An Escape

Lana looked up at her phone as it rang and for some reason she felt like he was exactly what she needed. 

"What do you want now?" Her voice sounded hoarse.

"This is the second time now Lana, didn't your mother teach you any manners on how to talk to people?" 

"You would do well to talk fast because I'm not in my best of moods right now." That was what Lana wanted, to pour it all on someone, to unleash her anger at the world or something.

"Are you free tonight?" His voice was suddenly cold, like he was trying to mask his emotions.

"I am, have you finally decided to come for your pound of flesh?" He chuckled and it helped to lighten up the mood for the moment, "Maybe you're right, are you at your place? I could send my men to come pick you up."

Pick her up? Was he being serious? 

"You certainly jest about a lot of things." There was no response from him and it was then she realized that she wasn't just talking to anyone, she was talking to Lucien Crane.

"I'm not home yet, I just left the hospital." "Hospital? What were you doing there?" He seemed like he was asking genuinely and so Lana felt compelled to tell him.

"I went to visit my mom, but I'll be home soon." 

"From the tone of your voice, I can tell you must be feeling exhausted for whatever reason's your mom is in the hospital so if you do not feel like it then you do not have to worry about anything."

"I'll be there, you can send your men to come, just that I'm not exactly presentable at the moment."

"They'll handle that before they bring you here." The line went dead and Lana could feel the clock ticking, she could feel herself about to break. If she was going to do it, it would have to be tonight because after then, she'll have to fully face the reality of her situation head on. 

She took a taxi to her place and before she got to her apartment, she could see a limousine parked a few meters away from her house and that was when it hit, how did he know where she was staying? 

How did he know so much about her in such a short time frame? She blocked the thoughts and reminded herself that he was powerful enough to get whatever information he wanted.

She got down from the taxi and paid the driver. Immediately the taxi drove off, the doors opened and Lucien stepped out. He was wearing a white shirt and black pants, he looked like he just stepped out of a movie and he was the main character.

His eyes remained on her until he got to where she stood, Lana was certain the only reason she stood this calm was because she was too overwhelmed, had she been in a better mind frame, then him approaching her with such intense eye contact would make her turn around and find a place to hide. 

His shirt was slightly unbuttoned you could tell he had just finished with work or it was an intentional act to fool her senses, whichever it was, it was working. 

She wasn't expecting him to come in person, he said he was going to send his men to get her.

"What are you doing here? I thought you said you'd send your men to come pick me up." 

He walked up to her with that annoying smirk on his face, "I wanted to make sure that you didn't try to run away." That was a very ridiculous excuse and she knew that it was a lie.

"So you're saying that all of these men, not a single one can lift me up and break my legs if I tried to run away? If that's true then maybe you should sign them up for defense classes." 

The sarcasm flew above Lucien's head and he looked visibly annoyed by what she said. "You seem to have a very sharp mouth Lana, well good thing I'm here now to do something about them, get inside the car." His voice wasn't seeking or pleading, Lana didn't dare say anything further.

She walked to the car, she could feel his gaze on her and she could feel herself become more conscious of her surroundings, of him. It was true that she badly needed an escape somehow but stepping on Lucien's toes was definitely not the way to go about that. 

One of his men opened the door for her and she climbed inside, Lucien followed suit and sat opposite her so he could get a good view of her expressions. Tonight, he was going to set his plan b into action and though he would have preferred to not go through with this, he had no other choice. 

"So what did you go to the hospital for?"

"To see my mom, I thought I mentioned that." Lana tried desperately to keep her voice from cracking but it wasn't working and what made it worse was the fact he looked so cool and calculated and she was right there going through all the stages of confusion.

"What happened to her?" She looked at him, as if trying to decide if it would be a good idea to tell him that. His eyes held no emotion and she wondered how soulless he was to not even have warmth in his eyes and still look completely hot. What were these thoughts she was having? 

"She's in a coma…," she finally replied with her voice trailing off. Lucien stared long and hard at her, she knew he was trying to find her eyes but at that moment she could see herself breaking down in tears. This was the closest to having company. She had been starved of human interaction for so long.

"Look at me Lana," he reached for her.