All the Way (Romancing Manhattan 1)

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, he’s the only one bleeding.”

“Fucking bitch!” Kyle yells. “You’re going to pay for this. Dearly. I promise you.”

“Good-bye, Kyle.” I watch as they take him away, and the lead detective asks if he can talk with me for a while, which I agree to. Quinn leaves to go wrap things up at the party.

“Tell me what happened, from the beginning.”

“Let’s sit in the living room,” I reply. Once we’re settled, with Finn next to me, I tell him everything, from the day my parents died until today, adding what I know about Kyle following me. “That’s it. He admitted that he killed them, and that he tried to kill me.”

“We have so many charges here, he’ll be put away for a very, very long time,” he replies with a nod. “Here’s my card. Call me if you need anything.”

He stands and leaves, and Finn follows him out then returns to me. He sits and pulls me against him, not saying anything for a long moment.

“I thought that you’d left me,” he admits finally. “I looked around the party for you and couldn’t find you. I thought you’d skipped out because you were so angry with me.”

“I told Quinn to tell you I was coming here.”

“He told me just before I called your phone,” he says, and kisses my head. “I don’t know that I’ve ever been that fucking scared in my whole life.”

“I wasn’t scared,” I reply honestly. “Even with the gun, I don’t believe he would have hurt me. And I know, that’s stupid, because he just admitted to trying to kill me, but I just wasn’t afraid of him.”

I still don’t feel scared. Worn out, and a bit hollow, but not scared.

“I’m just happy you’re safe. Let’s go back to my place.”

“I definitely don’t want to stay here,” I agree. “I may not be scared of him, but I’ll probably never get the image out of my head of him admitting to killing my mom and dad. He smiled, Finn. He thought it was awesome.”

“For the money?” he asks.

“Yep. And he was pissed that I lived because I fucked up his plans.”

“Son of a bitch. Come on, let me take you home.”

“You know, I don’t think so.” I stand and walk away from him. “I think I really just want to be alone tonight. I’ll check into a hotel.”

“London, if this is about what happened earlier today—”

“It’s not,” I interrupt, but then rethink that remark. “Maybe it is, a little. But I want to be alone so I can process everything. Not because I don’t love or appreciate you.”

“I won’t have it,” he says, shaking his head. “No. You’re coming to my place. I’ll give you all the space you want, but you’ll be at home with me, not by yourself in a strange place.”

“Finn.”

He just cocks an eyebrow, and I honestly don’t have it in me to fight with him again right now. I’m exhausted, and not a little numb. I don’t want to fight. I don’t want to prove my point, or dig in my heels.

So I just shrug, grab some sweats, clean underwear, and my clutch, and follow him down to his car, which is miraculously waiting when we get outside.

We’re quiet on the short ride to his place. He reaches for my hand, but I pull away and he doesn’t try to touch me again. Once inside his condo, I immediately walk into the guest room and shut the door, strip out of the beautiful dress I bought for today, and get into the shower.

Finally, the tears come, hot and hard. My emotions are all jumbled: anger and sadness, disappointment. Fury. Love. Hurt. I can’t make sense of any of it as I lean on the shower wall, let the water beat down on me, and give in to the tears as they explode out of me like a burst dam.

When the water starts to turn cold, I get out and dry off, wrap my hair in a towel and my body in a robe, and fall on the bed.

My phone pings with a text from Finn.

Do you need anything from me, baby?

Tears fill my eyes again. I love him, but I’m so frustrated with him. I take a deep breath and then reply.

No thank you.

I roll over and turn on the TV, finding some reality TV to play in the background. It dulls the loudness in my head.

I want to forget about all of it, just for a few hours. I don’t want to think about Kyle, my parents, or Finn. L.A. Real estate.

None of it.

But I do text Sasha because I don’t want her to hear about this from anyone else. It would devastate her.

Hey. Quick FYI, and I’ll tell you more later. Kyle showed up at my place, threatened me, and confessed to killing my parents. He’s in jail. I’m safe, at Finn’s. Gonna sleep now because I’m fucking tired, but didn’t want you to hear about it from anyone else.