Chapter 50
HANA
I didn’t remember falling asleep; in fact, I didn’t remember sitting down or placing my head in Roman’s lap, my face nuzzled against his groin like I couldn’t bear to be away from him, but I woke to find him running his fingers through my hair in a methodical rhythm that seemed to be in sync with my heartbeat.
I blinked into the darkness before I spoke. “How long have we been here?” I asked.
“Seven hours.”
“I need the bathroom,” I groaned as I moved, and my full bladder screamed back at me.
“I can’t really help with that, little menace, but I can give you some good news.”
I sat up, instantly missing his touch. “Oh?”
“Yeah, look…” He opened his laptop, the screen glowing in the darkness, making me squint from the sudden invasion of light.
“This is what was on your key. Does it make any sense to you?” He didn’t wait for my reply, and I was glad I didn’t have to lie to him again.
“There were two files on there. This was your first, and then there’s this one.
” He clicked over to a smaller list. I stared at the screen, knowing exactly what I was looking at.
Proof of what I’d done. Of what I’d been made to do.
I glanced up at Roman. He looked tired, his under eyes dark and his brows pinched. Guilt gnawed at my insides because he was only here because of me.
“I’ve had a quick scan through, and I can tell you what, in my professional experience, I think it is, but I want you to explain. No more lies, Hana. What is this?”
I opened my mouth, but instead of my truth spilling out, there was an almighty ruckus on the other side of the door that sounded like heavy footsteps and then banging.
“Roman?” a strangely familiar voice boomed.
Roman smiled and threw me a wink. “Fucking paranoid bastard. I knew Thomas would be tracking me. Can’t help himself,” he muttered.
“In here.”
“Is she in there with you?”
Roman glanced over at me, confusion glinting in his eyes. “If you mean Hana, yeah.”
“She armed?”
“No,” he replied quickly, and I held up my hands, reminding him that the gun was securely in the bag I’d brought. “The place is locked down… I need some sort of code to open the door.”
“Try 2403,” another voice that sounded a lot like Jarrid shouted.
Roman stood, groaning as he moved, like a man who had been sitting in the same position for far too long.
He used his laptop to light his way as he went to the keypad in the hidden panel.
He typed in the number, and the metal door slid back, as did the ones covering the skylights, letting in the light from the moon above us.
My eyes took a second to adjust, and I turned to the now open doorway, the world moving in slow motion as I found three angry men standing in the doorway, guns locked, loaded, and pointed in my direction.
“What the fuck are you all doing?” Roman yelled.
Thomas lifted his brow, his gaze never leaving mine. “Are you going to tell him, or am I?” The floor shifted, the room spinning as his words registered. When I didn’t reply, he continued, “Shall we start with who owns this house?”
I stayed silent, my mouth suddenly drier than the desert.
“No, got nothing?” He dropped his gun to his side, walking towards Roman and placing his hand on his shoulder. “You good?” Roman offered him a single nod. “Sorry,” Thomas said to him before he turned his attention back to me. “Judge Gilbert Preston owns this place, isn’t that right, Hana?”
Roman’s face scrunched as his eyes bounced between Thomas and me. “W-what?”
“There’s more,” Thomas said, turning his back to me as if he needed Roman to focus on what he was about to say. My pulse hammered in my ears, knowing everything was about to change once he knew my truth.
“Hana was the one who broke into the office and is the owner of the skeleton mask.” The room was silent as his words settled like bombs dropping, destroying anything Roman and I had begun to build together.
“You pushed me down the stairs?” His voice was quiet, deadly… cold.
All I could do was nod, tears blurring my vision.
“What? Why? How?” He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes before dropping them again, as if he was looking at me with new 20:20 vision. “Hana, I need you to explain what the fuck is going on because none of this makes any sense.”
I glanced at the two men who still had their guns trained on me, then at Thomas, whose hard stare was more terrifying than the loaded weapons, and then my gaze landed on Roman.
My heart ached because it finally understood how I felt about this man—his firm presence, his ability to calm me, how much I trusted him despite his stalkerish ways…
I was in love with Roman Black, and I might have been since the moment he stepped out of the shadows to save me and my lasagne, but the moment I spoke my truth, any hope I had for a future with him would go up in flames.
He’d never forgive my lies. I could barely look at myself, knowing what I’d done, but he would never look at me the same.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered as a tear rolled down my cheek, my pain leaking out without my consent. “I worked for Preston.” Roman’s jaw went slack. “He was my stepfather.”