Chapter 42 Hana
HANA
I wondered if I looked confident, because I was anything but. I was faking it, and while my hand was steady, my stomach flipped like I was on a rollercoaster, going around and around the loop the loop.
I knew it was extreme—the photo, the gag, the threat—but I needed Roman, and I was too stubborn to just ask.
I told myself it was because he wouldn’t come.
I’d used my safe word with him, told him to leave me alone, and while I was pretty sure Roman Black was some sort of stalker, I was also equally as sure he was a man of integrity, and if I’d told him to back off, he would have taken that literally.
So I faked the photo and sent it to him, knowing he’d never ignore it if he thought I was in trouble, and this was the only way I could guarantee he came alone.
I couldn’t have anyone else knowing what I’d done.
And here he was. Always the white knight.
Now he was here, I ached to tell him the truth, but where did I start? I knew the minute he heard about my past, he’d hate me as much as I hated myself.
His phone beeped, and he glanced down at the message.
“It’s a burner phone. We don’t have a name yet, and the signal’s being bounced all over the place, so it will take a while for my team to triangulate it, but the good news is that it’s turned on.” He looked up at me. “If that’s all, I should be going.”
“Don’t,” I said a little louder than I’d meant to.
He let his gaze drift over me like he still couldn’t believe I was doing any of this, and I couldn’t blame him. This was a far cry from who I was now, and I’d never wanted to be this person. “You going to point a gun at me again, little menace?”
I twisted my lips like I was thinking about it, but really, I wanted him to choose to stay. Choose me. I’d never had anyone stay for me. Even Tony left me in the end.
Roman didn’t leave, and the gesture had my heart aching, my body twitching with the need to let him take care of me.
I was tired of being strong, tired of being in control.
I think that was why I wanted dominance in the bedroom; I longed not to think, not look over my shoulder, and Roman gave me that.
Fuck, he gave me everything, and it wasn’t until I told him to walk away that I realised just how much I craved him.
How much I felt for him. At some point, he’d crawled under my skin and taken up residence, and knowing he wasn’t there for me anymore was a loss I wasn’t expecting.
“You didn’t bring me here with a fake kidnapping plot just to get me to find out who sent you a message about your dead brother.” He sounded angry, and I didn’t blame him. I couldn’t explain it all, but I could get to the point.
“Seconds after I was sent those messages, someone fired a bullet through my bedroom window.”
Roman’s face hardened, his jaw locking. “You think whoever killed your brother is coming after you?” He sounded so shocked… if only he knew about my past, he’d know I deserved this and more. “What are you involved in?”
I shook my head. “Not guns. Not usually. This…” I pointed to the gun. “This is for protection, that’s all. I promise. This isn’t me, Ro.”
He didn’t look like he believed me. “So where did you get it?”
I blanched, not able to explain without dropping myself in it for so much more. “I borrowed it.”
He lifted his eyebrow accusingly.
“Ro, can you trust me?”
His laugh was loud, punctuating the air. “No. Not anymore.”
Those words hurt more than I expected, and I winced as if he’d cut me.
“What do you expect, Hana? None of this makes sense. Who the fuck are you, and what are you caught up in that has someone shooting at you? Was this about Tony?” He said his name with fondness, as if he’d known my brother, but that was impossible.
Maybe I was just swept up with someone saying Tony’s name out loud after all these years.
“I told you that you didn’t know me,” I snapped.
“And wow, did you mean it.” He waved his hand in the air between us. “This, you, this…” he pointed to the gun, “none of this is my Hana.”
I scoffed. “I was never yours, Roman.” My voice had gone up a couple of octaves, my disbelief audible, although I liked the idea of being his more than I wanted to admit, but I was terrified of how much losing it would hurt.
Roman opened his mouth just as his phone vibrated on the table.
He answered it. “Wren… yeah… can you send me the address? Do we know who it’s registered to?
Right…. Not sure. Like I said, it was to help out a friend.
I’ll get some more details and be in touch if I need anything else, but it won’t be tonight.
You and Lev, get some sleep… No, don’t mention this to them.
It’s not work-related, and I’m not going to do anything stupid like go there.
My brain hasn’t recovered from the last time. ”
I tried not to react to his conversation, distracting myself by easing the ties out of my hair and untangling the braids that were making my head hurt more than his disappointment in me was.
He hung up. “The phone was bought by a man named Marvin Rosales. You know him?” I thought about the name to see if it rang any bells, but it didn’t sound familiar.
“No.”
“He’s married, got a wife, three kids. He also rented the Airbnb in Scotland, where they traced the texts from.”
“Oh,” I said, slightly disappointed, because this didn’t fit the narrative I was expecting.
“And he doesn’t exist.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
Roman turned in his seat, folding his arms over his chest, his biceps popping. “He doesn’t exist. Someone has gone to a hell of a lot of trouble to make him up, but he’s not real. He’s a proxy, a cover for someone else, but give us some time, and we’ll get to the bottom of it.”
The room spun as I tried to make sense of his words.
“Hana?” Roman’s large hand on my thigh brought me back to the room. “What’s going on?”
I pinched my nose. Where did I even start? It was late, I was exhausted, and I needed time to think of a better story than the truth because the truth was fucked up.
“Can we get some sleep and talk in the morning? I feel like this might all make more sense with fresh eyes.”
He glanced at his watch. “Yeah, point me in the direction of the spare room.”
I chewed my lip before replying, “One bed, I’m afraid.”
He huffed, and I hated that he wasn’t leaping at the idea of sharing a bed with me. “I’ll take the sofa,” he replied.
“And run off in the night. No way.”
“So, you’re kidnapping me… holding me hostage?
” He closed down his laptop before standing, looming over my chair.
I loved this side of him—angry, domineering, sexy as hell—and my panties dampened at the idea of him flinging me over his shoulder, dragging me to the bedroom and fucking my secrets out of me.
“You’re too old to kidnap,” I retorted, hoping my cheeks weren’t as red as they felt from my wayward thoughts.
“Hana, this is fucked up. I’m so confused right now. I can speak to my boss, get us some help if you’re really in trouble, but you can’t just keep me here and not tell me why.”
“If I promise to tell you everything in the morning, can we just sleep?”
“Fine, but I want answers, Hana.”
So did I, and I hoped Roman could help me find them before whoever was shooting at me fired with a little more precision.