Ruinous Love Trilogy #3

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Disclaimer: I have read this book of my own volition.  Any and all opinions and interpretations contained herein are my own.

The Spoiler Report is a recounting of the major events of the novel mixed with my own interpretation of the meaning and symbolism of events, emotions, and actions. Reading this report is NOT a substitute for reading the actual novel and should not be taken as such. Not every single detail, feeling, and event is divulged within. It is essentially a lengthy outline of the story. Many details and all dialogue have not been included. This report is for those who appreciate knowing what happens or feels they may miss things when reading, or just want to have a detailed overview of a book before, or during, reading.

****THIS REPORT CONTAINS SPOILERS****  

This is not a book review. For the full review of this book please visit HERE.

Rose performs a tarot reading for Lucy, a woman who is clearly in an abusive relationship if her behavior and looming jerk is any indication. After her half-drunk husband ends the session and threatens Rose, she does a reading for herself, asking the cards for advice. The cards have other things on their mind. Rose turns to Baz, a 15-year-old magician, for help.

After performing her motorcycle act, the Globe of Death, Rose heads into town. She plans a route to Lucy’s house. Baz swiped Matt’s, Lucy’s husband, drivers license. Rose just doesn’t want to help women, she feels she’s ready for a more extreme approach – ending a life.

Standing in the driveway of Matt and Lucy’s home, Rose hears yelling coming from inside. Their three kids rush out and ride away on their bikes. Matt eventually comes out.

Rose attacks him with a baseball bat. Matt is stronger. He grabs the bat and breaks her leg. Rose kicks the bat out of his hand before he can fatally harm her. Desperate for another weapon, she finds some cocktail sticks that have fallen from her backpack, she shoves a handful of them into his eyeball.

As Rose hobbles away, she sees Lucy standing in the doorway, watching. Matt screaming and bleeding on the driveway. Lucy calmly goes back inside the house.

Fionn is almost home from his nightly run when he receives an alert on his phone. Someone is at the door to his clinic. He watches as that someone in dark motorcycle leathers and dark hair breaks in. Fionn runs back to his clinic.

Following the trail of blood, Fionn finds a woman lying on the floor with a broken bone protruding from her leg. He quickly stabilizes her while calling for an ambulance. In the back of the emergency vehicle Rose wakes, questioning Fionn’s credentials since he’s in workout gear.

Fionn stays with Rose every step of the way. From entering the hospital, x-rays, scrubbing in on her surgery, and sitting in her room post-op. Something he’s never felt compelled to do before.

Speaking with Dr. Chopra, the doctor who performed Rose’s surgery, she tells Fionn of a patient she saw to right before Rose. A man with cocktail sticks lodged in his eye. Matt is a patient of Fionn’s, he knows the drunkard well. Dr. Chopra had to remove his eye.

Right before Fionn leaves Rose’s room, he goes through her personal affects and finds Matt’s driver’s license in her pocket.

After a few days in the hospital, Jose, the owner of the circus, tells Rose she can’t come back until she is fully healed. He knows her too well. She needs to fully recover or she’ll injure herself further.

The circus has to move on but Rose is too injured to travel with them. Jose, the circus owner, will set up her trailer at a park while she recovers. Fionn comes in while Rose and Jose are talking. Now that she’s fully coherent, she realizes he’s even hotter than when she first saw him the day she got injured.

Rose encourages Jose to leave, embarrassed when he tells Fionn how precious his little sparrow is to him and his circus. He whispers something into Fionn’s ear before leaving.

Fionn gently examines Rose’s leg. Dr. Chopra comes in mid-exam. Rose observes their interaction. Unable to truly get a read on either of them.

Rose will be released the following day. After Dr. Chopra leaves, Fionn says his goodbyes, stiffly. Rose waits to see if he’ll say what’s really on his mind. He doesn’t.

Naomi, the nurse that comes to attend Rose, recognizes her from the circus. She is familiar with the Sparrow’s reputation. Rose recognizes the look in Naomi’s eyes and offers to give her a reading since they missed each other at the circus.

Naomi is filed with hope that Rose can help save her from an abusive relationship. Rose is determined to set this woman free.

