Page 19 of Cruel Romeo

God, how could I have been so careless? How could I just blurt out my actual name? A decade and change on the run, andthisis how I get caught? For fucking real?

It’s like I’d completely forgotten my cover story. Like I was twelve again. Scared, alone, desperate for someone to see me for who I really was.

But that someone never should have beenhim.

I replay Petyr’s questions in my mind. About my real name, my real age. That stupid plastic ID tucked in my purse—he never should have gotten his hands on that. All it took was some simple math to expose me. Math, and a stupid slip of the tongue.

He wasn’t asking at random. Every question was pointed, probing. Deliberate in a way that made my skin crawl. For several moments there, I thought I was being toyed with. That heknew.

But that can’t be. If Petyr knew who I was, there’s no way we’d be having a conversation at all, or even a leisurely hostage situation across the countryside. Best-case scenario, he’d have already made the call to my father. Set the ransom sky-high, maybe start a bidding war with every enemy he’s ever made, and sit back to enjoy the bloodbath.

Worst-case scenario, I’d be swimming with the koi fish.

But he wouldn’t havemarriedme. He just wouldn’t have. What kind of sense would that make?

I clutch that fraying thread of logic with all my heart. Yes, he can’t know. I’m alive, so he can’t know.

And he can never, ever be allowed to find out.

BZZZT!

I nearly jump when my phone buzzes in my purse.

I snatch it up before Mr. Daddy Long Hands can. When I see the bazillion missed calls from Jemma, my heart jumps out of my throat, but that’s not where it ends.

Because the texts are worse.

JEMMA:Are you okay??? That rich Russian guy just up and MARRIED you. Did you know him? What the hell, Sammi?

JEMMA:Sammi. Please talk to me.

JEMMA:Dude, pick up. You’re scaring me.

JEMMA:Alright, that’s enough. I’m calling the cops.

That last text sends ice through my veins.

NO,I reply dramatically in caps lock.Do NOT call the police, Jem.

Her reply is immediate.Give me one good reason not to??

I roll my eyes, even as my chest clenches. Two hours into this nightmare, and I’m already hurting the one person in my new life that I care about.

Please, just trust me. I promise I’m safe. I can’t talk rn, but I’ll call when I can, okay?

When I hitSend,my mouth turns bitter with the taste of my lies.

No more lies.That’s what I’d promised myself after I started my new life. I’d lie about my real identity, my age, and anything that could put me at risk of being discovered. But I wouldn’t lie about anything else. Especially not to my friends.

Just another promise I broke today.

After a couple of intermittent text bubbles, Jemma shoots back with a thumbs-up emoji, but I can feel the worry behind it.

I don’t blame her. I’m worried, too.

Because I have no idea how the hell I’m going to get back to the city.

But if I do manage to give old Dark-and-Broody the slip… then I might need Jemma to come pick up the pieces. God knows I don’t have anyone else.