"You know what, for a sorority girl, you are not half as dumb as you look," Eric said and Candice rolled her eyes. She knew a backhand compliment when she saw one.

"Thanks," Candice replied dryly. Eric had. They were on their way to Fresno. That should throw them off their trail for the while.

"Hey, it's okay, you're not alone," Eric said. Candice gave him a grateful smile. It did feel better with him here. She turned her attention back to her cell. It had stopped working an hour ago and she couldn't get it to do anything.

"My cell is still not getting any reception. I can't even listen to my voicemails."

Eric checked his phone, which seemed to be working just fine. "Do you need me to check something for you?"

Candice pursed her lips. It didn't seem like their, her, attackers had followed, but the sight of black vans still set her on edge. They knew about the will and her parents, even before she did. How?

Frustrated, she threw her phone down and it hit the table hard. This earned them a tsk from a nearby passenger. Eric turned to give them an apologetic smile.

"It's going to be okay," he repeated. It was his go-to phrase, Candice realized. But everything wasn't okay. Her parents were dead and people were somehow chasing her. "You still haven't told me what's going on."

It wasn't because she had forgotten. Candice could recall every word the lawyer had said to her, yet she couldn't remember when she hung up or if she had said anything. And now she couldn't reach anyone.

"It is stated in your parent's will, that should you survive them, the entire White estate and worth will be frozen. All business must continue as before but no withdrawal could be made. To unlock it and access the accounts, your signature and a DNA test must be performed..."

It turned out Candice didn't need to even be present to do it. But the lawyer told her it's best if she came herself to eliminate any ambiguity of who the White fortune would be passed do. Anyone who could put forward both things would legally be the heir of the White Fortune.

That thought alone sent Candice spiraling into another panic. Growing up, she never had to worry about everything, but the reality of her parent's death was sinking in fast. The idea of being alone in the world was bad enough, but to have her inheritance taken away from her was unbearable.

Why would her parents do this to her? There had to be a reason.

"Hey, a service station stop is coming up. Let's go and stretch our legs!" Eric suggested with fake enthusiasm. Candice nodded. Maybe if she could get off this bus, she'd feel better.

The sky was starting to lighten up, and half of the passengers were still passed out on their seats. Candice envied their escape to dreamland. She could have been back at her dorm by now. Maybe even with Eric...

The man himself had stopped to open the door for her at the service station. Candice gave him a smile - the first real smile since they went 'on the run'- and that's when she caught the reflection.

There were two men and a woman staring at them.

She would have missed them if it weren't for the swinging door. The woman was at the side of the four-by-four, while the two men were still in the car. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to go inside. Maybe she imagined their interest in them.

"I think someone is following us again," Candice said. Eric's head whipped around so fast that Candice swore she could hear it snap. She quickly put a hand on his arm to stop him from looking suspicious. "Let's grab some food first."

There were security cameras around, Candice reminded herself. No kidnapper or attacker would be that stupid to get caught, right?

Her worries flew out the window when she saw the food on display. How long had it since she had eaten? She remembered not eating dinner to hope that it'd make her look thinner.

"I need to get cash," Eric whispered. Candice nodded and started grabbing everything in her line of sight. She definitely needed those Doritos. Forget her no carbs, low sugar, low salt diet.

"I'm sorry miss, but your card got denied," the girl at the counter said with mild annoyance. Candice's face paled as she retrieved her card. The words from the lawyers coming back to her mind: "the accounts are frozen..."

"Here, I got this." Eric handed a few bills to the cashier and shoved her food inside a plastic bag. Candice's face was burning up now. Her card. Denied. This had never happened before.

This was humiliating.

Candice let Eric steered her out of the supermarket, her mind reeling from the reality of her situation. As if it wasn't bad enough that her parents were dead, her inheritance was now in jeopardy and she had no money. No money! She was freaking Candice White - card denied wasn't in her vocabulary.

"Excuse me, miss, I think you dropped—" Candice heard someone called out and she turned instinctively. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a man reaching towards her. Before she could blink, however, his hands were her wrist and twisting it around.

"Ow!" Candice yelled as needles of pain shot up her wrist. She tried to pull back but that made the pain worst. Her eyes started to water and she felt a tug on her other arm.

"Hey, let go of her!" Eric shouted. He stepped forward and the shift in stance relieved some of Candice's pain. She was also able to get a clear look at her attacker's face. There was nothing memorable about him, but as his other hand reached into his jacket, Candice saw a metallic flash. He had a gun.

"Let go of me!" Candice screeched, her right legs kicking up instinctively as the memory of a long-ago self-defense class surfaced. It hit the man in the groin and he stumbled, and the gun fell out of his grip.

