Page 78 of Heir of Fire
“Reece Kingsley died here, his soul probably still lingers in some part of this area. If you want to say something to him to close that part of your life, maybe now is a good time to do it.”
He wanted to laugh at the ridiculous idea to talk to the dead. Finn didn’t believe in ghosts. He wasn’t even sure he fully believed in Heaven and Hell, but still if his father’s soulwas going anywhere, it was going straight down south. But the sincerity in Gianna’s voice made him realize that maybe there was something more to it than he thought.
He wasn’t actually supposed to talk to his father, but instead maybe he was supposed to use the chance to get out anything he ever wanted to say but never had the chance to. The day his father died, he was gone long before Finn and Luna even showed up. They had no chance to ask about their lives and everything he ever did to them. Reece Kingsley had no chance to attempt to atone for his sins before he met death cruelly.
Finn nodded his head. “I guess I could try it.”
“Do you want me to go to the car? Give you a minute alone?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, I want you here.”
In case he fell apart all over again,he meant to say but left it out. The nerves sat in his stomach like lead. Gianna squeezed his hand tightly one last time before she let go, moving back a few steps but still staying close.
He took a deep breath. “I don’t know where to start. Truthfully, life with you had been hell. You were a man who couldn’t ever be pleased. No matter how hard I tried throughout my life to be the perfect son, it was never enough. I was never enough. I stood by your side for so long, defending and turning on my own beliefs and morals because I thought it was the honorable thing to do, but nothing with you was honorable. You don’t know that word. Loyal, powerful, brave—all words that I thought you were until I realized what you really were: a fucking coward. You’re a coward. A coward who tried to sell off his daughter, a coward who tried to buy himself the perfect heir and son, and a fucking coward who beat his children relentlessly! Did that make you feel like a man? Hitting a fucking child? Every scar on my body will fade and I might not ever forget them, but I get to say that I’m still here. I’m alive and I have a family,and you have nothing. Everything you never wanted for me is going to be mine. The name, the estates, the money, the loyalty, it’s all mine. I know you hate it, and you can continue hating it, but you’re powerless, you fucking coward! There’s nothing you can do anymore. I burnt your body to a crisp and I would do it all over again to make sure there wasn’t a single piece of you lingering anymore. Goodbye, Father. Maybe I’ll see you again one day, though I doubt it.”
His chest was heaving when the last sound left his lips. All the tension, the frustration, the built-up hatred left with every word he spat out. He knew he had been screaming the whole time, but the emotion became too much for him to pay it any mind. Now, his throat felt raw.
But for the first time in so long, he felt a sense of peace he hadn’t felt in years. Honestly, probably ever in his life. It was like he had finally expelled his demons, letting them out of him once and for all. Reece Kingsley could no longer control him and that was a relief he had been chasing for too long.
“Finn?” Gianna called from behind him.
He turned around. “Yeah, princess?”
“Are you okay?”
He nodded his head, walking up to her. Grabbing her hand, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. A wave of comfort and calm rushed over him once again being in her presence. “I’m okay.”
And that might have been the first time he actually meant it.
They decided to take Blair’s car back and leave the other SUV to get picked up. Valerio could live without one of his office’s cars, but Blair deserved to get hers back. After Gianna spilled about how she found out about the relationship, he knew it was amatter of time before everyone found out. He wasn’t the one who cared though. Blondie in the passenger seat was the one with the problem.
He was touched hearing about her search for him. When he left Valerio’s office, he wasn’t even sure where he was going. All he did was drive and before he knew it, he was at his old family home. Or at least where it once stood. Looking back, it was fitting that his subconscious decided to bring him there rather than anywhere else. He had issues to solve and that was the only way he could do it.
They stopped for dinner at some drive through at one of the exits on the way home, and now they were almost back. Gianna had nearly fallen asleep, but kept fighting to keep her eyes open, which was honestly quite hilarious. She kept saying she didn’t want to fall asleep because waking up so soon after was going to suck, but the way her head kept falling forward was too much to watch.
Luckily, they had just pulled into the house when she stretched across the seat, nearly hitting him in the face.
“Thank God, we’re here.”
“We are,” he said, turning off the car after parking it in the garage. She went to open her door, but he stopped her, closing it.
“What’s wrong?”
“Before you go inside and we have to pretend nothing happened tonight, I just want to say thank you for everything. I really needed someone today and you being there meant the world to me.” He cleared his throat, nodding his head. “Thank you, princess.”
Gianna beamed, grabbing his hand. “Always, Finn.”
“Let’s go inside now. I’m sure everyone is sleeping, but I should probably call Luna and let her know that I’m okay.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” she said. “I should have texted the girls too, but I’ll stop by their rooms before I turn in.”
They both got out of the car and entered the house. Finn had expected it to be empty or at least quiet like it usually was during the weeknights, but instead there was a gathering in the living room. Luna, Valerio, Dante, Allister, Blair, Cecilia, and Augustus all sat there, and the moment they saw him and Gianna enter, they stopped everything they were doing.
Well, almost everyone did.
Allister marched up to Finn, knocking a cold-hearted punch directly into his nose. Gasps and screams were heard from around the room, but he couldn’t focus on any of it. The confusion had barely washed away when Allister was hitting him again, this time sending the punch directly into his stomach.
“What the fuck was that for?” Finn wheezed, wiping away the blood that oozed out of his nose.
