Chapter 109

I knocked on Jason’s door and walked inside. He hurried to stuff something into a drawer.

“What are you hiding?” I asked, as I had never seen him do something like it before.

“Noffing,” he said with a convincing spray of crumbles from his mouth.

“Uhu. What are you eating?” I asked. He swallowed loudly, doing a good impression of a boa constrictor.

“Eating? I have no idea what you are talking about. I think you are getting senile,” he said. I had just been curious before, but his behaviour got me really interested. I walked over and leaned against his desk and looked at him in silence. “Fine!” he eventually said. “I was eating cheesecake, and no, you can’t have any,” he told me.

“You have seen Hana?” I tried to sound casual, but I felt my heartbeat pick up.

“Yeah. She asked for a favour.” I didn’t know how to feel about that. It stung that she had called Jason and not me, even if I understood why. But then I was also happy that she felt she could reach out and I knew Jason would help her.

“Oh. With what?” Jason gave me a look that told me I wasn’t acting as cool as I thought I was.

“She is setting up her business. She has found this amazing place by the promenade, but it needs a little renovation work and she needs some background checks done. I referred her to the contractors we usually work with and made sure they knew she’d be calling. I also went over there to look at the place and told her we would install the security alarm as a gift for the new business,” he told me. I nodded. I was happy she could finally get started on her dream. Then it hit me, the property at the promenade. That was where she had run into me the first time. She had told me she had been looking at a property that was everything she had wanted.

“Thank you,” I said. He just shrugged. “You know, you should share the cheesecake,” I added.

“No. She made it for me, so it’s mine,” he insisted.

“You will make yourself sick if you eat it all.”

“Hana just said not to eat it all in one sitting. I had two slices when I did my report of the surveillance our new client hired us to do. Then I took a bathroom break and now I will finish the rest,” Jason proudly announced. Sometimes I swore he was seven years old.

“Stop being a child. I came here to ask about the report. Give me a slice and we can eat and talk about it,” I told him.

“Fine. I’ll share this once. But when the bakery opens, you will have to buy your own.” Jason produced a napkin and a small plastic spoon. He took out his box with cheesecake and cut a piece from it using a knife that just appeared from nowhere. I took the offered piece and sat down in a chair. I loaded the tiny spoon with as much of the precious cargo as I could fit in and put it in my mouth. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the flavours and textures that were playing in my mouth. “Itch sho good,” Jason sighed with his mouth full. I just hummed. As for everything that reminded me of Hana, it was bittersweet. The small voice in my head, that sounded irritatingly much like Jason, told me it didn’t have to be like that. As always, my mental hand smacked the voice and made it shut up.

Later that evening I was sitting in my apartment and doodling as I let my thoughts run all over the place. I needed to keep my hands busy so they didn’t remember how much they missed not having Hana close by. My phone rang and I sighed when I saw the name showing. But I picked up non the less.

“Hello, Mandy,” I said.

“Hunter! We need to talk,” she huffed.

“I guessed as much when you called.”

“Don’t try to be funny. This is serious,” she snapped. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. We needed to be able to be civil to each other with the mess Simon was in.

“Sorry. What did you need to talk about?” I asked.

“That child bride of yours. You will never believe what she just told me!” That had me sitting up on the couch.

“You talked to Hana?”

“Yes, I went over to her place. First the doorman wouldn’t even let me inside. He treated me like I was some kind of criminal. You know she put him up to it. She probably had told him all kinds of lies about me. I should sue her and the company that owns that place. I had to stand outside, like some low-life. At least it didn’t take that long for that little trollop to show up. Getting out of a taxi like she is something special. I asked her to give the money she had got from Simon back. And do you know what she told me? She said she had spent it! Just like that. It was almost six million dollars! How can she spend it just like that? You know the feds has frozen all his assets? He needs some money, he tells me it’s hell inside the prison and he has no way of buying things in the little shop in there,” she ranted. She packed so much information into her deliberation, I needed a moment to take everything in.

“First of all, stop name-calling Hana. She has done nothing to deserve the hostility you give her. And she didn't bad mouth you to her doorman. The guy’s job is to keep people who aren’t residents or aren’t on the list of approved visitors out of the building. She might have given him a heads-up after the stunt you just pulled.” I paused and let my anger simmer down. “I know she has spent the money, or at least a big chunk of it. Good for her, she deserves it more than anyone I can think of. If Simon needs money for commissary, we will get it to him. Neither of us are poor, we can afford to make sure he has money in his account,” I told her.

“I knew you would take her side. You let your dick do all the thinking. Do you hate our son that much?” she asked me. I sighed.

“I don’t hate Simon. He’s my son. And you know it’s over between Hana and myself.”

“Well, that was the best decision you have made in years. You need to focus on Simon and his appeal.” I wanted to hang up on her. “I tried to get her to confess she had handed the money back to the mafia, that is what Simon said she had done. I tried to get it on a recording, but it looks like she has more brain cells then I expected. She didn’t take the bait,” she continued.

“You did what?! Are you insane?” I shouted.

“Calm down, I just said she didn’t go for it. We need to find another way to stick her with the blame,” Mandy told me.

“Now you listen to me, Mandy. You will leave Hana alone or you will see what I can do for real. You think it’s bad with Simon? I will put the entire investigation team on looking into your and your husband’s connections to Simon’s business. We both know neither of you are as clean in this as you want people to think. If you get anywhere near Hana, the full force of my company will come down on you and you will be behind bars faster than you spend your husband’s money. Hana a no go zone! She is not responsible for Simon’s decision. Simon is responsible for that. And to some extent, yours and mine. Let’s be honest for once, Mandy. Our relationship has never been well functioning and it has affected Simon. We will have to live with that. But we will not put that blame on Hana. You are my son’s mother and as such, I have tried to keep you out of things. I have respected the dedication you have shown Simon, but there is a limit. I will tell you this once. If you do not listen, you will suffer for it.” I hung up on her and got up to work my anger and frustration off in the gym.