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This woman has an attitude—I dig it. I’m happy Opal has Jo as a friend. My girl deserves all the love in the world, and Jo is a good person. She may hate my guts momentarily, but she’s someone I want in my woman’s corner.
Atlas wraps his sweaty, jacked-up arms around Jo with a cocky grin directed at me. “See. Magic boulder works every time.”
I hate to admit it, but I kind of agree with him. This rock is lucky.
CHAPTERFORTY-THREE
LEVI
Late July 2020
Levi sits impatiently at his desk station in the field office, willing his email to deliver him the news he’s been eagerly waiting on regarding Olina’s cold case.
There are only so many hours in a day that Levi can dedicate himself to tracking Olina’s progress while continuing to investigate his other FBI cases. Levi submitted his request to devote more time to Olina’s cold case weeks ago. He’s still waiting to hear from his superiors if they would approve it.
With an entire department dedicated to investigating cold cases, circumstances where an agent not in that department seeks to resume a five-year-old case are not typically approved. The FBI wants their agents to remain on their assigned tasks, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptions to the rules.
Considering Olina was one of Levi’s first cases, his superiors will note that he has an attachment to solving the crime. Every agent has that one case that haunts them, and this was Levi’s.
Still, the request has to go through the proper channels before Levi can proceed. He hates waiting. Every passing day, with him not knowing what is happening with Olina, chips away at his sanity. Exercise only does so much to relieve his anxiety. It’s not like he can talk his feelings out with the help of a therapist—his obsession would be reported to authorities, tagging him as a danger to others.
Between juggling his FBI duties, tracking Olina through her online schooling, and trying to keep his emotions in check, Levi is slowly unraveling. He’s already seeing some effects of his nerves going haywire. Growing insomnia, snapping at coworkers, and migraines are not exactly positive side effects.
Levi has taken to journaling his thoughts and feelings, flooding his computer with daily responses surrounding his love for his missing girl. It has helped to combat some of his apprehension and curve the overwhelming loneliness he has felt since Olina ran away.
He loves her and demands that love be returned to him. Every time he thinks about how Olina left him, he falls a little deeper into his depression. She was his, and she fled. A betrayal of that magnitude needs to be brought to heel. When Olina is back under his care, he will remind her who she belongs to, of how much he craves her. He’ll drive the point home that this is forever.
No more running. No more hiding. She will accept her fate is tied to his.
Levi’s leg bounces rapidly as his unease spikes. He fists his pen, trying to redirect his nerves out of his body by any means necessary so long as it doesn’t draw attention to him. He can’t afford to lose his cool at work. There are eyes everywhere within the FBI, keeping tabs on their agents. It wasn’t paranoia. It was the truth, but that truth stirred paranoia inside of Levi.
As long as Levi didn’t give any reason for the spies to focus on him, he’s safe. If he gets heated with another agent over a case, he’s quick to apologize and rein himself in.
He forces himself to focus on the latest child abduction case lying open on his desk. Levi reads through the file, but he feels nothing for the victim. He can’t offer emotions for others when Olina hogs all his attention. Distracted, Levi rereads the same paragraph three times.
This will not do. He can’t continue to go on like this.
His email pings with an alert.
Levi whips his head up to his monitor, his hands nearly crushing the computer mouse as he clicks roughly to open the email.
He scans the message, his eyes flashing over the words.
Approved.
Releasing a long sigh, Levi sits back in his chair. Tension rolls off of him in sweet waves of relief. Finally, he can push forward with his hunt.
CHAPTERFORTY-FOUR
OPAL
Early August 2020
We’re a month into our reconciliation. Gauge sits beside me on the couch, quizzing me on science questions for an upcoming test I have later this week. Since making up, Gauge has supported me in achieving my dream of starting a baking business. If I need someone to review a written assignment, he’s the first to offer to edit it. When I get stuck on a mathematical problem, he helps walk me through it. If I want to talk about a social issue in an assignment I was given, he’s game. His encouragement has helped soothe a little of the ache he caused.
Things weren’t easy in the beginning. I had moments where I recalled my hurt, shutting down or snapping at Gauge over the littlest of things. To his credit, Gauge never reciprocated. Hurt, maybe, but never mad. He understood he caused my pain with his wicked choices, and he accepted this was a repercussion of his actions.
When I need to talk my emotions out, he listens. If I need words of affirmation, he gives them. And when I ask him to share his feelings and thoughts with me, he does willingly.
