Chapter 41 #2
‘You’re a good man, Finn Wilde. But you live like you’re waiting for something to disappear.’
‘Excuse me?’
Lydia folded her hands neat as a pin over her lap.
‘Your house looks like you’re still in prison, like you’re expecting to be sent away again.
But you’ve well and truly earned your place in this town.
You don’t need to have Craig and Stone give you that in with the locals anymore, because everyone already respects you.
So move in properly, will ya. Buy yourself a couch.
A table. Hell, get a rug. And some coffee mugs without cracks in them, and a coffee machine where it’s impossible for you to make coffee that tastes like—’
‘Mud?’ Instantly thinking of Taryn. That pang of everything about her hitting his chest, because they still hadn’t talked.
‘Yeah.’ Lydia’s eyes narrowed at Finn. ‘You like her, don’t you?’
‘Who?’ Finn wiped a hand over his scruffy chin that hadn’t seen a razor in days.
‘The woman who makes your stance loosen a little. Who gives you that tiny spark in your eyes, like that smile is going to happen, but doesn’t. And you know why?’ She arched an eyebrow at him. ‘Because you’re not letting Taryn in. Or anyone else, really.’
His mouth opened, but her finger wagged at him, effectively cutting him off.
‘Where is she? I heard Taryn came back, and talked down the lynch mob in the pub. Is that true?’
Finn nodded. It’s where he’d last kissed her, when he wouldn’t let words get in the way.
‘Why did Taryn come back?’
‘For Drew. For her family… And now she’s leaving.’
‘When?’
He glanced at his watch. ‘In about ten minutes.’ He didn’t do goodbyes, never could, and coming to visit Lydia seemed the best excuse to not watch Taryn leave.
‘But Taryn only just got here.’
‘She’s heading back to Canberra.’ They were using the same jet they’d commandeered to bring Drew in from Darwin, with Taryn escorting him to an off-site federal prison where Drew would be held until trial, with no chance of bumping into anyone from his mentor program.
‘She’s going home…’ And from there, they’d coordinate the next wave—using Drew’s own emails, call logs, and Drew’s phone.
The Fed had already given Drew’s PC and phone to Finn, telling him: The bastard used your file as his how-to. You might as well use what he left behind as the roadmap to take them all down.
Finn hadn’t smiled—even though he wanted to kiss her, because damn, it felt like she’d just handed him the keys to his dream Harley.
Every name, every meeting, every shell company—it was all there. And now they were going to burn it down, one contact at a time. Giving him the chance to make up for what Drew had done.
Payback was already in motion, with quiet calls to people he trusted in small towns. Nothing official. Not yet. Just eyes and ears on the ground. The kind of justice that moved slow, struck hard, and ended with everyone in cuffs.
Sure, he could talk about work with her. But the baby?
That was the bit he couldn’t touch.
And yet with Taryn leaving, it felt like the end of something he hadn’t even had a chance to start.
‘Why is she leaving so soon?’ Lydia asked.
‘Work. Taryn’s been offered a promotion. I heard her talking to her boss about it in the Batcave…’ The woman was going places, especially after this bust. Although they were doing their best to keep it quiet for now, only the trusted were called.
Taryn didn’t need someone like Finn holding her back.
Not when she’d been working nonstop, helping the rest of the team push through the mountain of arrest charges, and the ton of paperwork that came with arresting Drew and his local crew.
They’d been at it all night, taking turns to make tea, with no coffee for her.
He’d even muttered decaf during a brief lull between them, right before they were interrupted.
Finn was the first to hit the food van when it opened. Not for bacon—anything but bacon, as the only other clue he had about her pregnancy, in a conversation that needed to happen, but never did.
He’d done his best to keep an eye on her, making sure she had the good chair, with plenty of water on hand. He just didn’t get too close to her, thinking he might break her, or ruin what they had.
Even now, Finn didn’t move. He couldn’t.
Taryn was leaving…
And he still hadn’t told her how he felt. Or even discussed her pregnancy to find out what she wanted.
‘She’s going places. Taryn doesn’t need someone like me slowing her down.’
He didn’t say it for the sympathy.
Hell, he didn’t even mean to say it out loud. It just came out. But it was the truth.
She was leaving.
And he hadn’t told her a damn thing.
Not about the house that he’d always wanted as a home—where maybe… he wanted her to stay. There. With him. Before he’d even known she was pregnant, because he’d never dared entertain the thought.
And now? When he didn’t even know if he had a permanent job, what kind of future could he offer her? Especially when she was pregnant.
After all, he’d failed his own family in the past…
He’d been that kid who couldn’t watch over his baby sister. The kid who’d made promises to his mother that’d he give her a better future. And as a man, he’d built a family of his own, then left them behind when he took that undercover job. The one that ruined everything.
He didn’t blame Bree for coming back to Elsie Creek Station, to be with her family, her grandfather. It’d always been her home.
While Finn had none. He was so used to being alone that he’d never realised at the time he did. He had a wife, Bree. And a boy, Liam. And yet he’d let them go, like he’d always done.
Now, all he had was an empty house that needed a paint job and a Harley in pieces on the living room floor.
Lydia was right, it was like a prison. Because he’d had everything stripped from him once before, leaving him with nothing but a cell. And ever since, he’d been bracing for the moment it’d all be taken from him again.
And Drew had done just that, with what he’d done to the Stock Squad, his dream job.
Yeah, he was a man full of regret. That was him. Pain walking.
Lydia shifted in the bed, then said softly, ‘I know why you came here, Finn. To watch over your boy.’
Was it that obvious that he always drove that back road to the stockyards? The one where the small country church came into view. Where he’d think of his little boy, Liam, thinking that’d be the last time anyone would call him dad.
His throat tightened, making him swallow hard.
‘And maybe you’re that big brother to Brodie. Lord knows, he needs one.’
‘I dunno, I think the boy can do better than me.’ Considering what his mentor had done to him.
‘Stop that.’ She swatted his hand. No wonder she earned her name as the mother of the stockyards.
‘You see truth. And you care, I know you do. It’s a strength you rarely show people.
But you also do more. What you did here in this town?
Catching Red. Stopping Bob. Bringing Drew down?
’ She exhaled a slow and proud sigh, with a hint of pain, as if staying strong for him.
‘You didn’t just start a Stock Squad, you protected what we are, our livestock industry, and our way of life. ’
Finn dropped his head, with his shoulders so heavy, he couldn’t look at her or Brodie, let alone himself.
But still she kept going, leaning over to hold his hand the way his mother used to—before the valium dulled her, before his father ran that red light, causing the five-car pile-up with the truck that left him alone in the world.
Maybe that’s why it had been so easy for someone like Drew to slide in and fill that gap.
Lydia’s hand squeezed hard, dragging him out of his thoughts. ‘You gave this town hope, Finn. You gave them something to believe in again, like the way a good father looks after his family…’
He wiped a hand over his mouth. Christ.
‘And now, I believe it’s your turn to do something good for you.’