DANGEROUS OBSESSION

4

LAUREN MOSS

“This is strange,” Samuel says halfway through the drive, and I look at him.

“You’re the youngest daughter. Statistically, the youngest get along best with their parents,” he comments after a long stretch of silence.

“I’m part of the margin of error in that statistic,” I reply, and for a second, his eyes flick towards mine, as if he was analyzing me, before returning to the road.

“Not to be invasive…” he says, glancing at me again. “But, what could make you not get along with your parents? From what I know, the Moss family has always presented themselves to society as a healthy family.” He says it, and I sigh, thinking and rethinking my answer.

“I think that, better than anyone, as an FBI special agent, you know that many things are not what they appear to be,” I say, and I see him give a short, resigned sideways smile before looking forward again.

“I don’t have a concrete answer for that,” I add, still sorting it out in my head. “I’m the youngest of three siblings who are exact copies of my parents’ attitudes, and I simply refuse to participate in things I don’t agree with,” I say.

“Expressing opinions is already wrong in the Moss family. If you’re the youngest of three siblings who do absolutely everything your parents say, right or wrong, you end up not being very… loved.” I speak genuinely sad, because honestly, it’s not something anyone wants to happen. But it’s not like I haven’t gotten used to it. And Samuel nods.

He doesn’t push the conversation further, and I’m left replaying everything that just happened in my head, because it still hasn’t fully sunk in. Not the way it should.

I’m still numb, and I’m heading towards an FBI training base…

What kind of nonsense am I getting myself into?

It doesn’t take long before we arrive at the billionaire-grade parking lot of the base. The cars parked here are ridiculously surreal.

It feels like I’ve stepped into a movie.

All of this is so surreal.

I step out of the car, and Samuel has already handed my luggage to the uniformed men waiting there, and they take everything, God knows where.

I follow him as he walks out of the parking structure.

Honestly, all of this… all of them give off an extremely magnetic and stimulating energy.

The way they walk, their posture, even the way they talk, it’s surreal!

“You don’t need to be nervous,” he says after a moment in the elevator.

“You’re a special agent standing right in front of me, I’m inside an FBI base, I killed a man and got recruited without even knowing the real reason. Of course I’m nervous,” I say, still trying to process all this and how I even did what I did.

How did I end up here?

“There’s a reason for everything, Moss,” he replies, mysterious, just as the elevator doors open. He steps out first.

What does he mean by that?

People move through the hallways, and you can clearly see they’re all walking with a concrete purpose. They radiate an inexplicable aura of power, and it truly feels like I’m inside one of those action movies.

Except the adrenaline in my body is stronger, because this is clearly real and not fiction.

Which is kind of terrifying, too.

Keeping up with his pace is a bit difficult, and only now am I beginning to feel what’s actually happening.

My brain has decided to shock me back into reality. And my heart is pounding uncontrollably.

But is there a way back?

No.

He scans in, using the most automated, cybernetic, and fictional-looking scanner I’ve ever seen in my short life, and the sliding gray doors glide open, letting us inside.

Lauren, you surprise me sometimes.

My body warms and my heart jumps when I see the most technological room I’ve ever set foot in. My eyes land on Sasha, who’s discussing something with…

With Blake.

They’re standing in front of one of those holographic panels! It’s surreal. I didn’t know those actually existed.

Another agent is on the couch, tossing scraps of paper into a trash can from where he’s seated, and actually making the shots.

My face flushes when they lift their eyes toward us, and Samuel simply walks comfortably into the room.

Obviously, only now do I finally feel ashamed, truly embarrassed, feeling intimidated by each one of them here.

The aura they emit, especially Blake, seems capable of crushing the soul of any mortal. It’s surreal. And it’s with his aura, specifically, that I feel the most intimidated… and embarrassingly attracted at the same time.

And with a sudden coldness twisting inside my stomach.

“Welcome, Lauren!” Sasha says, offering me a smile, and that calms me a bit. Still mesmerized by all of this, I nod, smiling back at her.

Then, behind me, the doors open again, revealing the girl from earlier, who is surreally beautiful, but I already don’t like her because of her pointless attitude towards me.

Maybe she’s angry that I interfered with the mission, which I completely understand, because even I don’t know what got into my head. But she spoke to me in an extremely rude way.

.

“Oh, you’re back already…” she says, walking past me as if I’m not even here. With two cups of coffee in her hands, she goes straight to Blake.

“For you,” she says in that velvety voice, handing him the cup with an intimacy that’s way too close.

Flirting.

Wait…

My face heats up immediately.

Of course, Lauren!

“It was way too easy,” Samuel comments, coming back from a room he had entered earlier, walking out like a full-on action-movie agent—not an FBI agent, but a field agent straight out of an action film…

Damn!

“Of course, if the girl threw herself in front of an A-level assassin, then surely no one cares about her,” the beautiful girl says, leaving me outraged.

“Hailey!” Sasha exclaims, in a reprimanding tone, and I exhale.

If she thinks I’m some little mascot she can talk to however she wants, whenever she wants, no matter who she is…

She’s very mistaken.

I ended up here, left my parents’ mansion without even knowing why or for what, after simply becoming a murderer without even realizing it. And she thinks I’m going to let myself be intimidated by her?

I have nothing left to lose.

“No one cares about me, and I don’t care about anyone either—especially not about your opinion, Hailey,” I say, and I see Sasha, Samuel, and the other agent smiling, even surprised by my answer.

Blake’s gaze remains cold, neutral, but hers threatens to kill me in every spoken language on Earth.

“We don’t need a useless girl like her here,” she says, dripping disdain.

If she thinks that affects me…

“Oh, yes you do,” I say, irritated, staring straight into her eyes. “Otherwise, I’d be in prison, and you wouldn’t have helped bring me here if I were as useless as you claim.” Their eyes widen slightly.

I’m not stupid. I acted impulsively and messed up, but I’m fully aware that if all of this is happening this way, instead of me being behind bars, it’s because somehow—for something—I’m necessary.

“You were summoned for a training from which you’ll surely be removed in just one day for literally being useless,” she replies, and I inhale deeply.

“And what are you even doing here?” she asks, rudely.

“Come, Lauren,” Sasha says, throwing Hailey a reproachful look as she comes to me and guides me towards the door.

“See you tomorrow!” Samuel and the other agent with the admirable aim say, and I smile.

Blake wasn’t even paying attention. He’s doing the same things I saw him doing when I walked in, not caring at all about who or what is happening around him.

“See you tomorrow!” I say, leaving the room with Sasha, while Hailey’s words echo inside my head.

Well… I think I just left one problem only to step right into another.