Page 4 of Let Her Hide

"Take care of yourself."

He hung up, leaving Fiona alone with her thoughts. But it all felt futile.

Maybe all of this was for nothing.

Maybe Joslyn was never meant to be found.

Fiona sighed, letting it all melt away. She had to put this behind her for now. She still had work to do at the FBI, and the next day, there were a lot of samples that needed to be analyzed.

CHAPTER TWO

The lights hummed overhead, casting a harsh glare on the paperwork that littered Agent Jake Tucker's desk. He glanced at his temporary partner, rookie FBI agent Lara Sanders, who was hunched over her own stack of reports and scribbling furiously. They had just booked a killer after a grueling case, and now they were left with the tedious task of filing every detail away for posterity.

"Here's the last witness statement," Lara said, passing a sheet of paper to Jake without looking up from her work. He nodded, taking it from her and adding it to the pile in front of him. As their pens scratched in unison, the silence between them hung heavy in the air. It wasn't an uncomfortable quiet but rather one born of a mutual understanding that there was simply too much work to be done to waste time on idle chatter. Plus, Jake had only just started working with Lara, and they hadn't exactly hit it off in terms of chatter. Not like he had with Fiona.

Jake couldn't help but think that Lara did good work. She was thorough, efficient, and unafraid to ask questions when she needed clarification. But as he watched her from the corner of his eye, he found himself missing Fiona.

It wasn't like she was gone. She still worked for the FBI, but she'd stepped back from fieldwork to apparently focus on training and lab work. But Jake knew that wasn't the only reason why.

He allowed himself a moment to remember how effortlessly he and Fiona had worked together, how their minds seemed to be in perfect sync, anticipating each other's needs before they even had to be voiced.

But then he thought of Lauren Price, his other partner, and the painful memories of their failed relationship came flooding back.

Jake had once loved Lauren--maybe he always would--but things were different now.

He thought back to earlier this month when Lauren had shown up out of the blue at his door. She had transferred to Quantico, so he'd never expected to see her again, and yet there she was.

"Lauren, what are you doing here?" Jake asked again, his voice strained. He couldn't fathom her sudden appearance, nor could he ignore the way his heart hammered in his chest at the sight of her. After Lauren left, Jake had been racked with regret. She ignored his calls and refused to speak to him. He truly believed he'd never see her again.

"Jake... I need to be honest with you," Lauren looked down at her hands before meeting his gaze, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "I haven't been able to move on. I've tried, but... I want you back."

The words hung in the air between them like a guillotine, leaving Jake feeling as if the floor had just dropped out beneath him. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, as if his vocal cords had suddenly seized up.

"Lauren, I..." His voice finally cracked. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind, each one more tangled and confused than the last.

He thought about Fiona, about the tender moments they had shared, and the undeniable connection that had formed between them.

But now, staring into the eyes of the woman who had once held his heart, he felt torn in two.

"Jake, say something," Lauren implored, her voice wavering as she took a step closer. The distance between them seemed to shrink and expand all at once as if taunting him with the impossibility of the choice he now faced.

"Lauren, I don't know what to say," he admitted, his eyes darting away from hers as he struggled to collect himself. "I never expected to see you again, and now... Now everything feels so complicated."

"Is it really that complicated, Jake?" She reached out a tentative hand to touch his arm, the warmth of her skin searing him as though it were a brand. "Or are you just scared?"

"Scared?" He had always been terrified of commitment, of allowing himself to be truly vulnerable with someone else. And now, faced with the prospect of rekindling a love he had once let slip through his fingers, that fear threatened to consume him whole.

"Jake, I can't stand here and pretend that I don't still love you," Lauren said earnestly, her eyes begging him to say it back. "But I need to know if you feel the same way. If there's even a chance for us."

He stared at her for a long moment, crushed under the weight of this decision.

"Lauren..." He began, but the words caught in his throat. Did he still love her? Or had he merely been clinging to the ghost of their past, unable to let go and move forward?

But before he could find the strength to speak, the room seemed to close in around them, the air thick with tension and unsaid words. The silence deafened him, leaving him teetering on the edge of a precipice.

"Jake, please," she whispered, desperation lacing her voice as she reached out to him once more. "Tell me... Do you want me back?"

And in that moment, Jake felt the world come crashing down around him, leaving him suspended in a void of uncertainty and doubt.

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