Chapter 4
Hannah
F rom the moment I was kidnapped six months ago, I knew I was in a world that wasn’t mine.
I grew up poor, neglected by my mother and loved by my granny, and most of my life, I knew I wasn’t in the same class as certain people.
Rhys was one of those people. The watch he wore cost more than my car in the driveway, and I needed to get over the ridiculous crush I had on him.
Men like Rhys didn’t want women like me.
And why would he? He saw the moments after my rape and witnessed the shame and humiliation I’d been drowning in.
Not because of the attack, but because of my reaction to it.
No man would want to be with a woman who orgasmed during a sexual assault.
Shame filled me, and I found myself collapsing into the dining room chair as my stare locked on to nothing.
I felt exposed, abandoned, and confused.
How could I have a biological father who would sell his son for a debt and drag another into his criminal activity?
And from the look Rhys had on his face when speaking about Stella, I can only imagine what kind of hell she survived.
Maybe it was better that I never knew him.
They all seemed to suffer at the hands of a horrible man, and I’d escaped relatively unscathed.
Feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to get me anywhere, and a small part of me felt bad for letting my temper show in front of Rhys.
Yet another way I wasn’t in the same class as him.
The entire time he was here, he remained composed, and when he raised his shirt to show he had no weapon, it took everything in my soul to not stare at the six-pack he was sporting.
You see them in pictures, but when presented with a toned stomach in person, you forget it’s impolite to stare.
The realization I was being watched was a little unnerving, but knowing one of my brothers was behind the genius technology of Callahan Cyber Security gave me pause.
The government used them in their systems, and we studied their tech, interface, and growth when I was in college.
Did I inherit my computer skills from the same person as my brother, Devlin, or was it a coincidence I worked to crash systems while he worked to secure them?
I could go through a million questions and not have a single answer, and until Rhys finds out if I’m actually their sibling or not, running through all the potential scenarios was going to drive me crazy.
Snapping out of the haze I was trapped in, I stood from the table to return the liquor to the kitchen. After sliding the bottles into the freezer, I looked up at the camera in the corner of the kitchen. I wasn’t sure if I was about to sound stupid, but I felt like I needed to say something.
“Thank you for telling me everything, Rhys. I appreciate you telling me the truth, but I’m not your concern anymore.”
Turning on my heels, I grabbed my purse and car keys as I left the kitchen and walked to the front door.
For weeks, I’d felt like I was going crazy.
I found myself looking over my shoulder, feeling like someone was watching me.
Turned out I wasn’t crazy, but I was a little pissed—not that he was watching me, but that I was clueless to it happening.
After locking the house behind me, I got into my car and cranked it up.
The outside camera facing the driveway was pointed directly at my face, and I stared into it for a moment before backing the car out of the driveway and pulling away.
I needed some space to think, and my entire house being under surveillance gave me no privacy.
I had no destination in mind, and for the next hour and a half, I drove out of Atlanta and into the mountains of north Georgia.
Granny and I used to go on drives to look at the leaves changing colors and often found beautiful little pull-offs to park.
We’d talk for hours about everything and nothing, and it was times like this, when I felt like everything was spinning out of control, that I missed her the most.
I found an empty pull-off halfway up the mountain, so I parked my car, set the emergency brake, and got out.
The air was warming up from the crisp morning as I took a seat on a rocky outcropping overlooking a valley.
Exhaling deeply, I lifted my face to the sky and closed my eyes, remembering all the advice Granny had given me over the years.
Never be a quiet woman when given the chance to speak.
Don’t let a man step on your dreams to make his come true.
Laugh more than you cry, dance more than you sit, and love today more than yesterday.
Trust your gut and don’t be afraid to walk away.
Her advice wasn’t always so uplifting, but no one wants to hear the wisdom of a seventy-year-old woman regarding sex, men, anger, and forgiveness.
You’d think you would, but trust me, you don’t want to know about old people’s sex lives.
Unless you are one, I guess. In that case, get your freak on, gramps.
I didn’t know how long I’d been sitting here, but being away from the noise and bustle of the city gave me a chance to relax.
It wasn’t until that moment I realized how stressed I’d been for so long.
Not just over my ordeal, but losing Granny, selling our home, and moving, and learning that my suspicions may have been correct seemed to cause a dam to break.
When the first tears fell, I tried to wipe them away, but it took moments before they were streaming down my face. It wasn’t a sobbing cry but a cathartic one. Every tear washed away another piece of guilt, shame, anger, and sadness that had been filling me up, giving way to a sliver of hope.
Hope for what, I had no idea. But it was there, nonetheless.
I heard a vehicle pull into the space next to my car and quickly used my shirt to wipe my face. Turning my gaze over my shoulder, I shook my head as I saw who was parked next to me. Standing up, I brushed off the back of my pants before walking up the slight incline to the two parking spaces.
The second vehicle was on my passenger’s side, and I walked to the driver’s side of my car and looked over the roof. “Following me like some kind of stalker is going to piss me off.” I unlocked the car and opened the door before asking, “How did you find me, by the way?”
Rhys raised his sunglasses to the top of his head as he looked out the driver’s door at me.
“I put a tracker on your car the night I brought you back to your granny, and after your statement, I was worried about you. I’m not trying to be a stalker, but you have to understand it’s not safe for you to be out here alone until we have answers. ”
“I’ll share with you one thing you don’t know about me. I don’t like to be backed into a corner.” With those parting words, I got into my car and backed out of the space.
If there was a tracker on the car, he would know where I was, but at that moment, I needed to get away from him before I showed my low-class attitude to him.
Yelling, cussing, and acting a fool were things Granny frowned upon, but it was what I’d experienced the first six years of my life, so it was buried way down deep inside me.