Acting on an impulse, Candice lunged forward and snatched the gun up and she could hear Eric gasp. It couldn't have been more than a minute since they stepped out and Candice tucked the gun in the back of her jeans like they do in the movies. Everything seemed slower as she felt Eric's arm around her elbow, pulling her away from the man still crouching on the floor in pain.

"He can't be alone, let's move," Eric said. Everything began to return to normal speed and Candice felt herself shaking. The man had a gun. He could have shot her!

Candice could feel every breath that came in and out of her as they ran across the parking lot. She could see the bus they were on out of her peripheral vision, but Eric wasn't headed towards it.

"Where are we going?" Candice asked. An alien feeling developed in her heart, like something was weighing it down and making it hard for her to breath.

"We can't get back on the bus. They have found us here which means they know we were on it," Eric explained. He was scanning the place frantically, but there was nothing around save for a few cars.

Eric zeroed in on the nearest car, which happened to be a Prius not unlike the one Candice had back home. It took her a few more seconds to process what he was going to do.

"Eric!" Candice hissed, then jumped back as Eric smashed the car window. Again. What was with this guy and stealing a car?

"Get in," Eric commanded. Candice opened her mouth but then realized that there this was probably for the best. Her life was worth a million stolen cars.

Candice ran to the passenger side and got on, while Eric was already at work hot-wiring the car. She looked around the still empty parking lot and prayed that their luck would last. The last thing she needed was to get arrested and lose her fortune because she was stuck behind bars.

"Got it!" Eric exclaimed in victory as the engine roared to life. Candice's heart was beating like a humming bird's and she gripped onto her seat tightly as they peeled out of the parking lot. Instead of heading due north, Eric was going west.

"What are you doing?" Candice questioned. The idea that Eric could be after her spring in mind. But she had met him before the news of her parent's death reached, and he had genuinely seemed clueless. It didn't make sense that he'd be.

"We need to throw them off our trail," Eric answered. His eyes were glued to the road as they sped down the highway, which was beginning to show with morning traffic. "They'd expect us to take the direct route.""

"Who even are 'they' anyway?" Candice muttered. Her parents had always kept her out of the business loop, saying that she'd have a chance to understand the company when she was older, so she had little idea of who would be holding a grudge to her parents on business. All of the family friends or the few business associates had been friendly and kind

"But I can't avoid going home forever," Candice replied, her eyes glued to the window as she studied the cars that sped past them in an attempt to distract herself. "I have to go back before someone else steal my inheritance."

Eric stiffened slightly as a siren noise sounded in the background, and Candice belatedly realized that Eric didn't have a clue what was going on. Should she tell him? But what if he decided that she wasn't worth all the trouble? She couldn't do it alone!

"Steal your inheritance?" Eric asked, the stiffness in his shoulder persisted as he floored the gas pedal, sending them speeding out of the lot.

Candice was shoved back to her seat from the force, her heart tight as they made a screechy left turn into the road. A few bangs sounded behind them and Candice tried not to think how much they sounded like gun-shots.

"I don't have time to explain this," Candice snapped. All thoughts were scrambled in her head as she fixated her gaze on the rearview mirror, anticipating their pursuers to pull out at any second. It wasn't until Eric took another shift left turn that she found herself relaxing.

"-Candice!" Eric shouted. Candice blinked and it occurred to her that Eric had been trying to catch her attention for a while now.

"What?" Candice asked, her tone still tense. Eric gave her a tentative look before continuing.

"What is going on?" he asked. His voice was a whisper but Candice could hear the underlying question. He wanted to know what he had gotten himself into. She couldn't imagine how she was going to get back herself, and she desperately tried to think of a way to keep Eric with her. But who in the right mind would want to help a girl outrun attackers without a catch? The question was: what could Candice offer him?

"The honest truth is that I don't know," Candice started. It wasn't a lie at all. She had no idea what was happening. "My parents are dead and they left me this weird will. If I don't go back, my family legacy is toasted."

Candice had avoided the word inheritance now, hoping that Eric wouldn't turn out to be the money-grabbing type. She would loathe to part with her fortune unless it was absolutely necessary. Now all she needed to do was gauge how much of a hero complex Eric had.

"I don't want to leave you alone, but this whole situation is getting out of hand," Eric said. Candice relaxed marginally; he was the type with the hero complex. Good. She could work with that.

"I know..." Candice said, trailing off. She didn't even need to fake the defeated tone or the tired slump of her shoulder. They were all real. A loaded silence descended and Candice wished she could hear what Eric was thinking. It was cruel to dangle her hope up like that.

