Page 131 of Shattered Hearts

Thelast thingI’d ever expect him to say comes out of his mouth.

“Do you love him enough to rejoin the family?” Conviction darkens his irises. “Though I owe you my gratitude, I can’t allow Finn to make the same mistake twice. So long as I breathe, my son will never marry an outsider again.”

I blink.Is Shane suggesting I could marry Finn for real if I rejoined the Gallaghers?

Without warning, he rises from his perch and walks toward Finn’s door. The lines in his handsome face seem deeper than before, and his posture lacks its usual military bearing. “If you want to leave the family again, I won’t stop you. All I ask is that you take some time to consider. I think you might be exactly what Finn needs, Riley Brennan. Now, I suggest you go shower and eat something before visiting my son.”

With that mic drop, Shane disappears into Finn’s room and shuts the door behind him, leaving me spiraling through the chaos his words unleashed.

So long as I’m out of the Gallaghers and Finn’s in, we can’t be together.

I knew it all along, but hearing Shane say so makes it real. His words crack the ceiling of my world, sending my skies falling.

If I’m not prepared to swear my fealty and rejoin the Kings, I have to let Finn go.

I have to choose.

Give up my freedom, my friends, my work? The faces of the people I know and cherish flash in my mind. My colleagues…all the women I’ve met and helped give a fresh start at the shelter… The life I built for myself after leaving this dark world means a lot to me.

But so does Finn.

Believing I lost him, that I’d never see him again, touch him, kiss him, hold him…that was a torment time could never erase.

My life or my love.

When I break it down into the simplest terms, there’s no choice at all.

Eventually, I regain enough of my wits to take a shower and change my clothes. I need some time to recompose myself before I go see Finn.

I hurry through the gardens toward the mansion. Once inside, I climb the stairs up to the third floor while worrying about Finn and Harper.

In the shower, steam lubricates my stiff muscles. I sit on the floor and hold myself tight, afraid I’ll unravel all at once if I let myself go.

Two weeks. That’s how long Finn and I have been fixtures in each other’s lives. If we were two normal people dating, fourteen days would be nothing.

We haven’t talked about our future. I have no idea if he returns my feelings or not. If he even wants me to become his real wife.

My heart also yearns for Harper. We haven’t been close in years, but I would give anything to curl up in bed with my sister and hide away from my complicated life for a little while.

An hour later, when I return to the medical unit freshly washed, fed, and caffeinated, Shane’s gone and Finn’s awake. Weary brown eyes dominate his pale face under the fluorescent lights.

Three separate casts engulf his right arm.

Despite his monstrous appearance—cuts and bruises on his face, his otherwise naked upper body half-mummified by bandages—he pats the space beside him with his good hand to invite me onto the bed.

I climb up and lie on my side, resting my head on his shoulder. “Enzo says he has Harper.”

He settles his left hand on my thigh and caresses me, calm and steady. “We’ll get her back.”

The determination in Cian’s eyes flashes through my mind and floats away.

A question forms on my tongue. One that’s bubbled inside me ever since we learned that Finn deliberately played into the De Lucas’ hands.

“Why’d you do it?”

For a moment, Finn’s quiet, and I’m afraid he may not answer. “They wouldn’t stop coming after you unless I faced them head-on.”

Like a sparkler, a bright blaze of anger ignites in my chest. I ease myself from the bed and start pacing.

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