The Heir’s Disguise

Chapter Three Shadows on the Bridge

The sirens grew louder, threading through the damp night air.

Leila’s gaze darted across the Embankment, searching for flashing lights, but Nico stood calm as stone.

“They’re not here for us,” he said quietly. “Not yet.”

“Not yet?” Her voice came out sharper than intended. “You sound like you expect them.”

His eyes stormgrey again, unreadable flicked toward the far end of the promenade. “I told you, my family doesn’t forgive. When they can’t find me, they look for leverage.”

Leila’s stomach tightened. “Leverage…like me?”

A faint nod.

Before she could respond, footsteps echoed behind them fast, purposeful.

Two men in dark coats emerged from the shadows beneath the bridge, their shapes blurred by the mist.

Nico moved instantly, slipping his hand around her wrist. “Walk. Now.”

He didn’t pull just guided, his stride smooth and unhurried even as the footsteps quickened. Leila matched his pace, heart hammering.

They cut through a narrow alley off Villiers Street, the smell of rain-soaked stone sharp in her nose.

Nico’s voice stayed low. “Keep your hood up. Don’t look back.”

She obeyed, adrenaline sharp enough to taste.

The alley spilled onto a quiet side road. A black car idled at the curb, engine humming.

“Get in,” Nico said.

“Excuse me?” Leila balked. “I’m not..”

“Leila.” His tone was soft but absolute. “Please.”

Something in the way he said her name steady, almost pleading made her climb in.

The driver, a wiry man with a shaved head, nodded once and pulled into the flow of traffic without a word.

“Who are they?” Leila whispered.

“Family scouts,” Nico replied. “They report to my cousin Dominic. If they saw you with me, they’ll start asking questions.”

Leila’s pulse thudded in her ears. “So what now? You disappear again and I…what? Pretend I never met you?”

Nico studied her for a long moment. The passing streetlights cut his face into slices of shadow and silver.

“You saved me that night,” he said. “Whether you meant to or not, you’re already in this. And I don’t leave people behind.”

The car slowed before an anonymous brick building near Southbank.

Nico opened her door, offering a hand. “It’s safer inside. Just until I’m sure they’ve lost the trail.”

Leila hesitated. She should walk away. Call the police. Go back to the ordinary life she understood.

But when her eyes met his steady, stormgrey, a question and a promise all at once her feet betrayed her.

She stepped into the unknown.