When Gus came back onto the freeway, headed out of town, there was no sign of the car that had been following them. Rome kept his eyes glued to the mirror anyway in case they reappeared. He didn’t think his dad would think of sending people to Grenoble. It wasn’t a station that would’ve been on his dad’s radar, especially not if he thought there was a chance his father thought Bart had been Rome going to the airport.Thinking of Bart made him want to call his friend and see if he’d gotten through security yet, but he didn’t want the

After what seemed like forever, the train began to speed up and shot out of the station, leaving the two men in suits behind. Ella finally sucked in air, leaning back in her seat and trying to get her heart to stop beating out of her chest.“We lost them for now,” Rome said, taking her hand in his. “But this isn’t over yet.”&l

Ella willed herself not to look in the direction of the men in the suits headed her way, but it was all she could do to keep from lifting her eyes and look at them. She kept her focus on Gus, who was telling them a story from when he was in elementary school. While his French was perfect, he had a bit of an Italian accent. She hoped the men wouldn’t be listening too closely as they came by or that she could take over the majority of the conversation by then. But… would they be looking for her and expecting Ella Sinders to be speaking French? Surely, they didn’t know she was alive, did they? 

It was dark by the time they got off of the train in Domazlice. So far, they hadn’t seen any of Rome’s father’s men again after the incident on the train earlier in the day, but Ella wasn’t about to let her guard down now, even though it seemed very unlikely that they would’ve followed the party here without picking them up at all of the other stops they’d made that day.“King is here, waiting for us in the parking lot,” Gus said, looking at his phone.

The aftertaste of King’s stew lingered in Ella’s mouth long after she’d finished shoveling down a few bites, which had been hours ago. She lay in the dark on a small, twin bed, listening to Rome’s heartbeat and trying to be thankful that they were together, despite the fact that she was hungry and uncomfortable.“It could be worse,” he whispered, brushing her cheek with his fingertips. “You could be Mary.”