Page 166 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

Standing on the other side of the door is the most darling, adorable thing he’s ever seen. A little girl with long, dark brown curls and her eyes…

Riley’s mouth falls open. ‘It’s you.’

She smiles, bouncing on her toes. ‘And you! I knew I dreamed of you in this tower! I saw you on the roof. The moon told me all about you!’

Hoarsely, he utters, ‘I’ve dreamed of you for years.’

‘That’s ’cause we’re family,’ she tells him, looking around the edges of the doorway. ‘I open the jail bars too?’

‘No, no, wait!’

She stands on tiptoes to touch the wall.

It beeps again and the bars roll away heavily.

Riley feels more terrified than he has in years.

What if he hurts her?

Mimi looks around with confident curiosity. ‘No rainbows.’

‘Mimi. You sh-shouldn’t be in here.’

‘I go wherever I want,’ she explains with a shrug. ‘Daddy forgets. Jewel said we play hide and seek with Daddy, but I know what it really is,’ she whispers, sitting on the bottom step. ‘You wanna know?’

Riley nods, crawling closer but keeping distance all the same.

Her scent is like the colour pink he only ever saw in books.

‘Yeah.’

‘We running away from Farfar.’

‘Who’s that?’

‘Bad man. Hate him. Jewel loves Daddy. He wants to keep him safe.’

‘From what?’

‘Sometimes Daddy gets hurt.’

‘Your father… what’s his name?’

‘Alistair Penhalyx.’

The billionaire of Varrow City.

‘Your Daddy is a good man?’ he asks, frowning.

‘He’s the best,’ Mimi says, beaming. ‘I love him so much even though he forgets things sometimes. It’s not his fault.’

‘And the man downstairs, Troy. You know him?’

‘Jewel does.’

‘Jewel’s your brother?’

Mimi looks at him, playing with a necklace. ‘Yours too.’