Page 124 of Exile and Embrace

Finn helps me to one of the guest rooms.

He sighs as he shuts the door behind us. “That was a lot.”

“How are you doing?” I grimace as I pull my shirt over my head and toss it to the floor. “Are you okay? I know that killing your brother and dad would’ve been impossible.”

Finn’s shoulders slump. “It’s been a long time coming. I should’ve done it three years ago before I took the fall for a robbery.”

“That’s why you were in there?”

He nods. “Yeah. I’ve spent a very long time being loyal to the people who killed Cormac. Declan never told me that he was the one who turned us in. He went along with the plan to escape. If I had known that he was the one who betrayed me and Cormac, I never would’ve gone to jail for him.”

My heart aches for him.

The anger is clear in his voice, and it kills me that there’s nothing I can do to make it better.”

“Cormac was the one who wanted us to escape. He wanted a better life and he thought that me and Declan deserved that too. Fuck, Declan was eager. He was the one stealing money from Dad.”

“Declan is gone now.”

Finn barks out a sharp laugh. “So are three years of my life. He was the one who was transporting the fucking guns in the first place. I met him at a rest stop and the cops showed up while we were there.”

“I’m sorry, Finn.”

“Oh, that’s not even the best part of the story, Aves.” Finn paces back and forth, his hands linked together behind his head as he takes a deep breath. “The cops weren’t even interested in us until Declan decided to hand me the bag of guns before he left. Right under their noses.”

My blood boils.

If Declan wasn’t dead, I would find a way to kill him myself for what he’s done to his brother. “Why the hell would he do that if cops were there?”

Finn’s hands drop to his side. “My guess now that I know everything is that it was a test. He and Dad likely wanted to see if I was still loyal to the family. The cops saw the bag as I was taking it to my car, and Declan insisted he knew nothing about it.”

“How did they even know what you had in the bag?”

Finn rakes his fingers through his hair. “I’m sure that Declan probably tipped them off. After my trial, I saw him meeting with them. Dad gave them an envelope of some kind. At the time, I assumed they were being paid off to stay away from a further investigation into Declan.”

“And now?”

Finn turns away from me, staring at the wall. “Now I know that I never should’ve trusted either of them. Declan probably ran to Dad shortly after I told him I was thinking of branching out of the mob life. I didn’t want to be controlled by Dad. And if he told Dad that, then the pair of them would’ve screwed me over.”

I get up and stand behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist. As I rest my head against his back, he lets out a slow exhale.

“Everything is going to be okay. He and your dad are gone now. They can’t create any more problems for you.”

His shoulders tense before he relaxes. “I know. I just don’t want to think about it. Not for the rest of the night at least. I just need a break from it all. I especially don’t want to think about it when we have things that you and I need to figure out.”

“I know.” I sigh. “Where do we go from here, Finn?”

He turns to face me, his arms wrapping around me. “What do you mean?”

“We love each other, but this all started as a game of pretend. And then you said that it meant more to you, but then you ripped my heart out. So, where do we go from here?”

His fingers comb through my hair, working through the knots. “Aves, when I think about you, I can see forever in front of me. I see a family and Oregon. I see weekend trips back to Tennessee to see your sister whenever you want.”

“You want a family?” I pull back from him, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “I didn’t think that you’d want that.”

“I may come from a disaster of a family, but I know that things are going to be better with you.”

He flops onto the bed beside me, tucking his hands behind his head as he stares up at the ceiling.

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