Losing Francesca (30 page)

And Barker walks out.

Brody sits down in the seat next to me and there is complete silence.

"Well," Nic says as he walks around the table to stand on the other side. He looks over at me as I fiddle with my new ring. "This is a mess."

"No shit," Brody says sarcastically. He puts his hand on my shoulder until I turn. "Are you marrying this guy?" He jerks his thumb towards Nic.

I take the ring off and slide it across the table. I look over at my dad and he's shaking his head. I look over at Nic and he's just staring at the ring. "I'm sorry," I tell him. "I'm sorry, but really, I have nothing to be sorry about. You guys do, because you've been lying to me."

I stand up and turn to my dad. "I don't hate you, I don't even blame you, honestly. I'd probably do the same thing if I were you. But this is over now. That judge in Ohio was right. Frank Sullivan deserves his chance to get to know me. You've had me almost my whole life. It's not Frank's fault you're hated and dangerous. All he knew was that his wife and child were gone. He loved me, they all love me and I'm not even related to any of them. And none of this is my fault, either. Why do I have to be punished because you're—"

I stop myself from saying the words, but I
want
to say them. I want to say,
You're the bad guy here. You are very, very bad. You do things that make people hate you so much, they want to kill your family. You are some kind of evil criminal, and none of this is my fault.

But I don't say any of that because he is still my father and I will always love him. Besides, he doesn't need me to tell him what he is.

He knows.

Brody stands and takes my hand but my dad reaches out and touches my arm before I can walk away. "You will not be safe there."

"I won't be safe anywhere, Dad. Life is a risk. But it's my life now and I'm going to live it the way I want. I deserve time with Frank and Sean and Brody. I like them, I like what they have back there. It's a nice family, it's a nice place, and just like you could never replace them, they will never replace you."

He remains silent as his mouth drops into a deep frown. I lean down and hug him, then whisper into his ear in my bad Russian, "I know who I am now." I switch to Romanian. "I will love all of you forever." I switch to American English. "But I'm leaving with them and I'll be back when I'm ready."

I lean down and hug Sophia, then kiss her once on each cheek. "You know I love you, right?"

She squeezes me tightly, then kisses me on both cheeks. "Go," she says. "Go and start your life, Faina. You know where home is."

"Thank you," I whisper.

I turn and look at Brody. His smile is a little too smug for such a somber moment, but hey, the guy's waited twelve years for his moment, so I let him have it. He laces his fingers in mine and we walk out of the building together.

Epilogue - Brody

The first surprise we got after returning to Ohio was Sean's silver filly munching hay in the front paddock, looking pretty satisfied to be hanging out with her own kind for once. Angela told us she just appeared the morning after we left for Fiji, eating random weeds alongside of the big barn, pretending she hasn't been running wild the entire summer. I'll be honest, I'll miss her morning visits begging for treats because after Fiona was taken away, that filly was like a lifeline for me. She kept me hopeful. But it's better that she went home. She's safe now.

Fiona's mom and dad sent her boxes and boxes of shit. Just plain shit she didn't need. Like fucking seashells from Fiji, like she never saw a shell before and these seashells will be the answer to all her prayers. Or clothes. She's already got a boatload of clothes, Angela and Frank couldn't stop shopping for her once she got home. Or even housewares. Like Sophia and Viktor feel they were missing out on the whole first apartment deal and had to send a toaster.

They took it real well though. Considering. I think they were just as relieved to have the secret out in the open as we were to get Fiona back. They still call her all those other names. She's Filia one minute, then Faina, then Fiona. But it always comes back to Fee.

She's always been Fee.

After the toaster gift I shouldn't have been surprised when they sent the deed to a beach house in Hawaii. Fiona decided not to go to UCSD. It freaked her out to know the FBI would have to watch her. Plus, she was anxious to get back to the South Pacific and when your dad buys you a house in Hawaii, it's pretty much settled.

And even though that Vik is a sneaky sonofabitch, I'm cool with it. Renn and the little brothers are fine without me. Renn figured I picked up all his slack while he was getting his career started, so he owed me.

How could I ever deny Fiona island living? Besides, her dad paid someone off and got her enrolled at the University of Hawaii starting winter term.

Fee was like a little clam when that news came in. Happy.

When we got back to Ohio after the big reveal in Nadi, the farm was quiet and safe. Frank always shuts the barn down when the kids go back to school, no lessons or nothing for an entire month. Gives parents a break, he said.

Fee stayed there that month and we tried to hide her from the town, but you know how that shit goes. There was a big meeting at the fire station and we tried to explain the deal. Pretty much everyone shut up and left us alone after that.

But it was too risky to stay there. And Vik was just a paranoid maniac. He had so much private security in Woods people actually complained about the slump in the local economy when we left for Hawaii.

Our house is small, just a one-bedroom cottage, but it's on the beach and it's not too far from Fee's school.

Frank is flying everyone out for Christmas and they're all staying at some resort close by. Not to be outdone, Vik is flying us all down to his island for New Year's. He can't come to Hawaii. Barker kept his word about Fiona, but all deals are off if Vik sets foot in the US.

I skip a rock into the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean as I stand on the beach outside the back door of our house.

I am twenty-one-year-old Brody.

And every bad thing that has ever happened to me has been wiped away.

It took a long time. It took a lot of mistakes, and anger, and sadness, and waiting.

But I finally found Fiona Sullivan.

The End

Hey readers! If you enjoyed Losing Francesca why not take a few moments to jot down a few words about the story and give it a rating on Amazon… just page forward and they ask you automatically! It's almost too easy! And I really need the reviews, because I'm an Indie and it's real hard to fight your way to the top of the pile where people can see you without a ton of reviews. So if you've got just a minute, I'd appreciate that.

End of Book Shit, Take Three

My next book,
Rook and Ronin, Book Two, MANIC, is scheduled to release on August 1, 2013
. If you haven't read TRAGIC, Book One
you can pick that up here
. You can add MANIC to your Goodreads shelf
by clicking here
and you can find me every single day over at
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. That's where I post cool bookish things about books I did not write. If you want to read about me talking about me and my own books (I know, not nearly as fun as other people's bookish things) you can find me
at my website here
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If you like science fiction, I have an entire series about a psycho girl called Junco
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Being a successful indie author means you work extremely hard because there's generally no team of people to thank at the end of the book. Sometimes we hire out cover artists and editors. I typically have other people make my covers, Claudia from Phatpuppy Art did a wonderful job on the front photo for Losing Francesca, so a big thank you to her. And I always hire out for editing. I have only ever used one editor, her name is RJ Locksley and she's awesome, so another big thank you to her. But that's it as far as my production team goes. I guess Lightning Source gets a nod. They make my paperbacks look fantastic.

So when I get to the acknowledgments of my books I never really know what to say. I pretty much just do it all. I format my books, I make the print covers, I do the typography, I deal with sales, and marketing, and readers, and blogging, and social media and Goodreads and all that stuff that authors do. And BTW - you can find me all those places
by clicking here
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So I guess I should just say thank you to me for taking a chance on myself. I'm having a lot of fun. Some days really suck ass because people are mean or sales are slow, or the story gets muddied and I have to delete whole chapters.

But for the most part, I'm happy. And that's pretty cool.

I'm also part of a really great group of authors called
Indie Inked
. We are rising to the top so fast our collective heads are probably spinning. Everyone in this group is supportive and wonderful. There are several USA Today best-sellers on this list and more and more are up and coming. I'm one of those up-and-comers and if there's a team of people behind me, it's this group of ladies because when I need help, they are there.

So my biggest thanks goes to you girls. You make being an author so rewarding and I'd be lost without you. :)

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