Something pulls me out of sleep with a jolt, and for a moment I lie, listening and staring, wondering if this is it and hoping it isn’t.
No sound of breathing, no sound of a gun being drawn back, no voice telling me to get the fuck out of bed. Just silence.
Deciding I must have imagined it, I reach out to the other side of the bed for her, and hit nothing but air.
She’s gone. But where? To the bathroom?
“Hannah?” I call out, but get only silence back. I raise my voice a couple of decibels. “Hannah?”
My heart starts to thunder as I push the sheets aside, standing naked in the dark. I flick on the bedside lamp and see nothing. No sign of her.
Her clothes are gone from the floor, her shoes missing from by the door.
I rush to the bathroom and throw open the door, but I already know what I’m going to see. Nothing but darkness.
It’s then that I spot the cell phone I gave her along with the necklace and a note on the writing table.
Mr. Belotti,
Thank you for making me feel special, and like a dumbass. I told myself I’d be honest so, I loved being with you. Being Jamie was fun and sexy and I don’t believe in regret so I’ll figure out the lesson in all of this someday.
I know it has to come to an end, and I understand my part in screwing things up. Note to self…don’t have sex up against windows. It’s messy in more ways than one.
So, yeah, you got a text confirming your flight to Grand Cayman. Don’t forget your sunscreen. You’re a pretty pale guy.
I’m taking your jacket because it’s cold outside and in all the stuff you bought for me there was no coat and I don’t want any of it anyway. I think it’s best if you don’t contact me.
Your pretend daughter for a minute,
Hannah
I let out a howl of rage as I cross the room, picking up my phone and looking at the text message blaring out on the lock screen. Confirming my booking on a one-way private flight to the Cayman Islands.
One. Ticket. Today.
Fuck.
I’ve never pulled my clothes on faster. I rush out of the room like a madman, thumping the elevator button for the lobby so hard it cracks the plastic.
It’s all a mess. I couldn’t explain to her what I was doing, because I would have been forced to tell her everything, all about the work I did for the Albanians, all about how I screwed up their business model when I found out they were smuggling humans like cattle. All about the fact they’ll kill me if I don’t get this deal done.
I couldn’t put all that on her.
But now she thinks I was going to run. Without her. And I’m not sure which is worse.
“I need a car.” I slip the security guard outside the front door a hundred bucks. “Like now, man.”
He shrugs. “I’ll call for one. You want an Uber or a limo?”
“Man, I need acar,” I implore, my voice near pleading, which I wasn’t sure I knew how to do. “It’s about a girl.”
He stares at me for a beat, then nods, reaching into the inside pocket of his jacket and hands over a key on a silver chain. “Been there, man. Been there. Take mine. It’s a piece of shit, but it will get you where you’re going. Just get it back to me by six, okay? It’s all I got.”
I pull out my phone. “You got Cash App?”
He nods, snapping his tongue along his top teeth. Then gives me his Cash App ID.
I tap my screen, then shove my phone back in my pocket. “That should do it. I won’t have time to bring your car back, get yourself something nice.”