Chapter 42
Lana
“Yeah, I have dropped off your hens with your neighbor.”
“It wasn’t too big a job, I hope?” Emin asks me over the phone. I’m standing outside the hotel, waiting for M.
“Don’t worry, it wasn’t. Wait!” I yell over the phone before I hang up.
“Did you get the name of the previous owner?”
“I forgot, but I do remember that he had many animals. Like an arc.” Got it.
“Thank you. We’ll talk soon.” I hang up and cross my arms, hoping for some warmth. M has never said anything about my friendship with Emin. Probably because he is lis—
Fuck, he just texted me that he will be here in two minutes.
I wait and think about my day. The gig was a bit hard at the beginning, but I powered through it. It’s a little after 6 p.m., and, unusually, M isn't here right on time.
I’m not complaining, shit happens. But this is not like M.
Think of the devil, and he will show up. The delicious man wrapped in sin parks his car right in front of the hotel and steps out like he owns the fucking place. He is walking up to me with deliberate steps, and my alarm bells are ringing.
His smile is not quite reaching his eyes, and it seems practiced. He is wearing jeans and a black vest, and his hair has grown quite a bit, so it’s tousled. Why is he looking like he is about to do a job?
“Hi, Lana.” Lana. Not little hummingbird. This doesn’t feel good. He kisses me on the mouth, but not in a passionate way.
“Hi, M.”
“Before we go, I need you to do something.” I raise my eyebrows, and the coldness I experienced earlier is replaced by hot anger. What is he playing at? He points to the hotel with his chin.
“You are going to quit. Now.” I start laughing nervously, and I shuffle my feet in disbelief. When I look up at him, I see that he is not sharing my sentiment. He is dead serious.
“I’m not going to do that. I need this job.”
“I’ll provide for you.”
“No.” I only uttered one word, yet it feels like word vomit. M sighs in exasperation and reaches for something from his waistband. My eyes follow his movements, slowing down in time. He produces a gun with a silencer.
“You'd better do what I tell you.” He brings his face closer to mine. With his lips now near my ears. “Little hummingbird.” His tone is hushed, indicating that he is in control. I do the only sensible thing I can do at this point, I nod. My eyes find his, and I can read absolutely nothing.
They are filled with a void.
“I won’t harm you, Lana. Don’t worry. But I need you to quit.”
“Fine. Wait here.” I turn around, but his gun stops me in my tracks. Sweat is starting to accumulate from my forehead, and my heart is pounding.
“I’m coming with you. I’ll have my gun tucked away, but one wrong movement?” He stops himself by making a clicking sound with his tongue. I don’t dare to try destiny, so I’m walking toward my boss’s office. We reach his office, and I knock on the door.
“Come in!” We step in, and Alen is sitting behind his desk. His office is quite large and overlooks a beautiful part of Sarajevo. I sit down in one of the chairs opposite him, with M beside me.
“Your shift ended, Lana, unless you had a question?” Alen asks as he stops typing on his computer. I want to say something, but my boss stops me by holding up his hand.
“And who are you?” he asks M.
“Her husband.”
“Nobody.”
We both answer at the same time. M and I look at each other, and I’m throwing daggers at him. He grabs my left hand and kisses the inside of it.
“Okay. What is it, Lana?” Alen sounds bored, annoyed even.
“Don’t you dare talk to her like that.” M’s voice cuts through the already tense air. Alen’s face is a mask of anger.
“Listen here, asshole, this is my employee. Please butt out.” He redirects his attention toward me. “Are you in danger, Lana?” He is looking at me, but his question is laced with suspicion.
“Don’t worry, I’m not. I actually came to quit. I have found a different opportunity.”
“Really, which one?”
“Me.” M produces his gun with the silencer on it and shoots my boss through his skull. On instinct, I grab M’s hand tighter and stare at my boss who got murdered. I feel myself getting up, and M is following me.
“What did you do?” I ask him as I try to pry my hand away from his. A hand lands on the back of my head, and M makes me look at him.