Hobbling up to her RV, Dorothy, Rose faces the possibility of being defeated by the thing’s entrance. Fionn appears as she painfully opens the door. Her motorcycle is strapped in the bed of his truck. Struggling to get into the RV, Fionn points out she should stay at his home instead of the scene of a future murder. The RV park is situated next to the backdrop of Children of the Corn.

Rose is stubbornly independent.

Fionn asks about Matt. Rose denies any knowledge of the man. When Fionn asks if he did this to her, the single tear rolling down her cheek is answer enough. He warns her of the dangerous man. Once again offering his home as a safe and comfortable place to recover. She accepts, melting into his treatment of her as he gets her from the RV to his truck.

She wants to tell him what she did to Matt but remains silent.

Fionn is questioning his rash decision bringing Rose into his home. She picks up on his hesitation and assures him she’ll be fine at the trailer park. Almost on instinct, Fionn insists she stay with him.

Surveying his house through Rose’s eyes, Fionn realizes how monotonous his life is. While he makes something to eat, they get to know each other with surface level questions until the conversation turns to Matt.

The truth comes out. But Fionn already had a feeling about that man.. Rose doesn’t want to bring the consequences of her actions to Fionn’s door. He convinces her staying with him will be fine.

Speaking with his brother, Lachlan, Fionn gets as much on Matt as he can, which isn’t much. He still has a gut feeling there’s more darkness in Matt’s soul than any record shows. He fights the urge to ask Lachlan to find info on Rose. Suspecting she would see it as a betrayal.

Now knowing a bit more about Matt, Fionn drives to his farm. Standing in the middle of a mounting storm, Fionn watches Matt’s house. Hr sees the bat he used to attack Rose. Anger propels him up the driveway and to the barn where Matt is obliviously working. Watching, Fionn overhears a phone conversation between Matt and Lucy. Matt’s demeanor and bully attitude reminds him of his father and the night he was killed.

Matt is alone and surrounded by tools which Fionn takes advantage of. Stalking closer with wrench in hand. Knowing Matt is just like his abusive father only death will stop him. Hidden in shadows, Fionn freezes as one of his kids comes into the barn, breaking Fionn out of his trance. Leaving the property, Fionn questions himself.

Back home, he finds Rose in the bathroom struggling to remove the bandages on her leg. Fionn convinces her to allow him to take over. The tension grows between them in the tight confines of the bathroom.

Now that the stitches have been removed, Rose hobbles out of the hospital with a brand new cast. Ready to explore the town while Fionn finishes his shift at the hospital.

Needing a break from crutch-ing around, Rose heads into the nearest shop, a hunting and fishing supply store. She hears an abrasive man talking on the phone to Noami, the nurse that attended her after surgery. Rose immediately knows who the jerk is that is threatening Naomi over the phone. Rose interrupts the call. Predictably, Eric hangs up and turns on the charm. Clearly interested in her, Eric flirts with Rose until she mentions Naomi.

Officially turned off, Eric buys some ammo and leaves angrily. Rose is fixated on the case displaying hunting knives still enraged by her encounter with Eric. Her trance is broken when the shop owner warns her away from the man thinking she fell for his charm. As if the owner can read her mind, he shows her the hunting knife that has been calling to her.

Paying for the knife, Rose leaves the shop and hides herself in the back seat of Eric’s truck, waiting with her new knife poised.  She psyches herself up laying in wait as Eric drinks beer while driving who knows where.

Rose’s phone rings giving her away before she was ready. It’s now or never. Springing up from her hiding spot, catching Eric by surprise, she shoves the knife through his neck. Blood sprays everywhere. The truck rambles through a field toward a riverbed with a steep drop off. Rose jumps out of before it can go over. Unfortunately the truck stops right before going over the edge and disposing the evidence. With her new cast, Rose hobbles over to the truck and pushes Eric’s dead body out of the way.

During her many attempts to get the truck to go over the edge, Rose concedes, the truck it stuck in the sand.

When Fionn calls, she cryptically tells him of her situation using as few words as possible. When he arrives on the scene, Rose is calm as she broadly tells him what happened. Fionn is just trying to wrap his head around the whole situation.

Finding Eric’s phone, Rose uses a staple gun to help open the phone using Face ID. Reading the text conversations between him and Naomi as a way to justify her actions. She shows them to Fionn. Rose can see it on his face, it’s affecting him the same way it does her.

