Chapter 35

Hana was looking at me like she had no clue what I was talking about. Did she seriously think I would let her stay in this apartment?

“You are coming home with me,” I clarified.

“Why?” she asked. She was still in shock and her adrenaline was wearing off, I wasn’t surprised she didn’t follow along my train of thought.

“Sweetness, someone tried to get to you. I don’t know who.” When I find out, they will wish they had never heard Hana’s name. “And tonight is not the time to find out. It was clearly a planned attempt since they used this Amber woman. They may return.” If they did I would have men waiting for them. “And your door won’t close.” I had a man coming to fix that issue as we were talking, but she didn’t need to know that. “You are coming home with me. I have a state of the art security system and my apartment comes with a complementary bodyguard; me.”

“It’s nice of you. But I can’t just leave. What if someone breaks in with my door as it is?” she asked.

“I have someone coming to fix that. They will make sure your apartment is sealed,” I confessed.

“But you just said… You lied?” For the first time since I knocked on her door several weeks ago, I saw uncertainty in Hana’s eyes when she looked at me. It gutted me and I felt offended that it took so little for her to lose faith in me.

“I didn’t lie. Your door can’t close. I don’t know how soon my guy can get here to fix it and you need to get someplace safe before you collapse out of sheer exhaustion,” I told her. I could hear the irritation bleeding into my voice.

“I can take care of myself, you know. I’m a grown woman and I don’t need you to swoop in and fix everything. I can find someone to replace my door. Maybe not as quickly as your stupid team. But I will get it done.” Hana was on the verge of shouting. Logically I knew it was the evening's events that were catching up to her. She was acting out to let off some steam and because it felt better to be angry than to be scared and sad. But I wasn’t emotionally stable either. I couldn’t remember ever being as scared as when I heard Hana’s faint voice over the phone. From the way she had whispered my name, I instantly knew she was in trouble. The ten minutes it took me to grab my gun, get in the car and break every speed limit to get to her, was the longest in my life. I have seen the ledge on the outside of the house and it pissed me off that she had been in a position that the fucking nothing of a ledge had seemed like her only way to keep safe. My own body was just as much a mix of adrenaline and feelings like hers was and my temper was slipping.

“I know you can take care of yourself. Why else do you think you are still living in this shit hole of an apartment complex?” I asked and my voice teetered on screaming. “But this is where I draw the line. You are in direct danger and I won't sit idly by and watch while you get hurt because you feel like proving you can be independent!” I was now shouting at her and I took a step towards her to let her know that I would not let her stay here. But to my utter horror she turned pale white and dropped into a ball at my feet, covering her head with her arms and shaking. It took me a second to understand that she had anticipated me hitting her and she had gone into a position to protect herself. I felt sick and took a step back and sank down on my knees as I raised my hands in surrender. “Hana, sweetness, look at me,” I asked, all anger and frustration had left me and my voice was as soft as I could make it. She peeked at me through her raised arms. “I’m not going to hurt you. I will never hurt you. I would rather cut my hands from my arms than to place them on you in anger,” I told her and tried to meet her eyes. She had big tears rolling down her face and I just wanted to take her in my arms. But I knew I had to keep out of her space until she let me in. Her hunched position straightened out a little and she hesitantly lowered her arms. “Thank you,” I said. I wanted her to know that I was honoured that she trusted me when her history obviously had taught her she couldn’t trust men, or maybe people in general.

“I-I.” She stopped talking after the first stuttering syllable. She took a deep breath. “I know you wouldn’t,” she said. Her words eased some of the pain in my chest and I lowered my hands and reached out towards her with one of them. I stopped halfway to her to give her the choice. She looked at my hand and placed hers in it. It took away a little more of the pain in me and I gently pulled on her. She didn’t object and I could pull her all the way into my arms. I heard her let out a small sigh as she leaned into me and her body relaxed. “I’m sorry. I really do know you wouldn’t hurt me. It’s just, sometimes my body reacts without me thinking,” she told me. I could feel her tears stain the t-shirt I was wearing.

“It’s okay, I understand and I’m sorry I triggered you. I will do my best not to repeat it. And I understand if you don’t want to come home with me tonight. But at least let me pay for you to stay in a hotel?” I asked. It wouldn’t be as safe as my place. But I could rent the room next door to hers and I could place men throughout the building. I would do it if it made Hana feel safer.

“No, it’s okay. It was just me being stubborn. Are you sure you have room for me and that I wouldn’t be in the way?” she asked. I was on my way to say that my bed was large enough for the both of us. But I thought that I needed to limit the amount of trauma I caused her in one night.

“I have a guest room and the apartment is too big for me. You would do me a favour by staying there and make it less deserted,” I told her. To my surprise she giggled.

“Nice try, trying to convince me I would be doing you a favour. I’m not buying it. But I will accept the invitation. Mostly because you were right, I’m starting to feel exhausted and I don’t want to deal with this mess tonight.”

“I’m happy, thank you. Do you think you can manage to pack a bag?” I asked.

“Yeah, it shouldn’t take more than ten minutes,” she told me and started to withdraw from my embrace. I made sure she got back up and was stable on her feet before I stood up. As she walked towards the bedroom I took care of the few things that needed washing. I sent a message to Jason explaining the situation and what I needed him to do. His reply contained two words; ‘On it’. I relaxed a little more and went to find Hana. She was still placing some things into a duffel bag. I walked to her window, opened it and looked out. Once again rage surfaced as I saw the ledge she had been standing on. I would find the fucker who had put her through this and when I did, I would make him regret his life choices.

“I’m ready,” Hana told me. I closed the window and turned to her with a smile.

“Good, then we are ready to go.” I took the duffel bag and the computer satchel from her.

“What about my door?” she asked as she took my outstretched hand.

“I saw Millner pull up outside. We can leave it to him, it will take him a while to change the door. He will give the new keys to me tomorrow and I’ll make sure you get them, I told her as we walked through her apartment. We met Millner outside her apartment. “Change the door and make sure the place is secure before you leave,” I told him. More for Hana’s sake than because he needed to be told.

“Sure thing, boss, miss,” he said. I led Hana down to my car and opened the door for her and stashed her things in the back seat. I kept an eye open for suspicious people. I would breathe easier once I got her away from this place. As I pulled out from the curb, Hana yawned. I had to smile.

“It’s okay if you need a nap. It will take us about twenty minutes to get there. I’ll wake you when we arrive,” I said.

“Twenty? I couldn’t have been out on the ledge for that long,” she objected.

“No, more around ten minutes. I may have been speeding.” She looked at me, then she smiled and leaned her head against the window.

“Thank you,” she told me before she drifted off. Speeding wasn’t even on the top ten of things I would do to keep her safe.