Page 8 of The Finish Line

“I know,” I swallow. “I’m sorry. That was jealousy speaking. Ask me anything.”

She looks away, and her silence only makes the ache grow.

“We have to talk about this. We’ve wasted enough fucking time.”

“We?”

“Fine, me. Merde!” I clench my fists. “If you want to play the blame game, I take it all, all of it, okay? As far as living arrangements, I... we, have a condo in Charlotte, a townhouse in Paris, an apartment in Spain, and a hideaway in Germany.”

“You and Alicia?”

“Are you fucking serious right now? We, as in you and me. She was never my future, Cecelia.”

She seems to mull it over. “And the finish line?”

I nod. “Still there. Never set foot in it. And you and I practically lived in Roman’s house together.”

“It’s not the same. And that was all an illusion anyway, wasn’t it?”

“No, it wasn’t. But what you had was just a dream. I know they feel real to you, but it was just a dream.”

“Or a warning I should take seriously.”

Stab. I feel it everywhere. But I’ll let her have this fight and a thousand more.

“We weren’t together long,” I offer and cringe when I see it does shit to help.

“Neither were we if we’re keeping score and if dating is what you want to call it.”

“What we did was not dating; don’t downplay what’s brought us back to this point. We fell in love, and it devastated us and everyone around us to the point we destroyed lives, including our own. And I’m to blame. But here we are, and we still love each other, more so now because we’re wise enough to know what we’ve lost. It’s not going to take a day to get over the things I’ve said and done, the lies I’ve told, or the shit we’re going to have to work through. But I’m owning my part, the way you asked me to, the way you need me to, the way I need to. And all I’m hoping for is that you ask me what you need to, so I can own up to it, and we don’t waste any more time.”

She sits back on her heels and drops her gaze. “Fine. Then start with what you promised. The truth. Why did you come back now?”

“A lot of it has to do with carrying out plans I set into motion over twenty years ago, especially Tyler’s position in the White House. I didn’t expect it to take so fucking long, and the longer it took, the more I was sure I had to get everything off my plate in order to do this right. I had to heavily vet the few I trusted to take over with Sean, so you and I could...” I groan in frustration. “The last thing I wanted to do was come after you and turn around and leave while we were sorting ourselves out...” Anger surges at the hell I went through after she left. “And you disappeared for seven fucking weeks before I found you.”

“I had every reason to.”

“For seven weeks, I went off the rails because you didn’t leave a trace.” I clench my fists on my thighs in an attempt to temper my anger. “You made sure of it.”

“Cash,” she supplies. “It goes a long way, as you well know. That’s why this house and the diner legally belong to my mother.” She stops her digging. “Maybe I didn’t want to be found.”

“I was losing my fucking mind with worry.”

“I was no longer yours to worry about. You made sure of it.”

“You’ve always been mine. I’ve had protective eyes on you since you were eleven years old, Cecelia, no matter how I felt about you. Maybe I deserved the hell those weeks were not knowing, but there will never be a time in your life you’re not under my protection. I failed you once, and I’ll do everything in my fucking power not to fail you again. Believe me, by the time I arrived yesterday, I made every effort to make sure you had no one but me coming for you.”

Chapter Two

Tobias

Her face drains of all color. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what you think it means. Another reason it took me so long to get to you. Aside from kicking a hundred things into motion so I could be here, I had bodies to find and bury.” My sole focus being Roman’s old business partner, the motherfucker who sent Miami, turning the confrontation into a bloodbath.

Her mouth parts as her eyes widen, incredulous. “Jerry? You went after him?”

I nod and don’t miss her flinch.

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