Fionn goes into action. Deflating the tires enough to get it unstuck so they can get it over the edge and into the rive.

Neither one says anything as they drive away. Fionn locks himself away in his bedroom crocheting and thinking over his life choices after he helped Rose dispose of dead body without hesitation. Especially the ones that lead him to killing his father. Wondering what kind of man he is that he feels no remorse for any of it.

Waking the next morning, Fionn finds Rose has gone out. It’s the first time he’s seen the room since she has been staying with him. She has turned it into a homey sanctuary. Pictures, decorative pillows, knick-knacks, and plants everywhere.

Fionn takes his crochet project and heads to Sandra’s house for crochet club. He is stunned to find Rose is there and already has all the other women wrapped around her finger. Rose is eating it up.

As soon as Fionn gets settled the gossip begins.  The first topic is Eric who has gone missing. All of the ladies seem to know what kind of person Eric was. Apparently no one is looking too hard to find him.

Rose diverts attention to ask Sandra for advice on her project – a sex swing. The ladies are immediately invested, calmly and enthusiastically helping Rose as if she were making a baby blanket. Fionn is beside himself, thoughts swimming in his head. Prompted, he gives Rose his two cents. The women love that he is showing signs of being a red-blooded male. They have enjoyed him opening up over the last few weeks that Rose has been staying with him.

Heading home together, the two finally talk. Rose wondering why Fionn didn’t turn her in to the police and instead helped her cover up a murder. She’s also worried she could get caught. Opening up an honest conversation allows Rose to eventually see Fionn’s roots and asks about the woman she assumes broke his heart. He tells her about Claire.

Fionn begins to realize maybe the life he has been trying to build for himself won’t fulfill every part of who he truly is.

The two are home, crocheting and watching TV when Fionn gets a text alert. Barbara, a drug addled raccoon, is trying to break into his clinic, again. They both go to intervene, passing two sate troopers on the way. One of Fionn’s patients told him an investigation has been opened to look into Eric’s disappearance. Rose worries the hunting store owner will rat her out. Fionn assures her he won’t.

Reaching the clinic, they prepare to corner Barbara. Rose finds her first but it’s Fionn’s face the racoon attacks. Rose pulls her from the doc’s head and wraps her in a towel. They are preparing the rascally racoon to release her when there is a knock on the clinic door.

Fionn tells Rose to take care of Barbara while he goes up front. Returning from the grand release, Rose gets a text from Fionn telling her to hide. Matt was the one knocking at the door and wants Fionn to check on his eye, rather, lack there of. The surgical site is still painful. While Fionn works, he asks about the rumor that the doc has a woman with a broken leg staying with him, an outsider. Matt is very interested in knowing where she came from. Fionn shields himself behind his Hippocratic oath and HIPPA to excuse his silence and actions.

Eavesdropping, Rose can tell by the exchange of veiled threats that there is more to Dr. Fionn Kane than meets the eye. 

After Matt leaves, Fionn comforts Rose by giving her a hug, something they both need.

Fionn sets up at his side hustle, an underground fight club where he patches up fighters. He’s hoping to get Rose and his growing desire for her off his mind for a few hours. The reprieve doesn’t last long. Stitching up his first customer, Rose appears, casually eating a hot dog.

No only does her presence surprise Fionn, but she is even acquaintances with the man he is suturing, Nate. Fionn moved to Nebraska to keep his head down and start a new life, a new him. He’s beginning to realize he doesn’t really have a life and he’s still him. Darkness and all. Rose has been in town for a matter of weeks and has already begun to establish herself. That doesn’t stop him from insisting the fight club is not the place for Rose.

Fionn is hovering over his next patient who is still laying in the ring when he hears Rose scream. Bill, the latest victor, is in a skirmish that has knocked Rose to the floor inadvertently hitting her cast. Fionn is out of the ring and shoving Bill away from Rose. Fionn could have easily dissolved the situation, but he notices when Bill lays eyes on Rose and smiles like a predatory creep. Seeing Rose injured and afraid breaks Fionn. Fionn punches Bill and doesn’t stop until he is unconscious. The crowd goes wild. It’s Rose voice that cuts through the noise. He helps her up wanting to succumb to the tension between them. They’re interrupted and Rose walks away.

