I thought about texting Jarrid or Sean, but I knew they’d descend on the place like the heroes they were, and I couldn’t risk someone hurting Hana because I’d not followed instructions.
I switched off my headlights so I wouldn’t alert them to my arrival too soon, plunging the world into an ominous darkness, the engine's rumble mingling with the pounding of my heart.
I pulled up to the side of the single-story wooden building, killing the engine and reaching for my bag with my laptop in, unsure what they’d expect me to do in order to get Hana back in one piece, but I was pretty sure I would do just about anything.
I climbed out of the car, closing the door quietly and creeping to the front door, noticing how run down the place looked. I questioned whether I should walk in or knock, because how the hell did you enter the creepy house where the love of your life was being held captive?
I decided to go with opening the door slowly, peeking my head through as I tightened my grip on my bag, trying to appear like the giant man I was and not the terrified techie who wished he was at home right now.
Inside the cabin, it was as dark as it was outside; the air warm and scented by the dying embers of the fire that glowed in the grate.
“Hana?” I hissed, my eyes scouring the darkness, but I was met with silence. The weight of it pressed down on me as I strained to listen for anything to tell me she was here and alive.
My steps echoed into the stillness, despite how undetectable I tried to be, but still no one appeared—there was no sound of a gun being loaded or a strike to the head to render me unconscious. My heart hammered so hard that it felt like percussion to my apprehension. Then it came.
A click.
Not a gun, but a door locking. I stilled.
There was a soft sigh, and someone spoke: “That hero complex is really going to get you into trouble one day, psycho.”
41
ROMAN
The lights came on,and I turned to find a familiar face staring at me, but that was the only thing about the woman across from me I recognised. My pulse hammered as adrenaline flooded my body, my relief from seeing her alive replaced by anger and confusion about why she was standing there like nothing was wrong.
She was dressed differently. Head to toe in black: a long-sleeved, high-necked, tight top, black leggings, heavy boots, her hair over her shoulders in braids, a thin brown harness resting over her shoulders and under her breasts. In fact, every inch of her body was covered, even down to the leather gloves on her hands. Gloved hands that were currently aiming a gun in my direction.
I’d been around enough trained killers recently to know when someone was familiar and comfortable with a gun, and Hana didn’t show an ounce of fear. “What the fuck, Hana? I thought you’d been kidnapped.”
She shrugged. “Kind of the point.” Her hands held steady, her voice calm when she spoke.
“So what…yousent me that picture? You faked being kidnapped?”
She didn’t reply, tilting her head like she was assessing me, but for what, I wasn’t sure.
“Hana.” I said her name with a little more intensity, and her façade cracked for a second, her eyes fluttering closed, her submissive side rising to the surface before she obviously pushed it back down and glared in my direction.
“I needed to make sure you’d come, and I couldn’t explain why.”
I held my hands up, aware that she held all the power here… and the deadly weapon. “Put the gun down, Hana.” I softened my voice, but my instruction was clear. I was pretty sure she wouldn’t really shoot me, and that confidence carried in my tone. “I’m here now. What do you need?”
She didn’t even pause. “You,” she replied matter-of-factly.
Despite the gun trained on me, anger replaced my other emotions. “You had me, remember. I told you I loved you, and you basically told me to fuck off, so pretending to have been kidnapped just to get me here feels a little excessive.”
Silence fell over the room as we orbited each other in this weird standoff—me not knowing what the hell was going on, her obviously not ready to explain why she was doing this.
“You said I could trust you,” she said eventually.
“And I meant it, but can I trust you? I mean, I thought I knew you, and then you started vanishing, and now this… what the hell’s going on, Hana? And put the gun down before you shoot me by accident.”
She huffed, lowering the gun and pushing it behind her back into the waistband of her trousers. I was still a little thrown that it was within reachable distance, but at least I wasn’t staring down its barrel anymore, and my racing heart started to slow to a normal rate again. I sharpened my focus, glancing around the room.
“You’re here alone?” I tried to start piecing together what was going on.
She nodded.