“Terminated your contract. Now, we are going to go to a very special place.”
***
I didn’t dare say anything, and that’s why we've been driving for over thirty minutes now. I look outside the window to see if I recognize a street, a lamppost, or even a fucking tree. But, no, this place is entirely new to me.
The car is also quiet—M, and I aren’t talking, and neither is any music playing. I’m also not asking him where we are heading, and he is staying tight-lipped. The atmosphere in the car feels suffocating, and I fucking hate it.
Maybe I should start getting honest with him? Because I feel like he is going to pry it out of me. But then again, he hasn’t been truthful with me either, and we both have ulterior motives.
I built my life on survival and lies, and I’m not going to let anyone upend that.
Before my mind goes into oblivion, my eye catches something. The outside is starting to look really familiar. It’s nighttime, and I’m really fucking tired, so my brain is a bit foggy at the moment. Then it’s getting clearer, and my lungs are working overtime right now—I know where we are going.
Hopefully, it’s a coincidence and just a silly little game of tag he wants to play. Why else would we be going to a forest?
“M, where are we going?” I ask him in a hushed tone as I think that I don’t want to know the answer. He doesn’t look at me, and he is keeping his hands on the steering wheel. Yet, his next words could make me bleed out.
“Don’t you remember that beautiful forest? You went to it a year ago.”
Fuck, he knows.
Stay focused, Lana. My dad’s words have never sounded more admissible.
I put my purse on the back seat and my hands on my thighs. They are fucking slipping away because this can’t be happening.
He fucking knows.
I feel so fucking conflicted since I’m struggling with one question—is he the man I have been looking for all this time? We have spent so much time together that an ugly emotion took place: love.
Now he feels no love; I feel his fucking rage.
“No.” Please, Lana, keep that facade up. You are almost there. I utter my response at a great time—we are here—M parks abruptly, which makes me stumble forward.
“You are not to exit the car unless I tell you explicitly. Nod if you understand me.” I nod my head at this demand. He gets out of the car and grabs something from the trunk. When he gets to my door and opens it, I’m greeted with absolute fucking mania.
M is holding a pair of cuffs and a sniper rifle.
“I’m not getting out of this car, M,” I state to him. My little moment of rebellion is met with indifference and a big side of his stupid grin that I have grown to adore. He puts his left arm on the hood of the car.
“Get out of the car, Lana,” he says, extending his hand to me. “Now.” Reluctantly, I take it because this is the only way I might get out of this unscathed. I step out of the car, but he doesn’t take his arm off the hood of the car. I’m trapped between his vehicle and him.
“You.” He inches his face closer. “Are.” A kiss on my cheek. “Delectable.” And a short peck on my mouth. I don’t want to do it, and my mind is screaming ‘no’, but I inch closer and close my eyes. When I don’t feel anything, I open them, and he is glaring at me.
“Turn around and hands on the hood.” He is not fucking around, as am I.
“I don’t know about that, M.” The defiant part of me loves daring him, but the logical side knows better. M puts the rifle around him with the help of a strap. Then he grabs my throat and squeezes, hard.
“You don’t have a fucking choice. Tonight.
” He releases my throat and makes me turn around.
He puts my hands on the hood. “I only want the truth, and you will give it to me.” M takes the cuffs and puts them around my wrists.
He makes me turn around again, and his eyes are telling me what will happen next.
Chaos.
“We are going to take a little walk now. Follow me.” I push myself off the car and trail his footsteps.
I luckily wore my big boots, so the melting snow isn’t seeping through them.
The entrance to the forest is dark and grim, as is the forest itself.
It’s a shadowy place where dreams come to die.
I’m so lost in my thoughts and memories that I don’t immediately notice we are going the wrong way.
“You are going the wrong way. If we follow this road, we are going to end up on somebody else’s—” M stops dead in his tracks and slowly turns around to face me. His lips curled into a slow, dangerous grin.
I close my eyes, and when I open them, I exhale.
“Property.” I said way too much.