"I can't believe I'm doing this."
Finn muttered while staring at the beautiful row home in Soho Manhattan, his hand intertwined in my right one. We left a day early to have time in the city, or more specifically a certain house in New York.
"No one's making you do it. It's still up to you." I comforted him while eyeing the home.
"Is this your way of saying that you don't want me to?" He asked with a hopeful tone and a quirked eyebrow.
"Nice try, but no. I'm indifferent." I replied with a smirk. I wasn't indifferent, I wanted him to do this but I wouldn't tell him that. In the grand scheme of things it didn't actually matter, but to Finn it did so I wanted him to make an unbiased decision.
"You're starting to sound like me," He groaned in frustration. Serves him right.
"Have a taste of your own medicine."
"Let's do this, I guess." Finn's tone was resigned, but deep down he wanted to do this. He was being pulled two different ways, and it seemed like the pull of his heart couldn't stop his stubborn brain.
We mounted the tan concrete steps before Finn dropped my hand to ring the doorbell to the large city home. After a moment, the black painted wooden door opened to reveal a tall and lanky man with almost white hair. He had to be an inch or two taller than Finn and certainly less fit than Finn's father. The Senior Riley had some muscles that showed under his suit, while this man was like a slim model to match his wife.
I didn't even get to process the man in front of me before a small dirty blonde haired girl appeared from behind her father and hugged Finn's leg. "Hi! My mommy said someone was comin'." The small three year old mumbled out in her broken English.
That was Danielle. The straw that broke the camels back. The bastard child that destroyed her half brothers parents.
I held my breath for a split second, waiting to see the trickle of regret in Finn's face but there was none. Instead, a smile broke out on my boyfriends face, his dimples showing when he crouched down to her level. "Hi, I'm Finn. What's your name?" He asked the outgoing little girl in a comforting voice.
I think my ovaries just exploded.
"Danielle. Come see my brothers." She ordered in that adorable tone three year olds used. She seemed more well spoken, closer to a four or five year old than a three year old who couldn't string sentences together very well. Her small hand grabbed two of Finn's fingers, pulling him into the house. Finn's emerald eyes flickered to Johnathan who stepped aside and gestured to the room were the twins probably were. With a smile plastered on his face, Finn followed the mini girl version of himself. Danielle's eyes were almost exactly like his green ones, but slightly lighter most likely due to her age. Her long, thin hair already had the same honey hue as Finn's too.
I stepped into the foyer of the home while John closed the door behind me. After a moment, our eyes flickered over each other, judgments probably passing between both our minds. John wore his pilots uniform, signaling that he probably had a flight later tonight.
"Johnathan. Sylvia, I'm presuming?" He asked while holding out his hand. I shook it with a small smile.
"Yeah. It's nice to meet you."
Not.
I don't know if he was still cheating on his wife, but he had done it before, on top of being a home wrecker. That was enough for me to harbor distaste for him, but the surprised look he tried to hide when his eyes looked me over made me feel selfconscious. It was a look I was sadly becoming more accustomed to now that people were starting to stare at me. It wasn't often that you saw such a thin yet muscular girl with Kardashian hips that you usually only saw on the internet, in real life.
My Instagram comments, whether positive or negative, had pointed out my uncommon curves more than often. I loved them, but I felt awkward in public a lot more often now.
"How do you feel about this?" I asked John hesitantly. They were his kids too. I was just interested in his opinion, not that it mattered.
John crossed his arms over his chest and glanced into the living room before turning his eyes back to me. "I think it's good for my children to know their brother but I think Elizabeth has false hope that this is Griffin forgiving her."
He honestly seemed like a rational man and that threw me off for a second. I didn't see that coming at all. John must have seen the hesitance on my face because he jumped in. "I've tried to convince her that's not what this is."
"Finn's only looking to meet his siblings. He isn't here for anything else and quite honestly, I'm not sure if he'll ever be here for anything else again." John nodded in an understanding way. Odd considering he is the one who caused some of this mess.
"Can I get you something to drink?"
"I'm fine for now, thanks." I said politely, the feeling of awkwardness taking over my body. Finn's mother hated me and here I was in her home, voluntarily. Granted, Finn probably wouldn't have set foot in this place if I hadn't gone with him.
"You know, you aren't what I expected biased on what Liz said about you." John tried to break the awkward silence but that didn't help one bit.
"Well she probably didn't have anything good to say at all." I responded coolly. Finn's mother didn't have a favorable profile in her son or I's point of view.
"Hence why I'm surprised. I think she was just hurt that he chose someone else's place over the one she was staying in. Twice." He suggested. Why John was being nice to me, I don't know, but I wasn't about to jinx it.