Rose gives Fionn a call while he is at his clinic. Rowen has shown up at the house with an injured woman and they need his help. By the time Fionn arrives at home, Sloane has already bonded with Rose. Even Rowen likes her ans encourages Fionn to let himself go with her despite any reservations he using to self-sabotage.

Fionn notices Rose watching how Sloane and Rowen interact with each other while he mends Sloane. She and Fionn barely talk to each other all night. Sloane and Rowen’s extra curricular activities that night almost drives Fionn to knock on Rose’s door to find some relief.

As everyone says their goodbyes the next day, Rose gets a flash of what life could be like. Happy and stable with someone she loves. She is surrounded by the things in life she was certain she didn’t want – it’s suffocating.

Rose tries to convince herself, and Fionn, the incessant itch beneath her cast is the culprit of her angst. Fionn chastises her for using a metal crochet hook to scratch, warning her of infection. Rose is falling into the metaphorical representation her cast situation has developed for her mindset.

Helping to relieve her discomfort, Fionn blows into the cast. It does nothing but make Rose squirm with need and apprehension. Spreading her legs, she shows Fionn what she really needs. He insists they set some ground rules before proceeding. It’s not his insistence on rules that stings. Fionn telling her that he is incapable of a real relationship has her reeling with what could be and what is her reality.

Regardless, they agree on a set of rules. Fionn eats her out on the couch, igniting more than lust and want in Rose. Finishing, he carries her to the bedroom. Fionn’s inner thoughts are drowning in just as much turmoil. But there’s no way he’s stopping now. He wants this just as much as she does.

In the throws of passion, they heighten the mood by listing their turn-ons, their kinks. After many rounds, Rose gets out of bed and hops off to her room, making sure they follow the rules.

A few weeks later, the search for Eric has been called off and the two are fooling around on a plane. They are on the way to celebrate the opening of Rowen’s restaurant. Skating dangerously close to breaking a rule or two. Rose’s checked bag has somehow been re-routed to Florida. Fionn is unbothered by it, offering Rose adaptable solutions that are not world ending. Rose’s tarot deck is in the missing luggage. Without it, she feels like she’s missing a limb. While they’re standing outside the hotel, a passing car douses Rose with water as it drives through a puddle.

The two have an arguement over a room debacle, there’s only one bed. Fionn is adamant about not breaking Rose’s rules. The length he would go to ensuring the rules remain intact infuriates Rose. Once they get to the room Fionn tries to explain himself. Rose realizes he has the same darkness inside him as she has inside her. A darkness Fionn is trying to bury and atone for.

Rose is surprised by his admission. She is understanding and supportive.

Rose, Sloane, and Lark are having a drink together. Talking of their involvement with the Kane brothers, respectively. Lark had just had her moment with Lachlan on the balcony (Leather & Lark).

The topic tuns to Rose and her relationship with Fionn. Content with having these two women as friends, something she has never had before. Rose is beginning to doubt her love for circus life. When they return to Nebraska the cast will be coming off and it will be time for her to go back to the traveling circus.

Both women just want to see Rose happy.

Sloane is off to meet Rowen at his restaurant. Rose heads back to an empty hotel room.

Lark texts Rose that Rowen broke up with Sloane. The two girls are mutually ready to gut Rowen. Fionn calls, she can immediately tell that something is not right. Fionn tells her that Rowen is hurt and he’ll return later. (Butcher & Blackbird).

While waiting, Rose does a tarot reading for Sloane and Rowen, since her luggage has been returned. She wonders what it will be like returning to the circus, what it would be like if she didn’t.

Fionn returns to the hotel room. Rowen will be fine. (Read B & B to find out what happened to Rowen). Rose admits she knows about Sloane and Rowan’s murder game. She now understands why Fionn is the way he is regarding his inner darkness.

They take turns devouring each other. Sated, they hold one another in bed, rules be damned. Both admitting they’re not ready to go home yet. Only Rose doesn’t know which homes she means, uncertain where she belongs anymore.

Returning to Nebraska, they fall into friends with benefits again, sticking to the original rules. But they are not the same people as there were before visiting Boston.

Waiting ti get her cast removed, Rose does another tarot reading on herself. Matt interrupts, sharing news that Erin’s truck was recently pulled from the river. The body has still yet to be found.