He was pushing my buttons, and the madder I got, the harder I fought the urge to throw myself at him.
Even with what I’d experienced in that house, I still had needs and desires.
They seemed different than before, but I wasn’t afraid of sex like it seemed a lot of survivors were.
That’s another reason I left therapy. The guilt I had wasn’t the same as the guilt most survivors carried.
Refusing to analyze the whole situation, I maneuvered the windy roads and state highways until I was back on the interstate.
Traffic wasn’t that bad for a Saturday afternoon, and I got home in a reasonable amount of time.
As I pulled up, I looked at the camera and shook my head.
Turning off the car, I got out and unlocked the house.
Securing the door behind me, I glanced at the cameras mounted inside the house and got an idea.
Smiling to myself, I walked into the small office and opened the desk drawer to retrieve a few items. I began whistling as I returned to the living room and grabbed the step stool from the side wall before placing it under the first camera.
It took less than ten minutes to tape the black pieces of cardstock over the lenses of all the cameras, and when I got to the last one, I looked directly into it as I spoke.
“You’ll still be able to hear what’s going on around here, but you don’t get to peek into my life anymore. Back the fuck off, Rhys. I’m not someone who needs saving.”
After my mini rant, I climbed the step stool one last time and taped up the last camera.
Another brilliant idea came to me, and I returned to the office and grabbed my noise cancelling headphones.
Slipping them on, I returned to the living room and picked up the small radio I had on the bookshelf.
Turning it on, I raised the volume until I could just hear it over the headphones and walked away, ensuring whoever was listening in had as much Taylor Swift as they could handle.
Because fuck them, that’s why.
No one had the right to invade my privacy, and if wasn’t for the ominous truth to Rhys’s statement, I would disconnect the system entirely.
But until they discovered if I was a Lenkov or not, the potential for danger could be behind every corner.
I didn’t know how long I’d danced around the kitchen, unpacking boxes and stowing items under the counters and inside the cabinets, when I thought I heard a noise.
Pulling the headphones away from my ears, I listened over the loud music for anything out of the ordinary, but when my favorite song came into rotation, I removed the headphones and continued to unpack with a shrug.
The dishwasher was finished, and I was swapping loads when I paused and listened closely but still didn’t hear anything. Guessing it was my nerves and subconscious playing tricks on me, I returned to my task, happy I was making headway in unpacking.
Once the dishwasher was running again, I poked my head out of the kitchen and looked toward the front door.
The music changed from one song to another, and when I didn’t hear anything again, I silently chastised myself for being paranoid.
Shaking my head, I grabbed another box from the dining room and carried it back to the kitchen counter.
Some of Granny’s items were packed inside, and I held up her favorite coffee cup as tears pressed into my eyes.
I placed it down on the counter and was about to reach into the box for another item when a loud crash sounded through the house, startling me and causing me to jump back.
Without thinking, I grabbed a knife from the butcher block and held it in front of me as I carefully looked around the kitchen corner.
A pissed-off Rhys was in my living room with my front door standing wide open. The frame was busted and the door had a foot-shaped hole in it, and instantly, I grew livid.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I yelled as I walked over to the radio and turned it off, casting the house into silence.
He stood with his eyes locked on me and his chest heaving as he clenched and unclenched his fists.
I swung my head to face him and took my first step toward him when I noticed the rabid look on his face.
Hesitating, I gripped the knife tighter as I watched him take one calculated step after another until he was less than five feet from me.
His brown eyes glanced at the knife in my hand, and I looked down at it then back to him before dropping it to the floor next to me.
“Why are you here, Rhys?” I asked softly, and he shook his head, silencing any more questions.
“I want you to tell me why you decided to be a brat and basically cut off surveillance,” Rhys said calmly, but I could see the rage in his eyes. “And why the hell did you have to play that annoying music so loud?”
“I—”
His hand came up, stopping me from answering his question as he took another step closer to me.
Instinctively, I stepped back and he took another one closer, causing me to take another away until my back was pressed against the wall.
Raising my gaze to him, I saw fire dancing in his brown orbs, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop the tingles from building in my core.
Jeez, there was something deeply wrong with me if the sight of him angry was getting my motor running. When I tried to take my gaze away from him, he pushed closer to me and his strong hand cupped my cheek as he urged me to look at him.
“I’m . . . I’m sorry,” I said softly.
He leaned over, running his nose along the side of my neck before he whispered into my ear.
“Don’t apologize for standing your ground,” he paused, and I held my breath, waiting for his next words, “but don’t think I’m going to let this attitude go unnoticed.
Your safety is my number one priority, and your little stunt could’ve backfired. ”
“How?” I breathlessly asked and felt his warm breath on my neck.
“What if someone besides me decided to get inside? With the cameras covered and the music so loud, I wouldn’t know what happened, who took you, or where to start looking for you. So, please, don’t make me be the bad guy because I’m worried about you.”
He pulled back from me, and I lifted my eyes to him as he stared down at me. His frustration and worry were one thing, but his hard body pressed against me with his words sending shivers down my spine was something completely different.
Four hours ago, I thought I was outside his class of women, but at that moment, I didn’t care.
Without thinking, I grabbed onto the front of his black shirt and yanked him closer to me as I pressed to my tiptoes.
Our lips met and, instantly, his arms wrapped around me and pulled me to him.
I pushed my hands over his shoulders, and one slipped into his thick black hair as our tongues battled for superiority.
This could be the biggest mistake of my life, but for once, I was being bold, daring, and taking what I wanted.
I just hoped it didn’t backfire and cost me everything, including the potential connection to my family.