After chatting with him briefly for a few more moments, we relocated to the living room next to the foyer. Finn sat on the plush grey carpet that covered the wood floor with his back to me. I could see that he was playing with Danielle who was using those trains on the wooden tracks. The two twins were crawling on the carpet, playing with brightly colored plastic blocks while their mother sat in a chair on the other side of the room, watching the whole thing happen.
Her cold green eyes were more unfriendly than Finn's had ever been when they stilled on my figure. They reminded me of the way Finn's eyes used to turn cold when we would argue with each other in school or at practice. I hadn't seen that look in over a year but it stalled my movements midstep.
I quickly recovered when John passed me, going to stand by his wife across the carpet. Finn turned to face me, his eyes and smile glowing with a joy automatically put a grin on my face. All thoughts of Elizabeth flew out the window as I sat down on the floor besides him.
"Hi! I'm Danielle. This is my brother." The excited little girl with a slight lisp spoke while handing a green train to Finn. She was adorable. It seems she was already excited to have another sibling even if he was 16 years her senior.
"Hi, Danielle. I'm Sylvia." I smiled at the small three year old. She was the definition of happiness. "Do you like trains?" I asked her with a grin on my face so big that my cheeks hurt.
"Yeah!"
"Which ones your favorite? The green one?" I pointed to the toy she had placed in Finn's large hand.
Danielle shook her head bashfully and smiled. "Blue."
My attention turned to the right when I felt a child climbing onto my lap. I picked up one of the blonde twins and set him on my right hip with a smile. "Hi buddy."
"That's Maddox." John said across the room. I smiled at him gratefully while Liz glared at her husband, not looking at all happy that her husband was encouraging me to hold her child. That bitch would always hate me.
She would continue to glare at me for the rest of the afternoon, not stopping until John left for work and she went upstairs to get Danielle ready for a playdate, leaving Finn and I with the twins. The tension between her and everyone else, me specifically, was not missed my her husband myself. For once, I think something escaped Finn's observant watch and I was glad. He was so wrapped up in the three little kids, laughing and playing with them, it made my heart melt.
If I couldn't see myself having kids before today, I defiantly could now. Especially with Finn. He was so carefree and good with them. I could just envision our future together.
And it wasn't until I saw Finn standing there with a sleeping Knox on his chest, that the emotions got to me. My due date would have been in a week. This could have been my life. No one wants a baby this young, but once you have them, you wouldn't do it any other way. Just seeing Finn here, holding his baby brother like he was meant for it, made me bite my lip and blink back my heavy eyes. They weren't watery, but they would be if I hadn't gotten over it.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to try for a baby. I wouldn't be doing that for years and years. But the prospect of losing this when it was almost a reality hurt more than anything I've ever felt before.
Like a sixth sense, Finn's head swiveled to look at me where I was bouncing a sleeping Maddox on my hip with a sad face. He already knew what I was thinking, he didn't even need to ask. Finn crossed the living room, standing in front of me with the set of twins clinging to us. "Don't think about what could have been, baby," he whispered sadly to me. "It will only make you feel worse. We will have this one day, and it will be the most beautiful thing in the world."
"I love you, Finn." I didn't know what else to say in addition to my sad smile. He was right, I couldn't live in the past. He wasn't telling me to get over it, I don't even think he was fully over it; he was just telling me not to make it worse by imagining what it would have been like. 'We will have this.' I don't think Finn could have said anything more meaningful in that moment. I wanted this and he did too.
We would get there, together.
"I love you too, Sylvia."
Guys there's only one more chapter, an epilogue, and an epilogue from Finn's POV (honestly my favorite part of this entire book. I'm not usually one for the males POV but I am so in love with this part). I'm so sad 😭 this was my favorite series to write and I'm about to cry. I wish I could write about Finn and Sylvia forever. I just wanted to thank everyone who read both books, your support means the world. This is probably the series I'm most proud off even if it is kind of cliché, I feel like it had a good amount of real messages especially regarding equality and rape.
I just want to say that I know a lot of people in my life have gone through rough and traumatic times, whether it's an emotionally abusive family member or being raped by someone they trusted. Don't stay silent. Get help. Not everyone is strong all the time and my goal with Sylvia was to show that you can still be strong and ask for help. It might be scary, but it's worth it.
I hope it didn't come across like I was romanticizing what happened to her, I tried to make it so it was portrayed as a hinderance to her ego, something she had to over come. That's also part of the reason I had it come later on in the story, once Finn and Sylvia's feelings were already developing.
Anyway, thank you for the love and support. It means the world and I hope Sylvia and Finn resonate with you like they did for me. ❤️
Fingers crossed you like the last three parts. 🤞🏻
Till next time 😘