Waiting to get her cast removed, Matt comes into the hospital and begins speaking to her. Rose speaks highly of Eric, someone she claims to know nothing of. Matt is suspicious having been randomly attacked recently himself. He is at the hospital to visit his wife who tripped and fell. Bad luck, as he puts it.

He asks how Rose broke her leg. Same reason as his wife was her answer. Naomi calls Rose back to take her to an exam room. She looks great and thanks Rose for changing her life. The only thing Rose asks for in return is for her to look after Lucy while she’s in the hospital.

Fionn comes into the room to remover her cast, explaining the process. Rose doesn’t hear a word of it, too preoccupied with Matt, he’s getting too close. She knows she must leave to protect Fionn. He offers Rose an option that would keep her in town a while longer. Rose refuses, sticking to their original arrangement.

Rose cryptically reassures him that she’s not really leaving willingly and offers her own option with possibilities that Fionn accepts.

One month later.

Fionn arrives at the fair grounds during the circus’s off season. Hunting down Rose’s RV, Fionn hears running on the treadmill that he got her as a going-away present.

Rose eventually answers the door, panicked. There’s someone else in the RV with her. Brokenhearted and internally chastising himself, Fionn turns to leave. Rose chases after him, pulling him into the RV.

A shirtless man is running hard, proclaiming he is going to beat Rose’s record. She pulls the doc to the front where Barbara the racoon is hanging out. Rose rescued the raccoon on her way out of town. Barbara is now part of the circus show.

Rose explains the guy on the treadmill is Chad, a drug-dealing abuser of women. Rose gave him a coke-laced churro and now he’s running until the drugs are out of his system. Or until his heart explodes, whichever comes first. Rose is hoping for the latter. Fionn convinces Chad to do laps around the fair grounds to give the two of them some space. All goes well until Chad tries to jump over a fence and ends up impaling himself.

Rose is ready to leave him be and call it a day. Fionn, being the oath-obligated doctor, and rational one, steps in. Chad is dead. Instead of calling 911, Fionn questions Rose. She finally gives a brief history of her abusive, neglected past. The ones she’s trying to save other women from.

Protecting Rose, Fionn takes over the Chad debacle. The police and Chad are well acquainted. They are treating the incident as an accident. Rose wants to thank Fionn by bringing one of her fantasies to life.

One year later.

Fionn is trying to concentrate on Nate, his opponent in the ring of the fight club. Instead his head is filled with thoughts of Rose and the times he’s seen her over the last year. The possibilities of the future.

Fionn remains undefeated. The darkness he suppressed is slowly making its way to the surface, proving the two sides of him can coexist.

Stitching his own brow in the bathroom after the fight, Matt comes in. He had to see the town doc fight for with his own eyes. He then asks Fionn if he thinks Eric went quietly when Rose killed him.

Another man entering the bathroom keeps Fionn’s darkness from taking over. Answering Matt rationally since Eric’s body is still missing. Matt doesn’t let up on his bathroom interrogation. Trying to connect Rose to his own unprovoked attack that cost him his eye. But Matt isn’t familiar with unprovoked attacks, right? That couldn’t be why Lucy left the state with their children and filed for a divorce.

As more men enter the bathroom who are friendly with the doc, Matt smugly concedes and leaves. Fionn is fuming inside, but thoughts of Rose and seeing her shortly are too strong.

When he arrives at her apartment, she’s dressed up for her job at Frightfair during the circus’s off season. Fionn is conflicted seeing her like this. Is it nightmare fuel or his wet dream? Fionn is on the verge of telling Rose he wants to absolve their rules and make a real go at a relationship. That he wants to move back to Boston if that is where she is going to stay.

Instead he waits, knowing it’s not the right time. Instead, he offers to pick Rose up from work so they can talk on the drive home. He needs to gather his courage.

Rose loves her job giving spooky readings full of jump scares and horrors. Closing up for the night she texts Fionn who is just arriving at the grounds. He came early so he can check out a bit of the fair before it closes for the night.

With a little extra time to herself, Rose shuffles her tarot deck to perform a reading on herself. The cards reveal nothing good.

Preparing herself to leave for the night a clown awaits at the entrance to her tent — Matt. Now that his family left him, he’s been on a mission. Cleaning himself up and preparing to hunt down the Sparrow.

He pulls out a blade and tells Rose about all the research he’s been doing. Discovering twenty untimely deaths that seem to follow the path of the circus. He came to settle the score between them.

