Chapter 14: The Quiet
A week after the final court ruling, Finnley moved back into his childhood home.
The house felt different now. Most of Reagan and Carter’s expensive furniture was gone. The place was quieter, simpler — closer to how it used to be when his father was still alive.
Finnley spent the first few days alone, walking through the rooms and remembering the past.
He kept his father’s old leather armchair in the living room. He also hung his mother’s portrait back above the fireplace.
One quiet evening, he sat in the armchair with his father’s letter in his hands.
He read it slowly, the same way he had done many times before.
When he finished, he folded the letter carefully and placed it on the table beside him.
For the first time since he got out of prison, Finnley allowed himself to cry.
He cried for his father.
He cried for the three years he lost.
He cried for everything that had been taken from him.
But when the tears finally stopped, he felt lighter.
He had survived.
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He had fought.
And he had won.
