Page 14 of Capturing Sin

No doubt updating my uncle on my whereabouts.

Smothering the urge to flip them off, I reached my car at the edge of the parking lot without incident, unlocking the old hatchback with the manual key and sliding behind the wheel. Stale cigarette smoke tried to choke me with the joys of used cars. At twenty-four, it was the same age as I was, and had already had countless owners.

I just had the one.

“Come on, old girl, you can do this,” I muttered, twisting the key in the ignition.

She spluttered a few times.

Then silence.

“Today? Really?” I let my head thunk back against the headrest.

I twisted the key again.

The engine fought to tick over with an ominous rattle, but no spark breathed life into it.

My hand tightened on the steering wheel, worn smooth by time.

The last car had been written off when I’d tried to flee Riverside. I didn’t want to leave the town my family had lived in for generations. I just wanted to leave the cult of killers and mad scientists.

Since a speed camera had caught me right before the crash, the insurance company wouldn’t pay out either. So the paltry savings I’d had left, after paying for my cancelled wedding, had gone into buying this pile of rust.

Now I saved every spare penny to fund the escape I’d been plotting ever since.

Taking a fortifying breath, I left the glaring money pit behind and headed for the only bus stop on the quiet industrial estate.

My uncle’s demand rattled around my skull. It had haunted me all afternoon since he’d issued his ultimatum—either I suffered or a random stranger would.

I’d hoped leaving work meant I could leave my problems behind too, but of course, there was no escape. Not for me.

I glanced over my shoulder. A dark silhouette cast a menacing shadow under the street lamp, further back along the road, watching me walk to the bus stop.

Nobody else waited at the small shelter, and I quickly ducked beneath it as the first specks of rain hit my glasses.

The drizzle became a downpour, and I smirked at my tail, getting drenched on my uncle’s orders.

A bus groaned in the distance, turning along the access road, and my uncle’s guard dog slunk closer.

I boarded, paid, and took a seat, fighting not to snarl at the hunter who’d followed me on board. Instead, I watched water stream down the window as the vehicle trundled along.

Riverside blurred behind the glass, the small city passing me by in a sea of lit buildings and darkened parks. My thoughts whirred, circling over and over as I tried to come up with a way to defy my uncle, but no solution jumped out of the darkness.

Eventually, the bus pulled onto the main street, and I shook myself from my depressive thoughts in time to hop off into the rain. Despite the gloomy weather, people strolled along beneath dark umbrellas, darting to and from pubs and restaurants.

To my surprise, my tail remained seated, but I knew better than to think I’d be left unsupervised.

Right on cue, a familiar woman in running gear and a suspiciously large coat stepped under a lamp-post across the street from me, giving me a two-fingered salute.

A small smile tugged at my lips as I returned the gesture. Rhia was one of the few hunters who didn’t seem to believe the rumours—whether it was me being handed my position in alpha because of my family name, or the latest ones about me faking my injuries in the warehouse ambush.

I wouldn’t say we were friends, exactly, but we shared a mutual respect. It wasn’t easy being a female hunter in a male-dominated organisation, and I’d helped her with extra training sessions over the last year since she’d joined.

She kept her distance as I headed along the busy street, confirming my thoughts. She must have been out hunting with delta team before getting diverted to watch me. My uncle having hunters monitor my every move “for my protection” wasn’t helping my image as the pampered hunter princess.

The glowing lights of my favourite Italian restaurant called to me, but I was already going to struggle to afford car repairs, let alone an actual meal.

A vicious memory surfaced, taking me back to another rainy night, behind another restaurant.

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