Page 84 of Runaway Hearts: Seduced by Danger

His jaw clenches as his fingers clench into a fist, only to extend again. He’s trying to figure out how to escape the life he was born into, and it’s terrifying him.

I assume he took off with some money. “Can your men reach you through your cell phone?”

“No one has my personal number except three people. Rory—my contact, Six, and Yuzu—my father’s right hand.” He whips out an old flip phone from the nineties, and I titter until I burst out laughing.

“That’s not a phone; that’s a flip-phonosaurus,” I blurt, my laughter echoing in the car. The ancient relic of a phone seems out of place in this technological world we inhabit.

A low snarl escapes Kai’s lips as he glares at me, his eyes ablaze with annoyance.

Undeterred by his reaction, I reach into my jacket pocket and retrieve my phone, a gleaming marvel of technology. “What if you change your phone?”

“It’s not that simple,” Kai says. He leans back in his seat, running a hand through his disheveled hair as he closes his eyes for a momentary respite. “They’ll find me. Six knows everything that goes on.”

“How? If you drop your phone, how can they track you?”

I try to decipher the complex web of thoughts that swirl within his mind.

“You use only cash; don’t attract attention to yourself; no one even knows what you look like,” I say to emphasize his remarkable stealth. “How can they find you if you leave no traces?”

“My people know what I look like.”

Right...

At that moment, I yearned for the life of adventure and intrigue Kai was born into, like Seito and the enigmatic Paulina from another world. If only I could access the vast resources that dance tantalizingly beyond my reach.

On the run…

In my mind’s eye, I conjure an image of myself, far away from this mayhem, lounging on a hidden beach along the sun-kissed Costa Ricancoast. Sipping margaritas and losing myself in the pages of captivating stories, perhaps even writing my own tales of wonder.

Crazy idea, right?

Kai stares out the window, his jaw tight. “It’s not that easy. The Kwunarus have eyes and ears everywhere on the West Coast.” He turns to me, his eyes haunted. “If I run, he’ll see it as the ultimate betrayal. He’ll tear the country apart looking for me. And he won’t stop until I’m dead or back under his thumb.”

Kai opens his eyes and cracks his knuckles. “Yeah,” he mutters and slumps in the seat like he’s accepted his fate. “I just want to check out the safehouse and stay there a bit. Maybe it’ll help me find a solution.”

I ponder his words carefully. The web of the criminal underworld he’s trapped in seems unavoidable, but I refuse to believe there isn’t some way out. Some paths I just haven’t thought of yet.

His hands sink into his hair as if grappling with inner demons.

After a pause, Kai turns to me, his gaze penetrating my defenses. “Why don’t you call your father ‘Dad’?”

My mouth hangs open, but no sounds come out.

“It’s okay. Take your time.”

“Richard’s an okay guy, I guess.” My lips curl into a melancholic smile. “But as a child, I never heard a kind word from him.” Not smart enough, not athletic enough, and yet too demanding.

Bitter memories resurface, weaving threads of sorrow and regret through my voice.

Soccer practices where he wouldn’t look at me.

“I wasn’t the child he wanted.” It hurt to realize I wasn’t good enough for him. “Despite my efforts to make him proud, it was never enough. One day, I just stopped trying, and we drifted apart.”

A lip curl because of a B in math.

The loss of those years presses upon me, threatening to suffocate me once more. “When my mother left, Richard blamed me,” I confess, gazing out the window at the passing trees. “And it triggered a spiral of anxiety and depression. I felt like an outsider in my own life, unloved and unwanted. To him, I was the daughter who shattered his marriage and caused constant conflict.” There’s a lingering sadness in my soul as I continue my story. “He went from being ‘Dad’ to ‘Richard,’ going from a paternal figure into nothing more than a biological stranger.”

A wistful sigh escapes me as I speak of what could have been. “Corey took me in when my mother left, and I stayed in touch with Richard until he met Olga. Then everything changed; he cut me off without a second thought.”

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