Chapter 39 Finn
FINN
The place still stinks like smoke. I suspect it always reeked like this under the surface. This wasn’t where they abused me—that was out in their vacation home and I plan on personally bulldozing the whole damn structure—but it’s still a kind of hell anyway.
I pick my way through the rubble. Some spots are still smoldering. The fire was put out a few days ago, but the department said it still isn’t safe in here. Fortunately, those sort of rules don’t quite apply to the Whelan clan, considering half the NYFD is on our payroll.
Caroline’s in a back room. It’s not her father’s office. I doubt she’ll ever go in there again after what happened a few days back. She’s kneeling over books and I have to lean over to see that they’re filled with photographs.
She’s looking at a page that’s clearly filled by beach vacation images. Young Caroline, probably eight years old at most, is grinning hugely in the sand. She’s got a black eye. Her brothers are in the background, indistinct figures.
“My mom took all these.” She flips the page.
More photos of her. Dozens of them. Her brothers aren’t in a single one.
“I thought it was weird, honestly. When I saw it the first time. I asked her, how come nobody else is in here? It’s just me and her.
A few of Dad. But none of the boys. You know what she said? ”
“Tell me.”
“She said, Caroline, one day you’ll want to remember there were some happy times too, and maybe this will help.” She smiles to herself.
“Was she right?”
“Fuck no.” She slams the book shut and throws it aside. “But it was a nice sentiment anyway.”
I help her to her feet and kiss her lightly.
She leans against my shoulder in the wreckage of her family’s den.
A flatscreen TV is partially melted. The wallpaper is cracked and peeling.
The couch looks surprisingly untouched. I can imagine sitting on it and watching movies with Caroline late into the night.
“From what I’m told, you’re going to inherit this mess.” I nudge a blackened coffee table with my foot. “Although I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don’t think this place is salvageable.”
“I’m already looking forward to the day when they rip it all down.”
“That’s my girl.”
She leans against my arm. “I don’t want anything else though.”
“Not even the money?”
“Blood money. Hard pass.”
“But it’s yours now. Your father had a lot put away over the years, and I have a feeling a very good lawyer could make sure you end up with all your siblings’ stuff too. You’ll be set for life.”
“Yeah, that’s true. I won’t ever have to work again.” She laughs to herself. “No more cleaning apartments.”
“Like you’d ever find an attractive rich man like me again.”
“Right, my next client won’t be such a perv.” She tilts her chin up and gets on her toes to kiss me softly. “I like it though. Just a heads-up.”
“I know you do.” We walk back through the house slowly, my arm around her shoulders. “Did you talk to Declan yet?”
“He called me this morning.” She doesn’t look at me as she says it. We wander through the kitchen and end up in the back. Her father’s blood still stains the concrete, but we ignore it and go out into the small garden.
“What do you think?”
She shrugs and runs her fingers through a perfectly manicured bush. Some ash still flecks its leaves. “I really don’t know what to say.” She glances at me. “It’d be a big change.”
“I know, but it’s your choice.”
“Is it though?” She hesitates, biting her lip like she’s not sure she wants to keep going. I feel strangely nervous, and I don’t know why. “It could be both of our choice. If you wanted.”
“Caroline—”
“I know we agreed that after this was all over, you’d divorce me. That was the deal, right? But maybe, I don’t know, if you wanted—”
I pull her against me and kiss her hard. To hell with it. What’s the point of this stupid dance anyway? When the kiss breaks apart, I tighten my grip on her. “I’m not divorcing you. Remember? You’re not going anywhere.”
She shivers and smiles. “That’s creepy.”
“Good.”
“You mean it though?”
“I love you. Always have, always will. We’re the same, right?”
“We’re the same. And I love you too.” She rests her head against my chest. I’m sure she can hear my racing heart.
I smile up at the sun, and for the first time in a while, it’s like the light’s finally hitting my skin, like I’m not wearing a mask over my face.
There’s nothing between me and the world anymore.
“It’s still your choice. I support you no matter what.”
“Do you want it though? We can accept together. We’re the same, right? Me and you?”
I stroke her hair. “I’d like that.”
“Good. That settles it. We’ll take over the Flanagan business together. Think Declan will be okay with that?”
“Yes, but screw him either way.”
She laughs and hugs me one more time before pulling back. We stroll slowly around the tight garden, through the thick foliage and the profusion of blooms and plants.
“What should we do with all this? I mean, all the money and property? I mean, I know you’re already rich, but this is really new to me.”
“I think you should enjoy yourself for a while. You don’t need to figure it all out immediately, right?”
“I guess not.”
“Let’s take a honeymoon together. We’ll go on a real trip somewhere nice.”
“Oh, really? And where were you thinking?”
“Somewhere far away with beaches.”
“I’d like that.”
We loop back around toward the house. It’s listing to the side.
We really shouldn’t go back inside, but to hell with it.
We tour through the rotten, burned-out husk one last time, and Caroline says there’s nothing else she wants from it, except for a bag stuffed with skinny black ledgers.
She hoists it over her shoulder and storms out of there.
“Good riddance,” she calls out as she slams the front door.
Something inside collapses and she laughs as she hurries away toward the waiting car.