“Why do this to me? Why do this to Grayson? Kendall, my mom, my dad, why?” I ask, taking a step back. My foot lands in the shallow water and I stop, not wanting to go any further.
“Why not?” He shrugs. “You were easy targets. Easy money to be made. Your mom was gullible, easily to manipulate. She made me good money, lots of it, but she was starting to look her age. It wasn’t a good look either. Your dad, he was collateral. Your mom threatened to out me, so I took the one thing she cared about. But then there was you, and I knew I had to be around to watch you grow up, to turn from a beautiful child to a sexy woman. You were going to be the reason I rose up the ranks with Douglas and Richard.”
I look around for a weapon, a stick, a broken bottle, but there’s nothing. The beach is spotless. He crowds me, pushing me closer to the water’s wrath. “You stole from me. My money. My opportunity. You’re coming back with me,” he says, snaking out his arm and wrapping his fingers around my wrist.
“And you took everything from me,” I grate, yanking my arm out of his hold. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” I rear my arm back and slam my small fist against his face. He doesn’t stumble, but his mouth bleeds.
The red liquid spreads across his teeth as he grins. “I always like it when you fight,” he says, launching himself at me. He tackles me to the ground and slaps me across the face. “You’re coming back with me. You’re going to be the reason I’m not in debt anymore.” He yanks down my bikini bottoms and says, “but not before I get to test the goods.”
“You aren’t getting shit,” I say with backbone, hiding my fear better than I initially thought I would. I slam my forehead against his and he tumbles off me. I yank my bikini bottoms up and try to yell for Grayson, but Trevor holds a hand over my mouth.
His breath is rancid, his teeth are rotting, and he looks like he’s a few days away from dying. He smells like cheap cigarettes and vodka, his two favorite things. “We’ll see about that. Now, get to walking.” He pulls out a knife and threatens to cut my bikini top off.
I should be more frightened, but I’m not. I know deep down in my soul that I’m not going anywhere with this asshole. And if the attempt to survive kills me, at least I fought for my life and didn’t give up. I swipe my hands in the air and knock the knife from him, then lift my knee and ram it between his legs.
“You think I’ll just go with you?” I punch him in the face again, angry tears in my eyes when rage possesses my body. All the hate I’ve had for him over the years surface, and there is nothing more I want than to kill him. He falls to the ground, cupping his pathetic cock he has forcefully used on one too many women. I connect my knee to his face and watch as blood oozes from his nose. “You think I won’t fight? You should know from the first time—I’ll fight until I can’t fucking breathe!” I slam my knee against his face again, and he falls to his back, sputtering blood and broken teeth. I straddle him, and the waves crash against my knees. “Is this what you want?” My hand pats to the right in search for a rock, something small. Once my hand wraps around it, I bend down and whisper in his ear, “Because this is the closest you will ever get.” With a grunt, I swipe the palm-sized rock through the air and smash it against his face until his eyes roll back.
I clobber him with it until his bones are distorted and I can’t tell who he is anymore.
“Finley!” Grayson yells for me in the distance, but his cries of panic fall on deaf ears. I’ve been my own savior my entire life. I can continue to save myself for the next few minutes.
“I fucking hate you!” I lift both my arms in the air and use the rock as a fist against his broken face. “I hate you so much. You took them from me. You ruined my life for the longest time. No more.” I toss the rock to the side and hear his wheezing attempt to breathe. “God, why can’t you just die?” I roll off him and grab him by the thick of his air and drag him into the water.
“Finley!” Grayson calls for me again and this time his voice is closer.
Tired, exhausted, but fueled with anger, I trudge through the current, pulling Trevor behind me. When I’m deep enough, I push his head under and he’s too weak to struggle. He tries, but I know I can kill him easily.
I want to torment him like he did me. I lift his head above water ,and he coughs. “Please,” he begs. “Don’t.”
“Please. Don’t. Stop,” I mock him. “Those words sound familiar.” I dunk his head again until his body slows from thrashing, and then I bring him to the surface again. He inhales and gasps for breath, struggling to keep his eyes focused on me. “You know, when you nearly raped me. I still have scratches between my legs.” I dunk him again, but this time I don’t bring him back up. I keep him under until his body stops thrashing and for a few more seconds.
One can never be too sure.
My muscles are shaking, and Grayson dives into the water to get to me.
“Finley.” His hand falls on top of mine where I’m fisting Trevor’s hair. “Let go. Let go. Let the ocean wash him away.”
Let go.
Is it really so easy to do?
“I have you, Finley. It’s okay,” Grayson reassures.
I stare into his beautiful brown eyes, hued with yellows and burgundies, and remember that my future is him. He has me. I let go of Trevor, and Grayson slings me into his arms and carries me away from the shore. I watch as Trevor’s body gets carried away until I can’t see it anymore.
He’s gone.
I can breathe.
“Are you okay?” Grayson asks, holding me wedding style and pushing the hair out of my face. He pinches his lips together when he sees my busted lip. “Bastard. I’d kill him all over again if he were here. We were too slack. He left his phone at the hotel. It was irresponsible of me to leave you out here. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. Our plan to live our lives without our pasts got started earlier is all. I had it all under control.”
“You did,” he says with pride. “You gave it to him good. You’re so fierce and strong. I’m a lucky man.” He carries me up the natural stone steps back to the Cliff House, and I lean my head against his chest.
I’m the lucky one. Grayson could have turned his back on me after I lied about my age, when I killed two men, and now that I think about it, Grayson must have been insane to stay by my side.
But he did.
And I’ll forever be grateful.
Now I know what love truly is.
It isn’t harsh. It isn’t cruel. Love isn’t supposed to be difficult, but easy, as natural as breathing, and sometimes you have to fight for it.
It’s the victory at the end that’s worth it because now we get to love freely, without pain, without fear, without our past haunting us.
Love is our prize.
Epilogue
GRAYSON
“Go ahead, ring it,” Doctor Gladstone says to Dillon.
Finley has the camera out and recording, and I’m standing there, watching my son about to ring the remission bell. It’s been a long journey, but the transplant worked. He is cancer free. He has to come in every three months for testing for the first year, then after that, it’s every six months.