"Let's get to somewhere safe first," Eric said after they were sure that no one was following them. Not that they could be sure. Candice tried not to let her relieve show on her face. As long as Eric was willing to stick around, she was sure she could think of ways to make him stay for good.

If only she had money on hand to hire bodyguards, then she wouldn't need to do this.

Candice slumped back against the chair, her eyes landing on the plastic bag of food that the managed to keep with them. Ah-ha, so all was not lost. She leaned backward, grabbing the bag of Doritos and yanked it out. Eric watched her out of the corner of his eyes and laughed when he saw what she got.

"Someone's got the munchies," he teased. The mood lifted and Candice stuck her tongue out at him. She ripped the bag open and popped a chip in her mouth, savoring the salty taste. Eric chuckled and gestured for Candice to give him one, but she shook her head and hugged the bag tighter.

"C'mon, I deserve the whole bag!" Eric made a half-hearted attempt to grab the bag of chips, his playfulness making Candice giggle. In the end, they settled for splitting the chips, with Candice feeding him a chip now and then. The intimacy of it made Candice giddy, it gave her an illusion that Eric and she were boyfriend and girlfriend on a trip rather than two strangers on the run.

They pulled up to another service station after an hour, heading due east and picking one that had an almost empty lot.

"We need information, let's see if they have a computer," Eric suggested. Candice nodded and they parked at the farthest corner. There was nothing they could do about the broken window other than cleaning it up. As long as no one walked around the car, they were good.

Without the need to speak, both of them sped into the service center and looked around for a computer to use. Anything that can get online faster than Eric's crappy cell. Candice's iPhone was still acting up and Eric had expressed concern that it might be hacked. Candice didn't know much about hacking, but her sim had conveniently stopped working.

Candice spotted a young man with a laptop and she made her way towards him, making sure to fluff out her hair and pulled her top lower. She knew how to deal with guys like that.

"Hi, excuse me," she started. The boy turned and his jaw slackened at the sight of Candice. Stifling the victory smile waiting to break out, she gave him a warm one instead. "Do you mind lending me your laptop? My cell died and I need to quickly check my route."

"Sur—Sure," the man stuttered, almost shoving the laptop towards her. Candice batted her eyelashes at him and lightly nudge his soda with the laptop. The drink wobbled and spilled right onto his pants.

The young man cursed, and flustered towards the bathroom without so much as an "I'll be back". Candice pulled open an incognito tab and typed in her family name, knowing that time was precious.

"How did you-you know what, never mind," Eric whispered and settled down next to her. The WiFi wasn't half bad, and soon enough Candice was scrolling over the search results.

Wealthy couple died in tragic robbery at Sacramento

Police ruled out terrorist attack in the Sacramento downtown shooting

Sacrament horrified by shooting and robbery at charity event

The White Jewelry company CEO Richard White and wife Linda White died in robbery

Candice frowned. There was nothing about the will and her family fortune on the news. Was their family being secretly targeted? But what for?

"Let me," Eric pulled the laptop towards him and started searches of his own, using a different combination of keywords. But nothing useful came up. The only thing they knew for sure was that her parents were killed in Sacramento.

"I need to reach my butler, he'd know what to do," Candice said. Walter would always be on her side, that much she didn't doubt.

"Is it safe? What if they have bugged your phone? Maybe we should find out more about the motive behind these people chasing you before we reach out to anyone. You'd be safer this way," Eric said. There was logic in his words, but Candice was cashless, cardless, and phoneless. How on earth was she going to do any investigating?

"We should head to Sacramento, ask the polices there," Eric continued. He certainly didn't sound like he was going to leave her. Going into Sacramento made sense in a way, and she could try to reach out to some friends there to crash. But if her parents died in a robbery, finding out who robbed them weren't going to help her find out what was going on in the will situation.

"My parent's lawyers are based in San Francisco though," Candice said. Eric shrugged at her.

"We can go to San Fran after we hit Sacramento. But it can't be coincident that you parents died violently and now you are being chased," Eric surmised. Candice's heart stopped beating for a second as the correlation sank in. Eric was right. But this brought to mind another question: who was trying to kill the whole White family?

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Hi guys! I am so excited to be taking part in the #NaNoWriMo challenge and posting Little White Lies as I write it. I have the rough outline of the story in my mind so hopefully, there weren't be massive plot holes :P and if you are taking part in NaNoWriMo too and posting it as you go - let me know and I'd love to check it out!

Follow the story along here as well as my instagram and twitter for my NaNoWriMo updates! I'm so excited! Handle is both