Fin spent the next four days in the private rooftop apartment with Lila.
He didn't return to the Main House. He couldn't face his mother's calculating gaze or the weight of everything she represented. Eleanor called him repeatedly, but he let every call go to voicemail. Each time, he sent the same short message:
"I'm fine. I'll come back in a few days."
Lila didn't ask too many questions. She simply stayed by his side, her presence a quiet anchor in the storm raging inside him.
The luxurious penthouse became their temporary world — the sprawling terrace with its infinity pool overlooking the city, the sleek modern kitchen where they shared late-night meals, and the large bedroom where they lost themselves in each other night after night.
During the days, Fin worked quietly. He hired a private investigator — someone discreet, expensive, and completely off the Harrington books — to dig into Mike's mother and her new family. He wanted every detail: where Jessica Hall lived, who Ron Hall was, what kind of life they had built.
He didn't tell Elena or Marcus. He didn't want his mother to know. Not yet.
Lila watched him from across the living room one evening, her long black hair loose over her shoulders, wearing nothing but one of his shirts. Her striking blue eyes studied him as he sat at the desk, reviewing the first reports the investigator had sent.
"You're really going after everything, aren't you?" she asked softly.
Fin looked up, his expression calm but his eyes dark.
"I have to," he replied. "Mike took something from me. I'm going to take everything from him."
Lila walked over and sat on the edge of the desk, her bare legs brushing against his thigh. She reached out and gently traced a finger along the fading bruise on his jaw from the fight.
"And when you find them?" she asked. "What then?"
Fin didn't answer immediately. He simply pulled her onto his lap, his hands sliding under the shirt to rest on her waist.
"Then I'll decide how much they lose," he said quietly.
Lila smiled, a small, dark smile, and kissed him slowly. The city lights glittered beyond the windows as they lost themselves in each other again, the weight of the outside world momentarily forgotten.
But Fin knew the silence couldn't last forever.
The next morning, it ended.
Marcus stood outside the apartment door, his face looking like a broken man — something Fin had never seen in his entire life. His usual stoic expression was gone, replaced by deep lines of exhaustion and something close to grief.
Fin's throat tightened.
"What happened?"
Marcus didn't reply for a few seconds. He stared at the floor, absent-minded. After a long minute, he finally spoke.
"You need to come to the Main House, Fin. Now."
He didn't say anything more. He simply turned and started walking toward the elevator.
Fin didn't understand, but the look on Marcus's face was enough. He grabbed his jacket and followed, the Echo team waiting silently outside. In the past few days, Fin had interacted with them, probing to see where their loyalties truly lay — with his mother, as always, or with him. So far, he hadn't come to any conclusion.
The convoy with the Rolls-Royce left the building. Soon, they entered the Main House grounds. Fin stepped out, noticing the new maids and guards everywhere. It was a passing thought as he walked inside.
Marianne and Alain were standing outside the main hall. Alain looked at him with pity. Fin didn't understand what was happening. Marianne walked closer, her eyes filled with pain and guilt as she looked at him.
"Fin… whatever happens, think before you act."
"What?" Fin questioned, but she didn't reply. She moved back.
Taking a deep breath, Fin entered the hall with everyone following.
Eleanor was seated in the center of the room, wearing an elegant English-style dress that accentuated her mature beauty — rich brown hair perfectly styled, her posture regal and composed.
But beside her sat a young man, around eighteen years old. Dark hair, sharp jawline, and a warm smile as he talked casually with Eleanor.
The room fell into a heavy silence as Fin entered.
Eleanor looked at her son, her expression calm but her eyes carrying a storm.
"Fin," she said softly, her voice steady. "There's someone you need to meet."
Fin's gaze shifted from his mother to the young man beside her. The resemblance was undeniable — the same sharp features, the same subtle confidence in his posture. His stomach twisted.
"Who is he?" Fin asked, his voice low and cold.
Eleanor didn't flinch. She turned to the young man beside her and said, "This is Julian Clark. Julian, this is my son, Fin Harrington."
The young man — Julian — stood up slowly, offering a small, awkward smile.
"I've wanted to meet you for a long time, Fin," he said quietly. "Eleanor talks about you all the time."
"Eleanor?" Fin's brows shot up in disbelief. He didn't understand why a stranger younger than him was calling his mother by her first name. He turned to her, his voice cold. "Mother, what's happening here?"
Eleanor looked at Julian with an exasperated sigh. Julian simply laughed, scratching the back of his head like it was all a silly joke.
Eleanor stood up.
"Come, let's go to my study room. I will explain," she said.
But Fin wouldn't budge. His eyes stayed fixed on the young man, who was still smiling warmly. For some reason, that smile felt mocking.
"No," Fin said firmly. "We talk here."
He turned back to Eleanor, his voice sharp.
"Will you tell me what's happening before I lose my cool, Mother?"
"Fin." Eleanor's voice rose slightly, but Fin didn't flinch. He stared straight into her eyes, unyielding.
Eleanor's expression tightened with difficulty. She sat back down, looked at everyone in the room, and after taking a deep breath, spoke the words that shattered the silence.
"Julian and I were married yesterday," she said, her voice steady but strained. "He is my lawful husband."
The room went deathly quiet.
Fin stared at her, his mind struggling to process the words. His hands clenched into fists at his sides.
"Your… husband?" he repeated, his voice dangerously low. "You married him? A boy younger than me?"
Julian shifted uncomfortably but kept his warm smile, though it now looked forced.
Eleanor met Fin's gaze without looking away.
"It was necessary," she said. "There are things you don't understand yet, Fin. Things I've protected you from for years."
Fin's laugh was bitter and hollow.
"Protected me?" he echoed. "By marrying some stranger behind my back? What kind of sick game is this?"
