Page 39 of Runaway (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 4)

“Give him back.”

“Why? So you don’t have to find yourself another runner? That’s what you are using him for, isn’t it? He is running your drugs for you? Maybe he is keeping watch for you, or pickpocketing for your little gang. Why, a young lad like him has a use, doesn’t he? Your new fiancé must have thought her boat had come in when she realised just how similar you were to her. Well, given your greed and your penchant for getting other people to do your dirty work, it looks like you are going to have to find yourself another little helper, aren’t you? Neither Oscar or Molly are anything to do with you, so stay away from them both.”

“Who are you?” Oscar cried. “What do you have to do with Molly?”

“Do you know where she has gone?” Jasper asked as he half-hauled, half-marched the young man down the street with him.

“I thought she was with you,” Oscar replied.

“Damn. What did she say to you?”

“That I was on my own,” Oscar frowned. “You made her cry.”

“Where would she be likely to go?” Jasper asked, more troubled than he cared to admit that she was upset.

“How should I know? I haven’t ever known her to come to London before,” Oscar shrugged. “You can let go now.”

“Why, so you can run back to them? Your criminal days are over, young man, and don’t you forget it. You are, however, going to tell me everything I need to know about that gang, and then we are going to sort out somewhere for you to go where you will be safe, and free of both your aunt and that lot.”

“I am not going anywhere with you.” Oscar began to wriggle and squirm against Jasper’s tight hold, but his slight frame was no match for Jasper’s brawn.

“You are going to come with me, or I shall have you arrested for trying to steal from me,” Jasper snarled.

“I did no such thing,” Oscar protested. “Let me go.”

Jasper didn’t bother to answer. He was too busy wrestling with the young man.

By the time they eventually reached the safe house, Jasper was shattered and desperately worried about Molly. At least Oscar had given up trying to argue and had mutely resorted to doing exactly what Jasper told him to do when he asked. Thankfully, the boy wasn’t chatty either. He was, however, watchful and wary, which warned Jasper that he was a long way off being able to get the young boy to tell him what he wanted to know.

; “I think you are going to have to stay off the streets for a few days,” Jasper mused as he shoved him down into a chair in the kitchen of the safe house.

“You can’t keep me here. Who are you anyway?” Oscar peered suspiciously at him.

“I am someone you really don’t want to cross,” Jasper warned.

Niall appeared in the doorway behind him.

“Molly?” Jasper cursed bitterly when Niall and Oliver both shook their heads.

“She is still out there,” Oliver snarled. “Phillip and Harry too.”

Oscar squirmed in his seat.

Jasper turned to glare darkly at him. “Move and I will damned well tie you to it.”

To prove he wasn’t alone with those sentiments, Oliver slammed a coiled length of rope onto the kitchen table directly in front of the boy. Oscar looked at it with wide eyes and gulped.

“Did you run or were you kidnapped?” Jasper demanded.

When Oscar didn’t immediately tell him, he stalked forward and slammed a heavy fist onto the table.

“Tell me boy!” Jasper bellowed.

“Kidnapped,” Oscar whispered nervously.

“You didn’t come to London willingly?” Jasper persisted.