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.”
51
ROMAN
I letJarrid drive me back to Lanton House, unable to focus on anything but Hana’s admission.She worked for Preston. He was her stepfather.
The words rolled around my head, recalibrating all the memories I’d forged with her. Every conversation, every intimate moment, every shared experience… were any of them real? Did she know who I was this whole time? Is that why we got this case… because she was in on it? Trying to play us, play me? My thoughts didn’t make sense. I knew they didn’t, but I couldn’t stop them exploding like grenades.
“Hana showed up before Preston and Larson were killed.”
I turned to Jarrid, wondering if he could read my thoughts.
“I know what you’re thinking, but Thomas brought her here, remember? I think this is all some sick twist of fate.” He offered me a look of pity, and I hated it.
“You believe that? She shows up, people start dying, and then we get asked to investigate it? What if she killed them, Jarrid? What if I’m in love with a serial killer?”
Jarrid rolled his hands over the steering wheel as we drove down the motorway. Thomas had insisted that Hana travel backwith him and Sean. I was glad for the distance, but the space between us had just given me more room to fill with questions.
“Do you think she killed them?” he asked quietly, and I appreciated he was letting me reach my own decisions rather than jumping to his own conclusions.
“She tricked me, sent me a message telling me she’d been kidnapped. Held me at gunpoint.”
“So you think she killed them?” he asked again.
I turned my attention to the world blurring past the window. Did I really think she’d killed them? Was she capable of putting a gun to someone’s head or carjacking? Although until a couple of days ago, I wouldn’t have thought she even knew how to hold a gun, let alone break into one of the most secure buildings in the country.
“No,” I said, listening to my gut and ignoring all the evidence that I was probably wrong.
I’d watched Hana for six years, and she’d not done a thing wrong. The Hana I knew wasn’t a killer… was she? “I don’t think she killed them, but she admitted that she worked for Preston, and that can’t be a good thing. We think we know what the man was doing, so hearing she was involved is fucking with my head. I have so many questions.”
“We won’t be long, and then you can ask away. I don’t think Sean and Thomas are going to let her go anywhere until she explains everything. Hang fire, and you’ll get the answers you need.”
When we gotto the basement, Hana was already there, sitting in one of the meeting rooms. It looked like a badly set-up interview with Hana on one side of the large wooden table and Thomasand Sean on the other. Jarrid went to sit to the side of Sean, while I didn’t want to add to the weird power dynamic, so I took the seat next to Hana, telling myself it was the right thing to do and not that I was desperate to still protect her.
She offered me a grateful half smile, and I let my eyes rake over her, noticing instantly that she had on a man’s hoodie that wasn’t mine, and seeing her in someone else's clothes made me a little feral.
“She was cold, Roman. Calm your horses,” Sean informed me, making me again wonder if the people in this building were all mind readers or if I just wore my emotions far too clearly.
Hana glanced over at me again, looking incredibly small and vulnerable in the too large for her garment. The second our eyes locked, she looked down, picking at the cuffs as if she’d been looking at them the whole time.
“Okay, Hana, you have our undivided attention and the next fifteen minutes to convince me you’re not a serial killer trying to wipe out your stepfather’s entire inner circle so I don’t phone the police and hand you in,” Thomas started.
