It’s been years since I’d sat in a canoe to float down a river. Years since I’d honed the muscle memory that helped propel the boat effortlessly forward.

But here, in the dead of night, I used the stars and what little I could remember of the landscape to paddle myself down this river at breakneck speeds. I couldn’t let them catch me.

Hours ago I was minding my own business tending to the garden behind my house when a sleek black car pulled up to my driveway. A man climbed out of the passenger seat and opened the back door. A woman emerged that made my heart squeeze and my blood boil at the same time.

You see, she is my first and only love, the one who betrayed me, the one that I yearn to hold yet want to scream at.

“Roger,” She greets as I round the house.

“Celine. To what do I owe this… pleasure?”

I ask with a sigh.

“I came to warn you,” she begins. “They are coming. They know.”

I pale. How? I’ve been so careful, so secure.

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely. I had to warn you.. even after everything. I know you will never forgive me, but I will do everything I can for..”

“Don’t say it. You don’t deserve..”

She pales and sighs. “I know. I never will. Be safe.” She climbs back in the car and signals the driver to leave.

I wait until the car disappears from sight and walk into the house as calmly as I can. I’ve been in hiding for a year, trying to escape the family business. Celine is partially the reason, she betrayed my extra curricular activities to the matriarch… my grandmother.

A woman as hard as stone, clever and conniving, and a royal pain in my ass. Since my father died, she’s been trying to groom me to take the mantel, but I would rather work with my hands on a garden. There’s something about hard work and dirt under my nails that gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Dictating how something runs? I couldn’t imagine being locked into that for the rest of my life. I was the only heir until…

“Da!”

I smile at the little head peaking over the crib as I walk into the bedroom.

Ben. My heart. My reason. The best baby a father could ask for. The person I’m trying to protect.

“Hello little one. We get to go on an adventure today!” I chuckle at his excited expression. I grab a change of clothes for him and take him out of the crib.

In less than an hour, I have him bundled up with everything I can safely carry and all of our documents - forged for our safety. I’m putting the backpack on as I hear movement outside. I immediately grab Ben and check my cameras from my phone.

Two men in the front, one in the back. But the secret exit is clear.

I head to the bookcase and hit the switch to swing it open. This is one of the first things

I built when I purchased the house. It is crude but functional, with a ladder that leads down to an escape tunnel that runs into the woods.

I turn on my flashlight and finish strapping Ben to my front. I make sure the bookshelf is closed and the lock engaged before beginning to climb down the ladder. 20ft down we reach the packed dirt floor and I take a calming breath, the smell of damp earth grounding me.

Ben coos quietly as I walk through the tunnel. He’s been down here all his life so it doesn’t unnerve him to be in the dark surrounded by earth. As we get closer to the end I take out my phone and check the cameras again. Two men are now inside the house, the tunnel exit is still showing clear. Dusk has begun to settle and shadows are deeper. Hopefully we can use them to our advantage.

I emerge and look around the shadowy woods for signs of movement before continuing toward the river. I reach the bank and drag the camouflaged canoe toward the water. I strap Ben into the seat I created for this purpose and drop the backpack in behind him, then launch into the water. I put my oars in the water and…

“Stop!!”

I turn my head and see the head of security. I ignore him and dig my oars in the water as fast as

I can. We need to escape.

“Roger, please!”

“No Don, I won’t!”

I keep going and try not to look back. At some point I hear another canoe in the water and assume Don found another boat along the riverbank.

Dusk quickly turns to night and I navigate the river by the stars and memory, desperately trying to outrun the crown I never wanted.