Then I lose it.
The tears begin to flow, and I surrender to the truth. We live in an ugly world, made of some ugly souls, and our biggest challenge isn’t to fight the ugly parts. It’s to find beauty despite them.
Finn flinches at the tears streaming down my face and grabs my hand again, but this time, I allow it, intertwining our fingers. Yes, he lied to me about hiring a PI, and yes, what he did was fucked-up, but if he hadn’t been so hell-bent on getting rid of me last summer, I might’ve never known the truth. And now that I know, I can’t imagine going through life clueless about where I come from.
“I’m so sorry, Dia. I wanted to tell you. I just didn’t know how.”
I unbuckle my seat belt and throw myself into his arms without a word. He doesn’t return my embrace right away, shocked by this outburst of affection.
“Thank you,” I whisper into his ear.
Finn wraps his inked biceps around me, holding me tighter than my ribs can handle. I ignore the sting of pain as we suffocate each other. I bury my face in his shoulder and cry. I need this moment, and nothing he can say will make me feel better, so he doesn’t try, letting me sob to my heart’s content. I peel my eyes open ten minutes later and catch sight of the tall building across the street. I still don’t get why he took me to a hospital.
I pull away. “Why did you bring me here?”
“I was worried I’d need stitches after you found out I’d been lying to you.”
I crack a smile at his joke, swatting his shoulder. “I’m serious.”
The playful atmosphere is quickly replaced by the heavy tension we just escaped.
“It was a stupid fucking idea. I don’t know what I was thinking. We should go.” Finn’s hand lifts to the ignition.
I cover his hand with mine. “That’s not an answer.”
He blows out a breath. “I brought you here because he’s in there.”
“Who’s in there?”
He doesn’t reply, waiting for me to figure it out.
“Oh, God. The sex offender?”
Finn nods.
“I thought you said he was in jail?”
“He was. But he got released early for good behavior.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I wish I was. The fucker should’ve gotten life, but they let him out months ago.” Finn speaks my mind.
“How did he end up in the hospital, then?”
“He got attacked and beaten to a fucking pulp just hours after he went free. Whoever did this wasn’t messing around. They put his ass in a coma. They’re taking him off life support tonight.”
I’m not going to pretend I feel bad for him, but it is suspicious. It’s almost as though someone didn’t agree with his early release and took it upon themselves to intervene.
“Who did it?”
Finn shrugs. “That’s the thing. They don’t know.”
My already overwhelmed mind starts racing with possibilities.
“Wait, when did you say he got attacked again?”
“Around six weeks ago.”