Julian looked down, his smile fading.
"I didn't ask for this either," he said quietly. "But Eleanor… she said it was the only way."
Fin's eyes burned with rage as he looked at his mother.
"Mother," he said, his voice trembling with barely contained fury, "tell me this is a lie. Tell me you didn't really do this."
Eleanor remained seated, her posture still regal, but her fingers gripped the armrest tightly.
"It's not a lie," she said softly. "And one day, when you know the full truth, you will understand why I had to."
Fin took a step back, his chest heaving.
"I don't want your explanations," he said coldly. "Not anymore."
The words hung in the air like a death sentence. Fin felt the pity in Alain's eyes when he had entered, the mocking and shameful glances from some of the maids. For a second, he felt like everyone was laughing at him.
He lost his reasoning.
His head turned toward the Echo team standing behind him. They looked clearly uncomfortable, but they caught his gaze. Without thinking, Fin gave the order.
"Kill him."
With no hesitation, the Echo guards — who looked completely different in their formal bodyguard suits — pulled their handguns in one fluid motion.
Marianne and Alain froze, their breaths caught in their throats. Marcus was too broken to react. Julian's face paled with panic. He raised his hands, voice cracking.
"Oy… oy, what are you doing?" he shrieked.
"Fin!" Eleanor shouted, clearly taken aback by the direct order, but Fin was too lost in his rage to reply.
She turned to the Echo team, her voice cold and commanding — the matriarch of the Harrington family.
"Put your guns down. Now."
The Echo team flinched. They had served Eleanor long before Fin, and she was still the matriarch. Slowly, most of them lowered their weapons. But Echo One and Echo Two did not. Their aim remained steady on Julian, who was trembling with fear.
"Echo One and Two, I ordered you to put your guns down," Eleanor repeated, her voice sharp.
They didn't move.
Echo One replied with a neutral expression.
"Forgive me, madam, but we only serve the heir. Please move away."
Fin looked at his mother, who was staring back at him with pain and difficulty in her eyes.
"Tell me it's a lie," he said, his voice breaking. "Otherwise, I promise you, I will kill him. I can't lose you…"
Eleanor was visibly shaken. Her heart clenched at the sight of her son looking like a broken man. But her resolve held. She stood up and stepped in front of Julian, shielding him with her body.
"If you want to touch him," she said coldly, "you will have to kill me first."
A stunned silence followed.
Echo One and Echo Two looked at Fin for confirmation. Fin stared at his mother, his body trembling with rage and disbelief.
"Mother… why are you doing this for a stranger?"
Eleanor looked at him, her voice steady but pained.
"I told you what I needed to say, Fin. Hurt him, and you will never see me again. You know me."
Fin's eyes teared up. His right leg started to shake with disbelief. With a pained expression, he raised his hand.
"Down," he ordered.
Echo One and Echo Two lowered their guns.
Eleanor sighed. In front of Fin's betrayed gaze, she took Julian's hand and led him inside without another word.
Fin felt like his brain was ringing. The world tilted violently as he collapsed to the ground, his knees hitting the cold marble floor with a dull thud. His chest heaved, each breath shallow and ragged, as if the air had been sucked out of the room.
This can't be real…
His vision blurred. The grand hall, the familiar walls, the portraits of his ancestors — everything spun around him like a nightmare he couldn't wake from. The pity in Alain's eyes, the mocking glances from the maids, the way his mother had stepped in front of that stranger — it all crashed over him at once.
He had spent days trying to rebuild himself after Clara. Trying to become stronger. Trying to stop being the weak, pathetic boy who let everything slip through his fingers. And now this.
His mother — the one person he had always believed would never betray him — had married a stranger. A boy younger than him. And she was protecting him.
A broken sound escaped his throat — half sob, half laugh. His hands clenched into fists on the floor, nails digging into his palms until they drew blood. The pain was distant, almost welcome.
Why…? Why her? Why now?
Tears burned in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. His body trembled, rage and despair twisting together into something ugly and raw. The echo of his mother's words repeated in his head like a curse.
"He is my lawful husband."
Fin pressed his forehead against the cold floor, his breathing ragged. The world felt like it was collapsing around him, and for the first time in his life, he didn't know if he had the strength to stand back up.
Behind him, the Echo team stood silent. Marcus and Elena watched with stunned expressions. No one dared speak.
Fin stayed on the floor for a long moment, the weight of everything crushing him.
Then, slowly, he pushed himself up. His face was streaked with tears he hadn't realized had fallen. His voice, when it came, was hoarse and broken.
"I… I need to be alone."
He turned and walked away, his steps unsteady, leaving the hall in heavy, suffocating silence.
Eleanor pulled Julian along like he was mere baggage. The moment they left the hall, she released his hand as if touching him disgusted her. Her face turned ice-cold as she turned to face him.
"How dare you call me by name, kid?" she hissed, her voice low and venomous.
Julian flinched, pulling back slightly.
"I mean… You said we need to make others believe it, right? That's why I did it," he stammered, trying to sound innocent.
Eleanor stared at him for a long second, her eyes sharp and unreadable. Without another word, she turned and walked into her private study room. The heavy door closed behind her with a sharp click.
Julian stood outside for a moment, sighing like a frightened chicken. But the moment the door shut, his expression twisted. The awkward, innocent smile vanished, replaced by a cruel, scornful smirk.
"Just you wait, you arrogant bitch," he muttered under his breath.
***
Hey everyone!
My new novel is finally here!
If you enjoy dark fantasy, overpowered protagonists, brutal battles, and a whole lot of forbidden content, give it a shot.
Asher McKenna's journey is just beginning, and trust me, things are going to get wild.
Give the new story a chance, and let me know what you think!
Thanks for all the support.