Chapter 48
Lana
The night is slowly starting to descend upon us, and it’s pretty nice, as is the company. When all of your life you have been surrounded by boarding schools, nannies, bodyguards, and a university that you can step into if you show a fucking badge, you crave a little bit of warmth.
And now I’m surrounded by it.
Yes, my father was the best parent ever.
He visited me in Switzerland and spent significant time with me when he could, but there was always something that was missing from my life.
I would never tell the group that I loved my father and looked up to him, they would probably look at me suspiciously.
Did he make some mistakes? Yes, big ones that impacted everything in his life. I told him, the last time I saw him, that he shouldn’t trust his new client, but he did it anyway. Now I feel the obligation to rectify that mistake. But does that mean that I should stop living?
I wish I could say that I could get used to this tranquility for the rest of my life, but I’d be lying.
“Gorgeous, you went away for a second,” Oliver says to me as he takes a sip of his whiskey. I shake my head and smile at him.
“My apologies. What were we talking about?” I look at M, and he squeezes my shoulder. This fucking man.
“We were discussing your father,” Oliver tells me. “And we’d hope you’d give us more insight into his life and you, quite frankly.” I look around the table, and instead of feeling like I’m being investigated, I feel genuine curiosity.
“So, you all want to know about me?” Everyone nods. I sigh and start talking.
“I lived in Sarajevo until I was four years old, and then my father sent me to live with my aunt in St. Gallen.”
“Why St. Gallen?” Sara inquires.
“And why at that age?” Adam follows up.
I answer both questions. “My aunt, on my father’s side, has always lived there, and she loved me.
She didn’t have any children, so she gladly took me in.
” I take a sip of my water and put the glass back down.
“My father sent me away because the teachers here saw that I was a very gifted student and the boarding school there could provide adequate teaching and guidance.”
“She’s smarter than you, M,” Hana retorts to M. My man doesn’t even look hurt, he seems proud.
“Of course she is. Continue, ljubavi1,” he tells me as he kisses the top of my head. So I do.
“But, he also wanted to send me away to a place with stringent privacy laws and insane surveillance. Switzerland was the place to be for that.”
“He is right. I once tried to hack into a Swiss bank, and it was fucking difficult. Near impossible,” Hana explains to me.
“Totally. I excelled in school and started college when I was sixteen years old.” Adam whistles in appreciation and nods.
“We have another genius in our group.” I smile kindly at him. “What did you study?”
“I studied forensic psychology with a minor in interrogation.” I don't tell them about my shadow curriculum.
“Oh my God! Almost like me, M,” Sara chimes in and turns her attention to M. “I should torture you for keeping this woman away from us.”
“I don’t share, Sara.”
“We do.” I can’t help but laugh at Oliver’s innuendos because he means well. Josh sighs loudly and shakes his head.
“Anyways,” Sara continues. “When did you come back to Sarajevo?”
“When I graduated from college. I was actually visiting my father, and then—” I try to look wounded.
“When I came to the house, he was gone. He left a piece of paper that he would come back for me, but that he needed to go.” A silence stretched across the beautiful patio, everybody taking in what I just said. Josh breaks the silence.
“Did you ever go back to your house?”
“After I saw that note, I went to places I thought he would be. I searched for days, but nothing turned up. When I returned to the house, it was burned down.” The moment those words left my lips, everybody’s attention perks up.
They all lean forward in synchronization, even M.
And why wouldn’t he? I never told anyone this.
“Lana, why didn’t you tell me this?” M asks me as he stares me down. I feel the crushing weight of his disappointment.
“I didn’t mean to upset you, we had such a good week.”
“We did.” He winks at me.
“Give me a fucking puke bag. Yuck,” Hana says, making a disgusted face. We chuckle a little bit, and Adam asks me a question I saw coming.
“Why did nobody notify you?”
“Because my father erased every trace in the system of me being his daughter. Some higher-ups in the government protected him.”
“I understand. Let me ask you this, did you find anything in that wreckage?” Josh’s tone is no longer detached, now it’s curious.
“Josh, careful,” M warns him. I put my hand on his shoulder and give him a reassuring smile.
“It’s okay, M.” He nods at me. “When I walked up to the debris, there was only one thing still intact, our water well. As I took a look around it, there was a note pinned to the bucket.” They are all waiting for what I’m about to tell them.
“Hum for me.”
This isn’t just a quiet innuendo; this is a moment when trained assassins consider every single possibility.
It’s the kind of silence that feels like the air has suddenly solidified.
No one is breathing or blinking. Every heartbeat is too loud, and every tiny sound feels magnified.
Eyes dart from one face to another, searching for someone else to speak first. A weird pressure builds in the room, like everyone collectively forgot how to react.
“M.” Hana turns her attention to him. “He is trying to lure you out of your hiding place so he can get to her.” M’s gaze goes unfocused for a moment, like he’s replaying the words in his head, checking if they actually heard right. A small exhale escapes them, almost a laugh, but not quite.
“Let him come.” I detect no hesitation in M’s voice, and that’s scary. Hana shakes her head in disbelief and scoffs.
“You will be putting her in danger, asshole.”
“Hana, nobody will be able to come into my home. You know that, you made sure that the software system is up to date with my demands.”
“M.” Hana composes herself before she addresses him. “I know that, but this doesn’t feel right. Something is seriously wrong, and I can’t put my finger on it.”
“How can you be so sure about everything? Are you one hundred percent sure it’s Lana’s father causing all these accidents?” Sara asks M, and I answer for him.
“It’s him, all right. Because his call-out sign is hum for me.”
“Maybe it’s a copycat?” Oliver asks me.
“No, that’s his sign, and nobody would be stupid enough to go after my father. Let me ask you this, Oliver, does anybody else use your call-off sign?”
“Absolutely not. It’s a rule within our community never to copy someone’s call-off sign because killing someone is personal. And people need to be able to identify who made the hit.”
“Mine is M was here and the carving of M into the chest.”
“Didn’t you ever feel guilty about killing those people?” My question catches him off guard, yet he quickly regains some control.
“No.”
“How about the hits you did for your father?”
“Well, there is one.” M takes a long sip of his drink, and everybody purses their lips.
I silently pray that he will be honest. “My last hit under my father’s rule turned out awful.
I slipped into the man’s home and shot him, point-blank.
” I nod at him to continue, as I can see that this particular hit was brutal for him.
“The man was heinous, but this small puppy watched as I killed the man. I didn’t even know the sweetest pet was there. I felt so fucking awful that I almost didn’t use my call-off sign, but I had to do it to prove legitimacy that he was my kill.”
My mouth hangs open, and I want to start laughing, but I don’t do it. I feel like I gained the most vital piece of information about M.
When I look at him, I regain composure and kiss him on the cheek. This is my M, the man I have been looking for.
“You did what you had to do, my love.” My hand feels cool against his rosy cheek, and he looks adorable as he is relieved that I didn’t judge him. Every day, this man amazes me—he can kill someone brutally, but he has a heart buried inside of him.
“So, Lana, do you feel welcomed at all by all this fuckery?” Oliver asks me.
1. "My love" in the Bosnian language.