Chapter 31 Roman
ROMAN
“Gone?” I said again.
“Gone,” Margo repeated for what must have been the tenth time.
I’d woken after an amazing couple of days with Hana with a smile, but it was short-lived as the space next to me in bed wasn’t only empty, it was cold.
I knew instantly she’d left. “She can’t have gone?
” I said. I’d rewound the cameras to track her movements after she left my place, and watched her walk back into her house in the early hours of this morning, and then she left for work as normal.
The tracker showed her phone was here, so I’d stupidly presumed she was too.
I should have learned my lesson when she vanished the other day, but I thought we’d crossed a line and something had shifted. I couldn’t believe I was so wrong.
I tapped my fingers on the counter of the diner while I stared at the older woman, as if my narrowed eyes would somehow change the information she was giving me.
“How many times, Roman? She came in, said she had a family emergency, and she’d be gone for a couple of weeks. Left me and Jay in charge until she got back.”
“And she didn’t tell you where she was going or why? Nothing else?” I tried to hide the panic from my voice.
She shook her head. “No, only that she’d be off-grid completely and we couldn’t contact her.”
Before I could ask her to repeat herself yet again and risk her wrath, a familiar face appeared next to the booth I was sitting in.
“Ah, young man. I employ someone who looks a lot like you, but he failed to show up for work this morning and missed an important meeting he was supposed to be presenting at.”
Thomas sat across from me, pushing up the sleeves of his grey cashmere jumper, showing off the tattoos I’d heard from the boys at work, adorned every inch of his body. Maybe we were more alike than I was willing to admit.
I glanced between Thomas and Margot.
“Coffee, please, Margot. And may I say, you’re looking particularly wonderful today. New haircut?” my boss said.
She tapped her fringe, her cheeks turning pink. “Mr Lanton, you smooth talker, you. I’ve not had a different hairstyle in all the time I’ve known you, and you’ve been around almost as long as me.”
He winked. “Yes, but I’m the one looking tired and old. You look fresh as a daisy.”
She let out a long, deep laugh before shaking her head. “Coffee coming up. Should I get one for Longing and Loveless, here?” She pointed at me, and I raised my eyebrows in reply to her cheap shot of an insult.
Thomas laughed as well. “Yes, please. I sense I’m going to have to listen to his woes for a while.”
And with that, Margot left us, and Thomas turned his attention to me, looking less than impressed. “Your excuse for missing work?”
“Hana’s gone.”
His dark brows furrowed. “Gone where?”
“Vanished.”
“Explain.”
“She,” I paused, not sure how I should explain the first part of the story or whether I wanted anyone knowing Hana and my business, but Thomas gave me a look that told me I had to spill everything.
“Hana stayed over.” Thomas’ lips quivered as if he were about to smile, but he soon schooled his expression back into the stony glare he was famous for. “When I got up this morning, she was gone. She left my place, went home, came here, and then… poof. Gone.”
He glanced around, leaning forwards a little. “And you checked everywhere?”
“Yes, all clear. After she stepped into the diner, I have nothing.”
“You’ve been to her house? Physically checked she’s not there.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket, clicking on an app and turning it to face him. He stared at the camera that gave me a view of the inside of Hana’s house, which was empty. Nothing was out of place, and she wasn’t there.
Thomas lifted his eyes to mine. “Doesn’t look like you stuck to the clear parameters I set out about where you were allowed to point those things.” He nodded at my phone, meaning the cameras. “But you didn’t answer my question. Have you been to her place in person?”
I shook my head, and he let out a sigh of what sounded like disappointment.
“Margot,” Thomas called across the busy diner, “can we get those coffees to go, please?”
“See, empty,” I said as I pointed around the house that looked like Hana had just stepped out for work. Nothing was out of place, nothing appeared as if she’d been made to leave or was in any sort of danger.
Thomas hummed as he looked around before reaching up into the light fitting I’d hidden a camera in and removing it. My expression hardened, and he tutted. “The woman is allowed some privacy, Roman. You don’t need to watch her sleep.”
“I can’t watch her do anything because she’s fucking vanished.
How is that even possible? I should be able to track her no matter where she goes.
Otherwise, what’s the point of all this?
” I waved my arm up and down in front of me as if my entire existence depended on me watching Hana, and I heard how ridiculous I sounded.
I had a whole list of people I should be watching; I had my job with Thomas now.
Hana was not and had never been my sole focus, but right now, she was the only person I cared about.
“She walked into the diner like normal this morning and then, poof, gone. I can’t even track her phone. ”
Thomas sucked in a breath before placing his hand on my shoulder like a father delivering bad news to his kid.
“You have a problem, Roman. A big one.” And I wasn’t sure if he was talking about my obsession or the reason Hana had vanished without a trace.
Either way, I felt sick, and I knew I’d be unable to think about anything else until she was back where I could watch her.