not that she was apt to get lost with directions like those. It

was just that she didn’t want to be alone just yet.

Don’t be so foolish. You cannot stay with him all the time Molly warned herself.

Jasper read the hesitation in her eyes and knew she was likely to disappear the first chance she got if he didn’t do something to quell her fears.

“Look, we will find your brother for you, all right? I don’t know how because Rigley Row is about the worst place in London your brother could be. Do you have any idea why he might have found his own way there if he wasn’t kidnapped?”