I Stopped Loving Him When He Let Me Bleed Out novel Chapter 101

Finn Fletcher stood up, sweeping a cold glance over her without saying a word.

"Your mother wanted me to tell you that she was wrong to hit you earlier," Chloe Cross's voice was soft, like she was coaxing a temperamental child. "She's hosting a dinner to apologize. Ford and Felicia will be there too."

At the mention of Ford and Felicia, Chloe's fingers paused for a fraction of a second.

She looked down, pretending to adjust York's collar to avoid Finn's gaze.

The movement was too deliberate. So deliberate that Finn saw right through it.

"Ford and Felicia are coming too?" Finn's voice was flat.

"Yes," Chloe looked up and smiled.

It was a textbook smile, the upward curve of her lips calculated to perfection.

But the smile didn't reach her eyes.

She paused, as if weighing her words carefully before she spoke again:

"Finn, if you don't want any trouble, it's best if we attend together."

Finn stared at her.

"What do you mean by that? Spit it out and cut the act."

Chloe choked on her words.

Her expression cracked into an ugly scowl.

Communicating with Finn these days was entirely too difficult.

Fortunately, Yolanda had coached her line by line before she came.

"Finn, stop lying to yourself. You were just speaking out of anger the other day, weren't you? You still love our big family, don't you? You remember what you used to say—that all you ever wanted was to see us all together. Everything you've worked for has been to keep our family united and happy."

Finn closed his eyes.

He clenched his fists in agony.

Uncontrollably, his mind was flooded with the image of Sienna Sterling turning her back on him and walking away.

He remembered what she had said.

"If you weren't his father, why would he call you Dad?" She didn't believe him. She hadn't believed a single word he'd said from the very beginning.

Then again, he didn't deserve to be trusted.

It was all his fault. From start to finish, the blame rested entirely on him!

He couldn't live without York, and York couldn't live without him.

But he couldn't live without Sienna either.

He stood in the middle of the hospital room, York clinging to his leg, while Chloe stood nearby, watching him with that gentle, expectant gaze.

Outside the window, darkness was falling. The harsh, glaring white lights of the hospital room illuminated his face, making his bruised and battered features look even paler.

He stood there, motionless for a long time, like a tree that had been violently uprooted.

Sienna returned to the on-call room and shut the door.

She didn't turn on the lights, simply sitting down in the dark.

Her phone screen lit up.

Lily James had sent a text.

"Bestie, come with me to The Zane Retrospective! He's my idol! My absolute obsession! His paintings are incredible! It's no fun going alone, so you have to come with me."

Below the text was a long string of exhibition details.

The time, the venue, and the artist's biography.