your life. You’ve forgiven yourself for the things that happened in Afghanistan. You’ve moved on with your life and all of that is buried now. I will not let her bring everything out into the open and ruin that for you.”
Finn pulled me in closer and placed a soft kiss on the top of my head.
“We’ll find a way. I swear to God, someday we will find a way to make that woman pay,” Finn promised.
When Sam called to check up on me a few days after the Grammys, I told him I didn't love him, and I kept the ring. Sam sure as hell wasn’t getting it back. I figured since it came out of my money, I might as well pawn it and give the proceeds to charity. My mother was beside herself when I told her I called off the engagement, saying I always ruin everything and that I should be ashamed of myself for hurting a perfectly good man.
I could have thrown it all back in her face, told her exactly what I overheard in the bathroom that day, letting her know I was finally finished with her manipulations.
I know exactly how far that would've got me. I know what happens when you defy my mother, and I will never make that same mistake again. I'm still paying the price for the one time I dared to stand up to her, still fielding questions from reporters who just won't let it go. I'm struggling to not feel ashamed for being so weak and backing down so easily when she won't budge just one little inch in regards to my music. All I want to do is record one song of my own. One. Just to see if it will go anywhere. Eve Carlysle doesn’t let anyone make decisions like that but her. If it were just about me, I'd take her wrath again and again without hesitation. But it's not just about me. Finn’s life and his well-being are at stake as well. Eve would crush him and the progress he’s made since the war without batting an eye. She made her intentions known the first time he even hinted at exposing her and what she’s done to me over the years. Finn told me all about the fight he had with her when he was first hired as my bodyguard. How she threatened to tell everyone that he wasn’t the good guy he claimed to be. She had found out about how the war and PTSD finally caught up to him one night overseas. He had killed innocent civilians and did things he was ashamed of, things he couldn’t even bare to share with me they were so ugly. He was dishonorably discharged from the marines because of his actions, but Eve made sure those files were sealed so she would always have something to hold over his head. She changed the past, altered his records, and used the information she’d garnered to keep him close and make sure he did exactly what she told him to do. I know Finn is a good person and he didn’t mean to hurt anyone. It was all just too much for him, and he lost it for a little while. But he came home, got help, and healed himself and his wounded soul. As much as Finn and I love and care about each other, there's nothing we can do to change things. Finn has kept his promise these last eight months and never once said “I told you so” or tried to stand up to Eve again. I owe him everything and I will do whatever it takes to make sure he is never on the receiving end of her wrath again.
“I know not every guy is like Sam, but every guy will do exactly what Eve says,” I remind him as we pull around the back of the Nashville Convention Center to get ready for the sound check for tonight’s performance. “I mean look at this whole stalker thing she’s contrived. A few weird letters from some guy over the course of a few months and suddenly she feels the need to act like a mother for the first time in her life and hire some thug off the street with a bad boy complex to step all over your toes. And of course she looks like a saint for doing it,” I complain, my arms gesturing around me wildly as I grow more and