Emily
I had to tell someone about what I saw. It couldn’t be Adam—how was I supposed to explain that I was stalking my cousin? It had to be either Billie or Michael, and well…Billie didn’t want to talk about Hana anymore. The last time I had mentioned her to Billie through text, telling her that everything seemed normal at our Easter brunch, she responded back: Please give it up, Emily. The Hana we thought we knew is gone. She’s Jack’s problem to deal with now.
Her words stung my chest—how could she so easily dismiss Hana? I knew she was hurt and confused about what happened, and so was I. But Hana was my fucking cousin, my blood. And as angry as I was about everything happening, I couldn’t just give up. Whether it be getting back into her life or really uncovering what was going on, I was going to keep pushing.
And then there was Michael. Fuck, my heart ached for him. Ever since Hana left him in New Jersey, he had been an absolute mess. I knew he quit his job and sold the condo in Chelsea. He was now living in Brooklyn, where exactly I wasn’t sure; he didn’t offer much information—he only wanted to know about Hana. He texted me every day asking if I’d heard from her. I told him everything I knew. He finally had an online presence, at least on Instagram, to stalk Hana and bask in his own self-loathing. Any time she posted something, which wasn’t often, he would call me and complain about how he didn’t understand why she hadn’t reached out to him. I told him it was likely that she didn’t have unrestricted access to her phone—that was something she had mentioned when she told us about the horror story of hers and Jack’s before. I struggled with telling him that I finally knew where she lived. Would he do something rash? He was an ally and I needed his help, so I told him anyway.
And the fucking sex tape. It was starting to concern me how angry he was—not just at Jack, but at Hana too. Michael forwarded me the video, but I refused to watch it. I knew it must have totally broken him. It would have broken me too; having to watch someone you were in love with, someone who was abruptly taken from you, have sex with someone else? That didn’t seem like Michael’s kink and that definitely wasn’t mine. I could barely understand what he was saying as he yelled into the phone about how he was going to fucking kill both of them. I hoped it was just his anger speaking. I knew the last thing he wanted to do was hurt Hana. He wanted to hurt Jack, and I really fucking wanted him to hurt Jack too. That’s why I decided to tell him.
The day after he received the video, I called Michael to tell him about seeing Hana walk into the OB-GYN office. It was too much for me to keep to myself; I needed to vent to someone who understood the pain of losing Hana. It didn’t even occur to me that it would push him over the edge.
“She’s fucking pregnant?” he snapped after a long silence.
“I don’t know,” I responded quietly. “Maybe. The place seems like it’s mostly for obstetrics. Or maybe she just needed birth control or literally anything else.”
I was trying to stay calm for the both of us. If Hana was pregnant and keeping it, she would be tied to Jack forever. We both knew this.
“What if it’s mine?” Michael finally responded.
Wait. What? Oh shit.I totally didn’t even realize it could be Michael’s. Of course they had sex the night they were back together. Oh fuck, this just made things so much worse…
“I—I don’t know,” I hesitantly replied. “Maybe…maybe we can figure this out. I can just call Hana and ask her what’s going on. Or I can just magically bump into her the next time she’s out. I don’t know, we’ll figure this out.”
I was rambling. The possibilities of what Michael would do terrified me. If he wasn’t desperate before, he would definitely be desperate now.
There was another long silence. “Michael?”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Then he hung up.
* * *
I didn’t sleep that night. Or the next night. Staying up all night was easy—I was a bartender. I was being “good” by taking my meds and not drinking; I didn’t want another episode like my last to happen. I promised Adam I would do everything I could to prevent that. But Michael had me so worried that I literally couldn’t sleep. How was he going to take care of it? I texted him afterward asking him to explain, but he didn’t respond. I called the next day and got no answer. And then I got a text from him three days later at 6 p.m. that read: Hana is back with me.
My stomach dropped. Oh, thank fuck. Is she okay? How did this happen? I need answers, please have her call me!
I started to get angry when I didn’t get a response. It was a slow night at the bar, so I checked my phone constantly. I thought about calling Jack to see if I could get anything from him, but it turned out I didn’t have to. He stormed into the bar like he owned the place. His eyes darted around then landed on me. Before I knew what he was capable of, I never found his presence intimidating—but now he looked fucking terrifying.
“Emily!” he shouted over the music as he stomped over to me. “Where is she?” He planted his hands atop the bar. “Where’s Hana?”
I played dumb. “I don’t know. Don’t you keep a leash on her?”
Jack narrowed his eyes at me. I could be brave in a room full of people, especially this crowd—my patrons loved me.
“You know where she is. Tell me,” he snarled, attracting looks from my customers.
I looked around at their concerned faces and smiled, showing them I could handle this.
“Wait, I thought you had like, a tracking device implanted in her? Isn’t that how you found her the last time she fled?”
I was being flippant and thoroughly enjoying myself. Now I had the upper hand.
Jack paused for a moment and then smiled. “Emily. You know just as well as I do that Hana didn’t flee last time. You and Michael tricked my poor wife.” His voice was quiet but menacing.
I snorted. “Your poor wife? Hana is not some helpless little girl. She can make her own decisions. When she’s allowed to.” I raised my eyebrow as I glared at him.
He narrowed his eyes at me again before he looked down at his phone that had begun to ring. His stupid, smug face turned into a bewildered scowl.
He put his phone up to his ear. “Where is she?” he barked out.
I watched as his face turned white before he lowered his phone and stared down at it, his eyes wide.
“What? What is it?” I was desperate for information.
Jack’s jaw clenched. I strained my neck, trying to see what was on his screen, but he looked up at me and gave me the most forbidding look I’d ever seen.
“You think this is a woman who can make her own decisions right now?” He held his phone up and showed me a still of Hana on a bed with Michael fucking her, her hands and feet tied up and tape plastered across her mouth. She was naked and she looked terrified as she looked up at Michael.
“Jack, what the fuck?” I cried out. I almost thought it was something that he had saved in his phone for his own personal, perverted fantasy, but surely he’d never want to see Michael with her.
“He’s taken Hana. I’m going to the police to show them that my wife has been kidnapped.”