A Second Chance

Goodbye Valerie

Chapter 29

Caden was not afraid to tell Valerie what happened to Victoria he just did not know how. When was the last time he had to talk about what happened to her? When was the last time he even talked about her at all?

"Val, I don't know what to say." He admitted.

"It can't be that hard just tell me." She insisted, starting to feel uneasy about the fact he's not telling her.

"She got killed on a mission a year ago. She was my first partner." Caden admitted sadly. He would not look Valerie in the eyes and she did not really care.

"Oh, how did she die?" She did not bother saying sorry.

"Elevator crash." Caden simply said.

"Oh, that's awful." Valerie admitted, almost feeling bad for Victoria. Valerie paused before asking anything else. She never knew Caden had a lost a partner and it unsettled her to think, that same woman had probably sat in this office before her. Smiling like in her photo, talking to Caden just as Valerie does, waiting for the call of a mission that would end her life. Victoria never saw it coming and it made Valerie wonder if she could have the same fate.

"Well who is Tammy Palmer?" Valerie asked, figuring now was a better time to ask as any.

Caden looked up at her confused and sad. Why was she suddenly asking about these people? He had tried so hard to forget about what happened to them.

"She was my second partner." Caden sheepishly admitted. It was not easy to admit he lost two partners, even if it was not his fault.

Valerie stood up and jumped off the desk.

"You said Victoria died last year, and if that's the case you lost that Palmer girl last year too." Valerie started piecing things together herself.

"Yeah I did." Caden was not sure how else to respond.

"Y-You lost two partners in one year.." Valerie started to back away and Caden looked at her confused.

"I didn't mean for anything to happen to them. I wasn't the one to hurt them. It wasn't my fault." Caden was talking to her but it felt like he was telling himself this.

"How do I know I won't end up like them?" Valerie questioned him.

"Val, I could end up like them for all I know. This job is dangerous, you know that." Caden grabbed Valerie's hands from the other side of the desk. "I'm not going to let anyone hurt you." He tried to assure her.

Valerie flung her arms to her side and took a step back to escape Caden's grip. In the blink of an eye her sadness was suddenly anger.

"You must be cursed or something Caden Rogers." Valerie growled.

Caden was silent, he had no type of response. It was so silent you could hear footsteps of agents walking by outside his office door.

"I'm not the reason they died." Caden told her. The sting of her words was evident by the hurt tone of his voice. How could Valerie talk to him like this?

All the depressing guilty thoughts Caden has tried to burry deep down was gone not long after he partnered with Valerie again. Except now she was digging them back up again and someone was actually saying it out loud which only made it worse.

"I know you didn't kill them but don't you ever wonder if there was some reason you can't keep a partner? Don't you ever ask yourself if it could change? Have you considered it might happen again?" Valerie asked.

No duh! Of course he thought those things. Those thoughts haunted him everyday before he partnered with her. Yet Caden was silent feeling she should know what dumb, obvious, questions those were.