Page 7 of Exile and Embrace

“And I need a fiancée. Please, Ava. You think I’d be asking you if I had anyone else available? If I hadn’t already asked everyone I possibly could?”

I go back to the cabinet for suturing supplies, my hands trembling as I look for the right-sized needle. “Not happening, Finn. Find someone else to get all tangled up in your family drama. I’m not doing it again. I have a happy life now, and I plan to keep it that way.”

He keeps his mouth shut as I stitch up the wound, trying to ensure that the stitches are small and neat.

It would be a shame to have a scar marring his handsome face.

Finn doesn’t say another word to me as I put away the supplies and fill out my paperwork on the incident.

I stay seated at my desk, watching as he leans back against the bed and shuts his eyes.

Dark circles beneath those eyes and hollow cheeks make me think that he hasn’t been sleeping well.

I check the overnight stay in the infirmary box on the paperwork before passing it to Officer Richards.

He sighs before handing it to Doctor Marsden as he appears in the hall.

Doctor Marsden reads the paperwork, his wire-framed glasses falling down his nose before he nods. “If this is what Ava recommends, then I am signing off on it. Inmate is to stay the night in the infirmary.”

I give Doctor Marsden a quick nod before heading back inside. “Good news, Finn. You get to stay in the infirmary overnight for monitoring. I’ve reached the end of my shift, but Carter will be staying in here with you, and a guard will be stationed outside the door.”

“I don’t need to stay in the infirmary.” Finn’s chains clank together as he stands up from the bed. “I’m fine.”

“Take the good night’s sleep. You look like you need it, and I doubt that you’re going to get one before your release if you don’t stay here.”

His eyes pierce mine for a few seconds before his shoulders sag. “Thank you.” His expression softens as he sits back down. “I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.” I head for the door, tossing him a small smile over my shoulder. “Get some rest.”

I get changed in my office and leave the prison, going through all of the security checks with my head held high.

As soon as I get in my car, I program the restaurant my mother wants to meet at in my GPS.

My knuckles go white as I back out of my parking space, trying not to think about how disastrous this dinner could be.

One of these days, I need to just cut my losses and move on with my life. Zoe did.

I sigh and run my hand through my hair as I come to a red light.

There’s still enough time to turn around and cut ties with my mother without talking to her. I could ignore her calls forever and everything would be alright.

Except I’m going to this dinner to tell her that I’m moving to Oregon. I need to go to my father’s birthplace and figure out who the hell he was because he sure wasn’t the man I knew.

That much was proven to me after the amount of danger he put Zoe in. Trying to marry her off to protect himself was disgusting. Selling her off to human traffickers was worse.

She might not want to know the truth about the man we both called Dad, but I do.

I turn up the music, drowning out the thoughts that keep circling around in my head with the pounding bass.

By the time I get to the restaurant, I’m as close to calm as I get when it comes to my mother. I park near the door for a quick escape if I need it, before heading inside.

My heels click against the glossy black floor as I make my way past white tables.

Mom stares at me from a table near the middle of the room, a bottle of red wine already open in front of her.

“You’re late.” Mom’s nose wrinkles, her narrowed gaze dragging up and down my body as I sit across from her. “At least you changed out of those awful scrubs for once, but you could have bothered putting a little more effort into your appearance.”

“You’re the one who has an appearance to uphold.” I grab the wine and pour myself a glass, the dark red liquid sloshing up the sides and pooling in the bottom. “Aren’t you supposed to be playing the grieving widow?”

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