Drew raised an eyebrow.‘To gloat?’
Finn had considered telling him it was all done, and why Drew was now out of solitary, because all the arrests had been made.But then shook his head.‘I came to say thanks for the chance.And for nearly ruining everything that matters to me.’
Drew winced but said nothing.
‘The Stock Squad stuck.We’ve got permanent funding now, and we’re expanding interstate after using your playbook to dismantle your operations on a national scale.Guess who’s managing the budget?’
Drew shrugged.
Finn’s voice softened.‘Taryn.’
‘She stayed?’
‘Hell yeah.’Finn’s grin grew full of pride.‘She stayed and married me.’He held up his left hand, flashing the new wedding band.Why wait, he’d told her.Life didn’t.
Surprisingly, Taryn hadn’t blinked when he’d asked her.Coming from a military family, fast marriages were a tradition.Her parents had done it.So had her grandparents.
She hadn’t said yes for the baby, or for the sake of appearances.She said yes because she knew exactly what she wanted.And so did he.
As a wedding gift, his new father-in-law helped Finn buy a real coffee machine, complete with man-to-man coffee-making lessons.No more drinking mud.Where coffee had become a quiet ritual, that was part science and art for Finn.
But he still refused to wear the apron, despite Taryn’s old bet she’d made back in the trenches before she’d dropped the pregnancy bomb.
But there were a couple of aprons hanging in the house, a couch, fresh paint on the walls holding some of his favourite framed maps.And he was building a child-proof cabinet for his records.They even had a new dining suite, and the spare room was now a nursery, with his Harleys living outside in the shed.His house was finally a home.
Drew chuckled as he leaned back in his chair, the chains around his wrists clinked.‘Never thought you’d settle.’
‘Me neither.’Finn looked him square in the eyes.‘Didn’t think I deserved it.But it turns out… I was wrong.’
Drew just gave a nod.
‘Just so you know, I’m aware you didn’t put me in this place, but you got me out.You got me that pardon, even if it was for all the wrong reasons.And it’s only because you gave me that pardon, that I haven’t done any payback.’
Finn then leaned over, fists on the table, his voice low for the guards to not overhear.‘You see, you’re in my playground now, Drew.In here it’s a small world, where I’ve got the kind of respect, and owed favours, from people you could never buy because they’ve only got time.But me, I’ve got a town that backs me.A job that means something.And a future with a family, and a kid who’ll probably ride before they walk.’
He stood back, sizing up the man who looked older.Greyer.And so much smaller now.
‘You gave me a chance by giving me that pardon, so you’ll have my protection until the final sentencing, where they’ll put you in the big house with the bigger boys, because we know you’re never getting out.So, I’m not coming back for updates.Don’t send me any Christmas cards.Don’t call.And don’t bother asking me to top up your bank to bribe the prisoners or guards.You are, and will be, completely on your own.A forgotten someone I’ll never bother to remember, and I’ll never tell my children about you.And your legacy will never exist.’
He walked to the door, then paused to peer over his shoulder.‘You were right about one thing, though.’
‘What’s that?’
‘I still prefer to stand.And I still don’t like giving speeches.I let my work, and my actions, do the talking for me.’And he let the door clang shut behind him with that heavy shudder of steel.Leaving his former mentor sitting there broken and already forgotten.
Finn had somewhere better to be now, he had a future to walk into.One that he’d never believed he’d earn—a future filled with love.
Love.It still scared the hell out of him.
But he wasn’t in chains anymore.Not even the hidden ones he used to wear on the inside.
Now?
He had a new wife and a baby on the way.A found family made of good friends who always had his back.A job that meant something.And a home that was both real and permanent.
He’d heard someone say that you’re lucky if you get to fall in love once.They never mentioned how many different kinds of love there are to experience in that one lifetime.Or how right it could feel when you finally let yourself have it—and felt that you deserved it.
But the love of a good woman?That was something else entirely.
