Page 131 of Criminally Yours

Actually, she was channelling Liss and Rylee and every badass female main character she’d read about. “When are you taking your son to the police station to confess to what he did?”

She’d expected Hugo to be shocked or beg his dad, but instead, he hunched his shoulders and eyed him warily.

“That’s not happening. You’re here because I want to know your price.”

Millie spluttered. “You’re buying me off like you did with the victim?”

He held up his finger. She wanted to break it off and make him choke on it. “No. I want to thank you for not ruining my son’s life.”

Hugo mumbled something. Randolph fisted his hands briefly before smiling broadly. “He made a mistake and is very sorry for?—”

“Getting caught,” Millie snapped.

“Don’t threaten my family,” Randolph snarled, his voice dropping.

Strike growled, but she held out her hand, and he repositioned himself closer to her.

Cam lifted his head at Strike, pointed at his phone, and slipped out of the room.

“Randolph,” she said, “I’m not taking your bribe or whatever you want to call it.”

His jaw tightened, but she wouldn’t shirk with fear.

Not anymore.

“The police have fingerprints of the person who tried to shoot me. They’ll test your son when they arrest him. We have a video of him stabbing the drug dealer. Do you want to admit what you did, Hugo?”

“I don’t know,” Hugo bleated. His body trembled, and she had a flashback of him shaking when he’d stabbed the dealer.

“Be quiet, Hugo. She doesn’t have anything. This little girl thinks she can outsmart you,” Randolph hissed.

Millie paused. Was he a puppet master rather than a caring father?

“If you hand yourself in,” she said, speaking directly toHugo, “the police will be more lenient than if they have to come and arrest you. Don’t you want to do the right thing?”

Hugo held his head in his hands.

She stood.

“You have a chance at a future,” Millie said, her voice soft and imploring. “You need to own your mistakes. You can’t stop shaking, for goodness’ sake. You need help with your addiction. I can help you, Hugo.”

She walked toward him, resting her hand on his shoulder. He grabbed something from his pocket. She jumped back, studying the object in his hand, but the light glinting off it blinded her gaze.

“No one can help me,” he shouted and snatched at her top. She yanked herself away and ran. Strike was fast, but Hugo dived straight after her, slamming the door behind him.

She screamed for Cam as she ran. They’d walked through a series of corridors between the front door and the “war room,” and she couldn’t decipher the route back. Her heart thundered in her chest.

She couldn’t catch her breath.

But she kept running.

She dived around another corner, slipping on a mat.

“Fuck,” she screeched, landing hard on the wooden floor. Tears brimmed in her eyes, and the pain in her knees made it harder to stand.

“You’re a dead woman walking,” Hugo roared.

She had to move. Strike would do everything to save her, but until he found her, she needed to escape.