“Excuse me?” Why the fuck am I questioning this? Has my father fucked me up that badly? He always told me nobody could ever love me.
“M, even if you don’t trust me right now, I really fucking do.” Her voice is hushed, but honest. I can spot a liar once they are in front of me, begging, and Lana isn’t lying.
“Why?” I ask her as I go down on my knees in front of her. My hands are dying to touch her, but I need to hear her out.
“Because you let me be myself with you, and I fucking needed that. You saw an ugly part of me, yet you still chose to be here.” I can feel my emotions swinging, ready to jump out of my body. I reach for her right cheek with my hand, and from all the things we did already, this feels like the most intimate one.
It’s like we are truly connecting now.
“Why were you not honest with me?” I ask her. Her eyes are darting from left to right, as if she is thinking of a correct response.
“I want to be, but not like this. Please, M, unlock the cuffs, and I’ll tell you everything.”
“Do you honestly think I’m stupid? Lana, I need you to tell me one truth before I can even consider that.”
“Fine,” she inhales deeply and exhales. “My name is Lana Osmanovic. His legacy.”
“What was your father’s name?” His surname does sound familiar.
“Leon Osmanovic, the Silent Python.” And the truth is out. Lana is the hidden daughter of the most feared assassin ever.
And that puts her in danger. Or, it makesherdangerous. I need to see myself.
I uncuff her, and she moves her wrists because it probably hurts her. I grab the rifle and hand it over to her. She starts shaking her head.
“I don’t know what to do with that.”
“Take it.” She reluctantly takes the rifle and holds it like an amateur. Lana struggles to maintain it.
“Now point it at me,” I tell her, which feels more like a question. And I don’t know why. Lana points the rifle at me, and I want to smile at how clumsy she is.
“Shoot.”
“Fuck no, M! Are you crazy?”
“Oh, Lana.” I put my hand on the rifle and lower it onto the ground. She drops it all too readily. “You don’t want to kill me, right?”
“No, no, no!” she starts rambling, and it’s adorable. I grab the rifle and start standing up, and so does she.
“What are we going to do now?” she asks me.
“You weren’t honest to me, and while I will protect you, you need to be punished.”
“M, I apologized.”
“Apology accepted. But, you will be reprimanded.” A grin forms on my face, and I start pointing the rifle toward her. “Run, little hummingbird.”
44
Lana
“You want me to?” I stand up and point to the forest. “Run?” To make this situation even more insane, M cocks his rifle and points it toward me.
“Yes. And I want some answers along the way.”
“But what if somebody hears us?” I know damn well nobody will hear us because this place is so cut off from civilization. Fuck, I need to play this right. I need answers. I straighten my back and start running into the forest.
“Run like your life depends on it!” I hear M yelling at me, and I can sense the amusement he gets from this. I’m running so fast that I feel like the forest is swallowing me whole. My world is turning feral, and there is only one thought coursing through my mind—his darkness is intertwining with my soul, and I can’t do anything about it.
