Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

“We need to go deep undercover,” Oliver

suggested.

Everyone groaned to the point that Oliver lifted his brows.

“Might I remind you all that going undercover is part of our job?” he mused, but with little enthusiasm to take the task on himself.

Working undercover was one of the most difficult aspects of their job, not least because it was awkward to do what they needed to do while pretending to be someone else. It was often tempting to let the disguise slip, and that defeated their purpose for going undercover in the first place as well as put their lives in danger.

“You need to stay here, Jasper. Miss Egerton seems willing to talk to you, so you can be her protection,” Oliver reported.

“I will go undercover, but I need help,” Callum interrupted before Jasper could protest.

“I don’t think any of us should go undercover,” Jasper replied. “I think we go in there with all guns blazing as it were, root this Oscar out of the woodwork, and get him back here so we can talk to him. He isn’t going to go back to Leicestershire, I know that much, because he hasn’t got anything to go back to, not now that he knows Molly is here. From what I understand, he hated living with his aunt.”

Jasper had no qualms breaking Molly’s confidence and telling his colleagues everything he knew about Molly and Oscar’s problems with their aunt.

“At least that alleviates the pressure because we don’t have to rush her home to her desperate relations,” Oliver mused. “I shall drop this aunt a note to tell her Molly is safe.”

“No,” Molly snapped from the doorway. “Do that and I leave.”

Everyone froze. A stilted silence fell over the room. Oliver lifted his brows at the young woman who had clearly been listening to their conversation. Jasper turned to look at her. He fought to keep his gaze impassive as he nudged the chair beside him out from under the table. It was difficult to tear his gaze away from the vision of pure beauty she made now that she was wearing one of the new dresses that he had bought her.

“Thank you for this,” Molly whispered, tugging on the fine material of the most beautiful gown she had ever owned. The silken material glided through her fingers with such teasing gentleness, Molly couldn’t help but smile. “You will have to let me pay for these.”

Niall coughed uncomfortably and shifted in his seat as he traded a look with Jasper.

“Come and sit down. You may as well join in on the conversation. We are just trying to work out the best way to get your brother here as well so you will both be safe,” Jasper informed her. “We won’t be discussing anything you shouldn’t hear. It will help you to know what we are doing.”

So you are less likely to want to run away.

He knew from the look on everyone’s faces, and the silence that met his suggestion, that his colleagues were all in agreement with him.

“I don’t know why he ran from me. He seemed almost frightened about something, but then that is understandable. This city is frightening,” Molly said as she sat at the table.

She had never felt as spoilt as she did right now. Not only was she living in a large, luxuriously warm and well-furnished house, but she was dressed in the finest clothes and had a huge array of foods to eat whenever she felt hungry. She would consider herself truly blessed if she had the opportunity to remain in such a place for the rest of her life, especially if she got to share it with Jasper and Oscar. The change in her circumstances made finding Oscar even more pressing because she wanted him to be able to enjoy the new, wonderful lifestyle she had been afforded. It didn’t seem right that she was here, while he was in Rigley Row.

“Why do you think he came to London?” Oliver asked.

“I have no idea. I have thought about it but cannot conceive of why he would come here.”

“Are you sure it was your brother?” Callum asked. “I mean, I know you were a little overset, and he was running. This city is packed full of children of all shapes and sizes. Maybe you mistook the youngster for your brother because that is what you wanted to see?”

“I am not deluded,” Molly snapped.

“I am not saying you are,” Callum replied. “But you had just nearly died in the river.”

“Did you see his face?” Jasper asked before Oliver could.

“Well, no, but I do recognise my own brother. I grew up with him. If that wasn’t Oscar, it was someone who looked exactly like him. Uncannily so, as a matter of fact. It has to be him. I just need to go back there. If only I can talk to him, I just know I can persuade him to return home.”

Jasper winced at the desperate tone of her voice. The instinctive need to comfort her had him placing his hand protectively over hers where it lay upon the table. He squeezed it for a moment, but rather than pull away, left it where it was.

“One thing you must never do is go there alone. I don’t know if Jasper has already warned you about the dangers of such a place. We were just discussing who was going in there, but nobody is eager seeing as it is usually the first place that most of London’s criminals head to as soon as they are released from gaol,” Oliver warned.

“I hate thinking that Oscar is there,” Molly whispered miserably.

“We will get him back. We just need to know if you have something, anything, of his that he will recognise and might want back,” Callum murmured.