Page 212 of Don't Leave Me

Michael looked up at me. “I’ll call her,” he said once I stared at him, silently pleading him to do it - I didn’t have any more strength to try to make sense of this mess.

I sat on the bed and watched as Michael dialed her and put his phone on speaker. She answered almost immediately.

“Hey, everything ok?”

Michael looked up at me, his eyes sad and tired. “Hana’s gone,” he said, the sorrow in his voice so clear.

The was a long pause. “What?” she laughed, almost as if she didn’t believe him.

“Jack came to the hotel and knocked Michael out. The next thing he knew, Hana was gone, and she left a note,” I answered, trying to contribute.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Billie shouted. “What does the note say? How did Jack find you guys?”

“We don’t know. We don’t know where they’re at,” Michael answered painfully.

I read the note aloud before Billie could answer. Michael closed his eyes tightly, as if willing himself not to hear what I was reading. My heart broke for him.

Billie sighed. “This is some fucked up shit. Hana’s fucking lost it. She’s lost her god damn mind. She’s fucking brainwashed or something,” she spit out angrily.

“Or she left because she was forced to…yet again,” I defended.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what the fuck to do,” Billie sighed. “Has anyone tried contacting them?”

“It goes straight to voicemail,” I answered quickly.

“And what about his place? Does anyone know where they’re at? Can Adam get ahold of him?” Billie questioned, talking quickly.

“They’re probably halfway across the country at this point,” I murmured.

“We don’t want to provoke him. We wanted to respect Hana’s wishes. We haven’t tried Adam yet,” Michael answered, looking up at me expectantly.

Billie sighed. “Send Adam over there then,” she instructed.

I nodded, grabbing my phone again.

“We’ll do that. Let us know if you hear anything,” Michael stood up and started for the door, hanging up his phone quickly.

“Where are you going?” I asked quizzically.

“I’m going over there. If she really has lost her mind, she needs my help,” he turned to me, the confident Michael that I first met finally peeking through.

I stood up. “I’m going with you.”

59

Chapter 59

I felt all the remaining energy drain out of me once we realized that Jack and Hana were not at Jack’s loft. No movement came from the loft as we knocked continuously for about 10 minutes. Michael sighed and headed for the stairs, I’m sure exhausted as well.

“I’m going to Adam’s. I’ll see if I can find out anything. Keep me in the loop, okay?” I said to Michael as we exited Jack’s building, the cold New York air biting at my nose.

“I will. Please, be careful. We don’t know who else is involved with this,” Michael looked at me intently.

I scoffed. “Adam doesn’t know anything about this,” I defended quickly, almost shocked that Michael would come to that conclusion.

“Let’s hope,” he snapped back, then turned and walked away.

I felt dumbfounded as I stood on the sidewalk. Anger quickly arose, but I knew that Michael was hurting. He was looking to blame everyone he could. Anyone that was associated with Jack was the enemy now. I pulled my phone out and dialed Adam.