Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

Niall opened his mouth to say something only for a warning look from Jasper to silence him again. Jasper knew it was best if Molly dealt with her brother because she knew him better than they did. Besides, Oscar was more likely to trust her than them.

Molly, while relieved that her brother was all right, really couldn’t allow him to go back to Edith’s. At the moment, though, he wouldn’t stop running away long enough for her to talk to him properly.

“Rigley Row is your home now, is it?” she sneered. “God, you are a disgrace, Oscar Egerton. Mother and father would be rolling in their graves if they could see you now, and knew what you had gotten yourself involved in.”

“I didn’t ask for it,” Oscar cried.

“Really? But you left of your own accord,” Molly snapped.

“No, I didn’t,” Oscar protested.

“I know you bought a coach ticket from Mr Bakerson because he told me, so don’t bother to try to lie to me,” Molly retorted.

“You don’t understand,” Oscar snapped.

“You didn’t care about me when you ran away, did you? You didn’t stop to think that I might want to come with you?” Molly snorted. “You just ran because that was what you wanted to do, but that is you all over, isn’t it? Selfish to the core.”

She had no idea where this was coming from. She watched Oscar blink at her but made no attempt to calm herself down as she usually would. After everything she had been through trying to find him, the fear, the worry, the confusion she had endured, Molly felt that she had earnt the right to say what she wanted.

“Why did you go with him? Him of all people,” Molly snapped.

“I didn’t.” Oscar shook his head.

“No. You ran all the way to London by yourself, didn’t you? You not only managed to find yourself some lodgings, but you have found someone to look after you, haven’t you? You are all right then, eh?” Molly’s voice was rife with disgust as her gaze slid over him. He was clean (ish) and had an apple in his hand. While he was thinner, and his face a bit grimy, he was still alive and relatively unharmed, if a little harder than she could ever believe he would be.

“You can do as you please, but I am not going to spend another moment running around these bloody streets,” she snorted.

Shaking her head in disgust, Molly ignored Jasper and his friends and stalked straight past Oscar without giving him a second look. It was only when she realised he wasn’t following her that she turned and looked back at her brother. It was as though she was looking at him through someone else’s eyes. Molly felt a sense of detachment that went against everything she had ever experienced before. It was enough to stop her from retracing her steps and insisting Oscar go with her. Her gaze turned to Denzel, who was walking toward them.

“And you are trying to tell me that you are not linked with him. God, you traitor,” Molly whispered to Oscar with a dismissive flick of her head at Denzel. She backed away, but not before giving her brother one last dark glare.

“Where are you going?” Oscar called after her.

“To find myself somewhere to live far away from this damned place. You are welcome to it, brother mine. Good luck,” Molly replied coldly.

“Wait!” Oscar cried suddenly. “Molly.”

But Molly didn’t stop. She kept walking even when she wanted to fall over from exhaustion. She continued when various things blocked her path, like market traders wheeling their goods to pitch up for the day, and carriages going out to work. Nothing stopped her. Nothing could stop her from doing whatever she could to put her ordeal behind her.

Eventually, she had to pause, but only stopped long enough to check that nobody from the Star Elite was behind her. To her surprise, she was all alone. Rather than be disconcerted by it, Molly was heartened by the fact that the thugs weren’t around either. Thankfully, she had been running around the streets for so long now that dawn was starting to taint the sky a dark grey. The area wasn’t tinged with shadows like it had been. While no less alien to her, she could at least make sure nobody was lurking in the darkness, waiting to kidnap her.

Molly wondered where Jasper was, but their argument after their confrontation with Denzel still rang in her ears. She doubted he would come after her. Now that she was alone, she missed him, and wished he was there. Unfortunately, while she now had some time to herself to think she couldn’t ignore the horrifying realisation that she truly felt as though she was leaving a very large part of herself behind. Strangely, it had nothing to do with Oscar, her own flesh and blood. It was the thought of losing Jasper that hurt more than Molly could ever have believed. Now, she was without anything. The clothing she owned was at the safe house, as was all the money she had to survive on.

“Now what am I going to do?” she whispered miserably when she simply couldn’t walk anymore.

Molly stopped in the middle of the street and turned slowly in a circle to study the houses that surrounded her. Unbeknown to her, she had run into a more affluent part of the city, but it was no less frightening to be all alone in it.

Jasper studied the young boy. “You are coming with me,” he growled.

While the boy was still protesting, Jasper hauled him up on tiptoe by his shirt and dragged him alongside him. With his free hand he lifted his gun and stopped, but only to point it straight at Denzel’s chest. Denzel froze.

“Follow me and you die,” Jasper bit out. “I warn you now that I shall have no qualms in shooting you where you stand if you defy me. I don’t care what your problem is with Molly, or Oscar, but go home, back to where you belong. I am telling you now that if I find you have had any hand in the kidnappings that have been happing in Leicestershire, I shall ensure you never see daylight again.”

He knew from the look on Denzel’s face that the man did have something to do with them. Jasper just had no idea how yet.

“Stay away from Rigley Row,” Denzel warned.

“No.” Jasper snorted. “I don’t take warnings well. Don’t bother issuing them to me. You have no idea what you are threatening.”