AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her partner turned to her. “Maybe we just introduce ourselves, see if we can at least get confirmation that she was his victim.”
Chloe had to force her brain to snap out of wallowing in her own problems and back into work mode. “Sounds like a plan.”
“I’ll catch you two later. Good luck with Taylor. Chloe, think about what I said.” Eric shot her a serious look before walking off.
She thought Tom would pry into whatever she and Eric had been talking about, but he didn't mention it as they headed for Taylor Sallow’s room. By the time they opened the door, Chloe had mostly managed to refocus on the reason for being here. It wasn't like her pain over losing her son was going anywhere, and Taylor deserved to have her one hundred percent focused.
“Ms. Sallow?” Tom began as they entered the room.
The woman in the bed shrunk away from them as though she wished she could shrink away and disappear altogether.
Tom made the introductions. “I'm Special Agent Drake, and this is my partner, Special Agent Luckman.”
Learning they were law enforcement didn't seem to calm her. Taylor’s green eyes darted around the room as though something might jump up and save her. It was going to take time and effort to convince this young woman that they weren’t a threat to her. Taylor’s breathing was quickening, and she looked like she was working herself into a panic. They needed something to calm her down, Chloe was contemplating going and getting Eric and asking him to give her something, when suddenly Taylor’s eyes settled on something, and she immediately calmed.
Turning to see what had soothed the girl who had seemed to be on a quick path to hysteria, she gasped when she saw who was standing there.
“Fin,” she mumbled.
“Chloe.” He looked equally shocked to see her.
“What are you doing here?”
“He saved me,” Taylor answered from the bed.
Saved her? How had her ex-boyfriend saved this woman? What was going on here? How had Fin ended up getting himself mixed up in her latest case? And why did being this close to him still hurt so badly?
*****
10:59 P.M.
Why did it have to be Chloe working Taylor’s case?
Why did he feel comforted by the fact that she looked as unhappy as he felt?
Why did he want nothing more than to pull her into his arms, kiss her senseless, then pick her up and take her home to bed?
Fin didn't know the answer to any of those questions.
Okay, that was a big fat lie. He knew the answers. He wanted to forget the last seven months had happened. He wanted to go back in time and make it so the car accident never happened and their son had been born a happy, healthy baby boy. He wanted to forget that Chloe had broken his heart when she’d packed up her stuff and walked out the door.
That was her choice. He didn't have to like it—and he didn't—but he had to accept it. She had made her choice; now they both had to live with the consequences. So why did she look so sad? She’d gotten what she’d wanted.
“You saved her?” Tom Drake asked, breaking the stifling tension that had settled in the room.
He knew Chloe’s partner reasonably well, but they weren’t what he’d call friends. However, right now Tom was shooting him a sympathetic look. It was a year to the day since Tom and Hannah had been thrown back together three years after they had divorced because of a crime. It had led to them reconnecting and reconciling. They’d gotten their happily ever after, but Fin didn't foresee that happening with him and Chloe. Tom andHannah had been ripped apart because of a tragedy; they hadn’t split up because they stopped loving each other.
Chloe had chosen to walk away from him.
The only explanation he could give for that was that she’d done it because she no longer wanted to be with him.
Their relationship was over.
She had left him at the lowest point in his life.
She’d left him alone, and he was furious with her for it.
He wanted to hate her; it made things so much easier.
