Chapter Seventeen
James
Waiting in the small, cramped police station was torture. Every time I heard the sound of a door opening, I’d look up, hoping to see Hanna. But I’d been there for hours, with no sign of her. Patterson hadn’t even emerged from the small room where he’d taken her as soon as we’d arrived.
As time stretched on, I tried not to think of the groveling I would have to do in order to get back into Hanna’s good graces. The way she’d looked at me in the back of the car had chilled my blood. She’d looked at me like I wasn’t really even there, like she was watching a mirror for signs of a ghost. She’d looked pained and wounded and exhausted, and I’d wanted nothing more than to sweep her into my arms and kiss her and tell her that everything was going to be okay.
Except, I had no idea whether or not things were going to be okay. I knew that I’d never be okay again if Hanna didn’t forgive me…but my own well-being didn’t matter nearly as much to me as Hanna’s did.
After three hours of sitting in the waiting room, I saw Patterson’s large frame walking toward me.
“Mr. West, I need to ask you a few questions,” he said. “If you wouldn’t mind coming with me, please.”
I got to my feet and followed Patterson down the narrow, fluorescent-lit hallway. He showed me into a small room. Hanna sat in a green chair made of fake leather and metal. When she saw me, she began to tremble.
“It’s okay,” I said. “He just wants to ask a few questions. Did he ask you to leave?”
Hanna opened her mouth to speak, but shut her lips after a few moments. She shook her head.
“Do you want some water?”
Hanna nodded gratefully. I went into the hallway and filled two white paper cones with fresh water from the cooler, then brought them into the room and handed one over.
“Be careful,” I warned. “If you haven’t had water in a few days, you might get sick.”
Hanna nodded, but she drank the first cone in one gulp. I handed her the second cone and watched as she took a tentative sip.
“God, I can’t believe they won’t release you to a hospital,” I said angrily, shaking my head. “You shouldn’t be here – there could be all kinds of things wrong with you!”
“I’m fine,” Hanna said in a small voice. Despite the fact that she was obviously sick, there was still a bright spark of determination in her green eyes. “I swear.”
I didn’t have the chance to speak again before the door swung open and Patterson sauntered inside. He sat down in the third chair and cocked his head to the side.
“Mr. West, you ever hear of a Jessie Harrington?”
“The last name is familiar,” I said, frowning and leaning forward. It was hard to tear my attention away from Hanna.
“You dated her sister, Emily, for a while,” Patterson continued. “At least, that’s what my reports show.”
I slapped my forehead. “Oh, god, yeah,” I said, shaking my head. “The Harringtons are old family friends of my father’s.”
“But you never met the younger sister, correct?”
I narrowed my eyes. “What does this have to do with Emily?” I asked slowly. “She’s the one who kidnapped Hanna.”
Hanna turned to me with wide eyes and shook her head. “No,” she said. “Jessie and Emily are twins. I don’t know what happened, but—”
“What Ms. Parker is trying to say is that Jessie apparently went crazy and stole her sister’s identity,” Patterson said smugly. “And she’s the one who’s been sending threats. It must’ve started sometime after the Christmas party, who knows – maybe Emily mentioned you to her sister.”
Hanna looked irritated at having been cut off, but she nodded.
“Don’t you see, James,” Hanna said slowly. “Jessie’s the one who messaged you.” She gulped, gripping the edge of the table and licking her dry lips. “She even moved to London while you were staying there. All of those pictures of you were taken by her, or by people she hired.”
“Holy shit,” I muttered, raking a hand through my hair.
“Yeah,” Patterson said, snorting as if he couldn’t quite believe that this was all real life. “And apparently, they had a falling out years ago. Emily only found out when one of her credit cards was declined – Jessie had used the whole credit line herself.”
“Holy shit,” I repeated. “I can’t believe that.”
Hanna turned to me. “I knew there was something not quite right about her,” she said slowly. “I mean, she reminded me of the girl from the party…but I could tell there was something off.”
The realization was stunning. Never in a million years had I imagined that one day, someone like Jessie Harrington would come into my life and turn everything upside down. Thinking back on it, I’d never noticed Jessie. Although she and Emily had been identical twins, Emily had always been friendly and outgoing. When my father had hosted huge parties, Jessie had hung around in the back, staring down at the floor.
“I think I’ve always known,” I said slowly. “I just feel like the world’s biggest idiot for not realizing it sooner.”
Patterson shrugged in a casual way that made me angry. “Look,” he said. “At the end of the day, we hear a lot of shit like that. The important thing is that no one got hurt.”
I glanced over at Hanna. “She needs a hospital,” I said. “She was drugged, and she hasn’t eaten in days.”
“I’m fine,” Hanna insisted. She got to her feet and tossed the paper water cone in the trash. “I’d really like to just go home, if that’s okay.”
“No,” I said firmly. “You’re going to the hospital, right now, and that’s that.”
Hanna glared at me, but she didn’t argue again. “Fine,” she muttered. She turned to Patterson. “Do you need anything else?”
