Page 16 of The Royal Flame
Stupid, sweet guy.
Now, he fits the profile of a hero.
“Like I was going to let you do this alone,” he tells when I scowl at him.
“You better be ready to run,” I whisper, causing his brows to furrow.
I don’t have time to explain. I rotate back to Will. “You remember how someone stole from your boss, and no one could figure out who it was? You tried and tried to figure it out but failed. Well, here’s a little incentive to chase me instead of them.” Grinning, I back away, urging River to do the same. “I know who stole the money and where it’s hidden. All twenty-thousand dollars of it.”
Wills expression crumbles. “You’re lying.”
“Am I?” I bat my eyelashes innocently at him. “I mean, it’s not like I know anyone who would steal from a drug lord.” My tone oozes with sarcasm.
He glares at me because he knows what I’m referring to.
My father has stolen from drug lords multiple times.
Here’s the thing: Will could probably get more cash from River in return for letting us go. But the bait I set up is more thanjust about money. It’s about power and credit, which Will hasn’t had since the incident.
Will points the knife at me. “Your father took that money?” he growls out, his face red.
I honestly don’t know if he did. But my father—the man I spent most of my life believing to be my father anyway—has a tarnished reputation, so all it takes is a grin from me for Will to take the bait.
I start running backwards, and River follows suit as Will charges at us.
“Get them!” he yells at his crew, his voice roaring with rage.
“It’s time for us to use our running skills,” I tell River, hoping his stitches won’t rip open.
He shouldn’t have stayed behind. I had it handled, but I am touched he did, even if I now have to worry about him injuring himself.
Both of us spin around and run. Footsteps barrel after us along with shouting.
“Can you sprint?” I ask River as we veer around a corner, heading deeper into the murky, run-down shadows of the city.
River nods, and we quicken our pace, sprinting across the street and heading for a cluster of two-story homes that are worn out enough to be condemned, but aren’t. Music is flowing through the air as the noise of parties going on fill the streets. People are loitering outside on front lawns and near cars parked.
I grab River’s hand as I tug us toward the closet house.
“What’re we doing?” he whispers as I steer us into a crowd crowding around two guys fighting in a gravel driveway.
“Blending in,” I whisper as I slow to a powerwalk. I flit a glance over my shoulder. Will and his crew are a ways back so I quicken my pace and let the crowd swallow us.
“Fight! Fight! Fight!” people are chanting as I steer us through the mob.
River’s other hand finds my waist, and he skims his finger along the sliver of flesh peeking out from between the hem of my shirt and the waistband of my jeans. It brings me a drop of comfort, but I remain on edge as we brink through the last of the crowd and hightail it toward the river.
Gravel crunches under our boots as we make our way down the shoreline with nothing but the glow of the moonlight to light up our way. The space between the edge of the river and the bushes beside us is narrow, and occasionally, my shoes end up in water.
River stays near me the entire way with his arm curled around my waist and his chest pressed against my back.
“Where are we going?” he finally whispers when we’re far away enough from civilization that the only noise is from the swishing of the water flowing over the rocks.
Mud and water seep through my shoes as I accelerate my pace, swinging around the branches of trees.
“There’s an overpass up right up here,” I explain, hoping that Will didn’t see where River and I went. “Finn can pick us up from there. Just ping him our location.”
“Okay, I’ll give him a heads-up now. Plus, I want to make sure they made it to the car safely,” he whispers as he removes his arm from my waist to get his phone out his pocket.
