Page 113 of Stolen Temptation

We’re near my and my mother’s favorite bookstore, the one we used to visit all the time. The store’s owner became friends with my mom. And he told her…

I sit up taller in my seat.

Hope and fear animate me. My heart begins to pick up speed, like a train leaving a station. A traffic light changes ahead of us. Yellow slips to red, and Riley eases the car to a halt as she and Harper talk quietly in front of me.

Slowly, my hand finds the door handle.

I don’t wait another second.

Throwing the door open, I leap from the backseat onto the pavement, sprint to the nearest sidewalk, and keep running.

I think I might hear the twins shouting after me, but I don’t glance back. Not even once.

The night air feels incredible. My body cuts through it as I race down the street.

This is the first time I’ve ever been completely and totally free. No supervision. No guards. No walls. No locked doors. No place to go back to.

Just me. On my own.

I dart through the semi-dark streets, weaving until I reach a shop that looks like it might work. Slipping inside under the watchful eye of the thin Indian man behind the counter, I slink through the narrow aisles, praying that the convenience store will have what I need.

Luck must be on my side, because the last aisle contains tools. A quick inspection doesn’t turn up bolt cutters, but I do spy wire cutters…and the bracelet is pretty thin…

Let’s hope this works.

I spend the next minute awkwardly attempting to slide the tool under the band. The stupid thing is so tight that I scratch my skin more than once, drawing blood.

Finally, I manage to get the bracelet between the teeth. Five attempts later, it snaps.

Relief sweeps through me as I rehang the tool from the hook. I’m just glad Rory fitted me with the bracelet tracker and not an injectable implant requiring minor surgery to remove. I’m lucky he underestimated my ability to escape the estate grounds.

Before leaving, I drop the device in the trash can by the door and wave at the frowning owner.

Then I jog through the streets toward the bookstore. The place I’ve always felt the safest.

A neon purple moon still shines in the window even though the store’s closed. The glossy sign above the door proudly declares its name: Midnight Books. Warmth oozes through me as I finally slow to a stop at the familiar entrance.

My bruised heart aches, but at least I can find comfort in my old friends, books. They’re the only ones I can count on.

Chapter 30

Rory

I shove my palms against my eye sockets, trying to get the ache in my retinas to cease. Yes, I’ve been up all night. Yes, there was smoke smothering my eyes a few hours ago, and I’ve been doing even more damage by staring at computer screens ever since.

But if this is what it takes to identify the mole and put that bastard out of commission, then I accept the sleep deprivation and terrible eyesight in my future.

I’ve been sifting through security camera footage and scrubbing the dark web for anything that might point us to the fire’s origin.

Scouring underground networks for chatter has turned up zilch, which is sending me into a depressive spiral. The less I find, the more anxious I get that Thomas is going to pull everyone to his side.

If I can’t find definitive proof that Leo wasn’t behind the fire at Madden, he’ll become the culprit by default, and the pressure to return Kiara will only increase.

I shouldn’t care, but I do. I can’t let that happen.

Everything in me wants to run all the way to her room. I wish I could check on her, but if I visit her while everyone else busts their asses to find the mole, I’ll look weak.

I don’t need to give Thomas or anyone else more reasons to return her.