Chapter 220: The Explanation: Hannah
I sat on the bed in the hotel room, relieved to see everyone come to my rescue; however, my main priority was protecting Martin. Roman looked a little tense, but it was so nice to see him. Oh how I had missed him! I couldn’t wait until it was just the two of us, and I could kiss his body in spots he didn’t even know existed.
But before that, I had to explain how Martin was just trying to save me. "You all know how horrible my father was."
"Yeah, selling his daughter, he was a pretty despicable man," agreed Roman.
"I’m glad we put him away," Ed said.
"Anyway," I continued, "he used to prance Lori and I out in front of his clients all the time. Once he had me get dressed up in a gown with a low neckline. I pulled it up as high as I could, but once I came downstairs, he checked it out and pulled the shoulders down a little. Well, Martin here, marched right up to me, pulled up the dress and handed me a shawl."
"I remember that," Martin half laughed. "Court went beserk."
"My dad started yelling and screaming, but Martin defended me. Said I was just a kid, and it would be better if I were comfortable. Of course, my father never cared about my comfort. But Martin was the only one who would stand up to our father. He was the only one who would protect Lori and me."
I looked around the room and all eyes seemed to be on me, listening to my story, and I hoped I was getting through to them. "Freddy, Edward, Lori and I all believed Martin had died on his 18th birthday. Our father told us there was some tragic accident."
Martin stared down at the floor. I guessed it was difficult hearing about your own death, even if it was fake.
"We believed it. Martin was gone, and he didn’t come back. But Martin didn’t know that’s what Court told us. He left to join the army and our father disowned him. Told him never to come back. He thought it was for the best."
As I explained, I saw a hint of acknowledgement in Ed and Marcus’ faces.
They were starting to understand Martin’s motives.
"When he came back, he learned of our father’s incarceration, the horrible thing he had done by selling me, but he thought Roman had bought me only to use me. He saw Roman as a bad guy, and he wanted to protect me," I pleaded with them. "He only did it out of love and to be my protector like he’d always been."
"Okay, but hold on," Marcus said. "He’s been sneaking around for a while now, stalking you."
"I wasn’t stalking. I was just investigating," Martin jumped in. "I needed to protect my little sister."
"You see? It’s all a big misunderstanding," I claimed.
"But wait a sec. You were the one in the black car?" Roman asked. Martin didn’t acknowledge my question. "You tried to mow me down? You tried to kill me."
Roman pointed his finger at Martin who looked down with a sheepish grin. I could tell Martin regretted what he’d done, his remorse revealed all over his face.
"I’m sorry. I truly am, but I won’t - I just can’t confirm or deny what you’re saying."
The fact that Martin and Roman were tethered together with the handcuffs made it harder for them to argue. Both men pulled on them, creating as much space between each other as they could, which only amounted to a few inches.
"So you tried to run me over - that’s when we went into lockdown mode. You claim I was hiding Hannah, but it wasn’t until you scared us half to death that we sequestered ourselves," Roman shot back.
"And if that weren’t enough, you shot at me. Thanks to Stan’s quick thinking," Roman nodded at him, "you were unable to hit me with your second shot."
"I’m sorry. I really am," Martin nodded solemnly.
"Again, I’m not saying it was me, but if I were to do something like that, put yourself in my shoes. I can see you’d do anything to save Hannah. If you thought someone was hurting her, you might..."
"No," Roman tried to jump up, but being connected to Martin at the wrist, he couldn’t. "I wouldn’t. Yes, I’ve tried to do things on my own. But I’ve always included law enforcement. When I knew what Court had done, I didn’t show up at his house with a rifle."
"You killed Bernard," Martin accused.
"How did you...?" I gasped and stood up.
"I told you," Martin looked up at me. "I did some snooping."
"That was self-defense," growled Roman. "You attempted to run me over then assassinate me with a bullet. Plus, you killed an innocent man."
"Hold on, hold on," Martin said. "What are you talking about?"
"The bodyguard, Nick Greene. Well it must have been you who supplanted the real Nick Greene with the fake one and offed the original," Roman said.
"No, no," Martin was adamant. "I didn’t kill any bodyguard." Martin shook his head vigorously and looked at Ed and Marcus to make sure they believed him.
"If it wasn’t you, then..." Roman asked.
"Who was it?" Ed finished. "It seems we’ve solved a lot of loose ends, just not everything. There could still be someone out there. You have to be careful." He turned to look Roman square in the eyes. "I know you’re not going to go rogue, but keep Stan around a little longer, will ya?"
Roman nodded.
"You two are going to play nice if I take these cuffs off, aren’t you?" Ed asked.
"Yes, please." Roman tried to hold up his wrist. As soon as Ed unlatched the cuffs, Roman jumped up and hugged me.
"I’m sorry," I said. "Thanks for doing that." "Anything for you," he kissed me lightly on the lips.
"Seriously, get a room," Ed laughed. "Oh, we’re already in one."
"Ha, ha," I said. "So what are you going to do about Martin? Can you let him go?"
"Firing a weapon at someone and attempted vehicular homicide are serious crimes," Marcus said.
"But I think we can get you off easy. No guarantees, but if you cooperate, the judge might be open to lesser charges or lighter sentencing. You might even avoid jail time. Unless you’re planning on pressing charges?" Ed asked as he looked Roman’s way.
"I guess not," Roman agreed. "I know you were doing it out of love and concern for your sister, but I’m awfully lucky you have bad aim."
Martin laughed. "You know, I was never the sniper. I would sneak around and gather intel, but someone else pulled the trigger."
"He was in the special forces," I nodded. "Speaking of which, I hope you’ll consider getting some help. I have a great therapist who’s really helped me," I told Martin.
"Yeah," he nodded. "I think you’re right."
"I’ll get you some names," Ed said. "I know some ex-military guys. They use some good therapists."
I smiled. It appeared that everything was going to be okay.
"We’ll take Martin to our office. Check out his story. Get a statement," Marcus said.
"You promise, though, what you said. You’ll help him?" I asked. It was my turn to be protective of my brother.
"Yes, we’ll do what we can," Marcus said.
"Stan, please take care of these two. Seems like they need to make up for time lost," Ed joked.
"I love you," I said to Martin as Ed and Marcus led him out of the hotel room.
"I love you too and thank you," he said.
As soon as they were gone, I turned to Roman and jumped onto his body, wrapping my legs around his waist, my arms over his shoulders. We kissed so hard, his tongue almost choked me.
When we heard a cough in the corner, we stopped. There was Stan standing like a telephone pole - tall and straight - in the corner. I dropped my feet to the floor and buried my head in Roman’s chest.
"I love you," I said, looking up at him.
"I love you too," he said. "Let’s go home. We don’t need to stay in this hotel room, with everything that happened."
Walking out of the room, Roman spotted the sheet and held it up, noticing my start at spelling help. "Smart," he said. "So it was you?"
"Was me?" I asked.
"I saw a glimpse of white in the window, and it was like you were speaking to me, like a dove had just miraculously surfaced in the sky."
I shrugged. "I guess. I knew you’d be looking for me. At first I didn’t know what was going on and..."
Roman kissed me again, gently on the lips. "Let’s finish this at home," he said, and I couldn’t agree more.