Patterson shook his head. He closed the folder in front of him and tapped on it with one hand. “Looks like this will be an easy fix,” he said. “She’ll be charged with stalking, assault, and kidnapping.” He raised an eyebrow. “And looks like your reputation will be good as new.”
I rolled my eyes. “Look, I’ve come to realize that my reputation isn’t nearly important as I once thought,” I said, glancing over at Hanna as I spoke. “Other things in life are much more important.”
I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I saw the faint hint of a flush on Hanna’s cheeks as I spoke.
As Patterson showed us out of the police station, I put an arm around Hanna’s shoulders.
“I’ll wait for you at the hospital,” I promised. “I won’t go home – I won’t even go out for a meal.”
Hanna didn’t reply. She tried to pull away but I held her closer, pulling her shoulder into the crook of my arm.
“Hanna,” I said slowly. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Hanna swallowed. She stopped dead in her tracks, ignoring the icy chill of the Boston winds. When she looked at me, her chin was shaking and there were obvious tears in her green eyes.
“I can’t do this,” she said. She shook her head and bit her lip. “I’m sorry, James, but I can’t.”
I frowned and reached for her hand but she pulled away. “What are you talking about?”
Hanna gestured frantically between herself and me.
“I can’t…I can’t just act like everything’s normal between us,” Hanna cried loudly. Her voice broke with emotion and I watched as hot tears began to stream down her face. “I can’t pretend anymore, James. I loved you, and you broke my heart, and I don’t need your pity!” Her cheeks were bright red as she started yanking at the new scarf and coat that I’d bought for her. “And I don’t need your clothes, and I don’t need your money, and I don’t need any of this useless shit!”
“Hanna, please,” I begged, stepping closer. “Please, take a deep breath and calm down, okay? Can you please try to do that for me?”
Hanna looked angry and vulnerable all at once. Her hair was whipping wildly around her face in mad tangles and she was biting on her lip so hard that I saw blood appear on her pink flesh.
“No,” Hanna said. “And I don’t care if you feel guilty for breaking my heart – you should feel bad, because that was an asshole thing to do – but you can’t take it out on me just to make yourself feel better!”
The words hit me like a ton of bricks. I stopped dead in my tracks, staring at Hanna.
“What?” Hanna asked. She laughed nervously. “Now what, let me guess? You’re going to tell me you don’t even care about that?”
“No,” I said softly, stepping forward and reaching for her hand. Again, Hanna stepped back and tried to pull away but I was faster. I wrapped my fingers around her gloved hand and drew her to my body, pressing my chest against her small abdomen. Beneath her skin and ribs, I could feel her heart beating like a butterfly’s wings, even through the heavy layers of clothing she wore.
“What are you doing,” Hanna cried. “Let me go!”
I stared into her green eyes. “Hanna, I love you, and I think I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you,” I said hotly. “You’re not like any other woman I’ve ever met, and I would never hurt you.”
Hanna’s chin crumpled and she burst into hot tears, burying her face in my neck. I could feel her sniffling and breathing wetly against my skin and I wrapped my arms around her small body, pulling her close.
“Then why did you hurt me,” Hanna whispered. “James, if you love me so much – why did you hurt me?”
I pulled away and grabbed her by the shoulders, staring into her bright green eyes until I felt myself begin to tear up.
“Don’t you get it?” I asked her quietly. “Hanna, I had to – I didn’t have a choice! As soon as I realized that creep – Jessie – was taking pictures of you, too, I knew I had to break up with you in order to keep you safe!”
Hanna stared at me in disbelief.
“It’s true,” I said. “I’ve been miserable, I’ve never felt so bad in my life. All I can do is think about you, Hanna, and how much I love you and how much I want to make things right. Please, please – forgive me. Or at least, give me the chance to prove how much I love you. Hanna, if you can do that, it would make me the happiest man on earth.”
A single tear rolled down Hanna’s cheek. This time, when I went to brush it away, she didn’t pull back.
“I mean it,” I said. “I swear to god, Hanna, I’ll never fuck up like that again. And I swear, no one will ever, ever hurt you.”
Hanna melted against my body. She put her arms around my neck and sighed softly, then stood up on tiptoe and pressed her lips to mine. Despite the freezing temperatures and Hanna’s dry lips, it was the best kiss I’d ever experienced. Love and passion swirled through my body as we stood there together on that Boston street, kissing as if we were the only two people left alive in the world.
I knew then, deep down, that no matter what happened between Hanna and me, everything would be okay. We’d been through so much together – from crazy, life-changing love, to horrifically scary incidents that most people would never have to deal with. But none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was the fact that Hanna and I were together, and we’d stay together for the rest of my life.
Hanna pulled away, licking her lips. She was still shivering, although her tears had dried and her eyes had regained some of her sparkle and strength.
“I love you,” I said softly, reaching for her hand and lacing my fingers with her own. “And I always will.”
“Oh, James,” Hanna said softly. “I love you, too.”