Taking advantage of the parlor tricks Rose has at her disposal, she attacks Matt in the dark and escapes. Looking around panicked, thoughts of keeping Fionn safe and stopping Matt flood her mind.

He finds her in the crowd. Rose purposefully leads Matt to the haunted house and attacks him again. She runs through the haunted house, finding a shadowy corner to hide. Fionn finds her first. Matt now too far behind.

Coming into the room they are hiding, Fionn gets the jump on Matt and stabs him, relishing the moment. Using the props in the haunted house to his advantage to display his trophy. Rose contacts her boss, making an excuse to close the attraction. Promising she’ll clean up before locking up for the night, giving the two time to deal with the mess they made.

The haunted house goes quiet as the guests leave. Fionn kisses Rose for the very first time. It devours them both, wholly. Leading to a moment of raw passion with Matt’s lifeless body as their witness.

Coming down from their releases and getting dressed, Fionn tells Rose to leave. He needs to clean up the mess. She wants to stay and help but hears the desperation as he pleads with her.

Once Rose reluctantly leaves, Fionn calls Leander. As he arrives, Leander has the picture that was snapped automatically in the haunted house that tries to capture the scared expressions on guests’ faces. Instead it captures the moment Fionn lunged the knife into Matt.

Leander calls in two men to start the clean up process and asks Fionn if his brothers know who is really responsible for their father’s death. Both Rowen and Lachlan believe the latter is the one that ended their father’s life.

Fionn understands. Leander is only beginning to show how many of Fionn’s secrets he has in his pocket. The man doesn’t want money as payment for this clean up. Leander wants Fionn’s services for seven months in Croatia. They leave the next day.

Due to the nature of he contract, Fionn is forbidden to tell anyone about it. Not his brothers and certainly not Rose. Fionn’s heart is destroyed.

The moment he walks in to Rose’s apartment, Rose can see and feel the shift in him. He is completely detached and defeated when he tells Rose he is leaving the next day and can’t tell her anymore than that. Only that it’s for the best that things end like this.

Shattered that she’s losing the new life she thought she was building, she contacts Jose. Rose is headed back to the circus—her home.

The next morning Rose packs up her life in a backpack while Fionn is in the shower. Leaving behind the roots she was ready to establish.

Waiting at a coffee shop for Lark, Fionn texts asking if she left. He lets her know she left her tarot deck behind and offers to bring it to her and then drive her to meet Jose before heading to the airport himself. As much as Rose wanted to avoid him, she will not leave that deck behind. She agrees.

The moment Lark arrives and gives her a hug, Rose realizes it will be too hard to have her and Sloane closely tied to her life. Seeing Lachlan and Rowan will only remind her of Fionn. Lark can instantly tell something is not right. Rose doesn’t go into specifics other than to tell her how she came to the conclusion that Lark and Lachalan aren’t much different from Rowan and Sloane in terms of their hobbies. Lark promises that she and Sloane will always be there for her.

Fionn picks Rose up from her coffee date. They sit in silence, stuck in traffic when Lachlan calls. Lark is missing. Taking an alternative route, Fionn speeds toward Lark and Lachlan’s place. Rose calls Sloane and Rowan who are on their way home from their honeymoon to let them know what is going on.

Lachlan pulls up to the building at the same time. In the apartment they find the dog lying on the floor and blood all over the place. Lachlan orders Fionn to save the dog before running out, believing the guy that took Lark is across the street.

Rose turns to follow Lahclan but Fionn begs her to stay. Rose needs to help. Before leaving Fionn alone with the dog, she tells him that she loves him.

Fionn stabilizes the dog enough to drive it to a nearby vet. After he heads to an address Rose sent him where they think Lark is being held. He is consumed by the fact he didn’t tell Rose that he loves her too.

Leander continues to call wondering why Fionn is not at the airport. Once he finally answer the repeated calls, Leander’s tone changes once he learns of the situation. He will re-book Fionn’s flight, threatening Rose’s life to ensure he doesn’t miss it this time.

Fionn arrives at the address just in time to see the aftermath. (Read Leather & Lace for the full story). There’s a man dead on the floor and Rose is unconscious with a deep stab wound.

An ambulance is called. Fionn tells Lachlan to call Leander. Waiting for the ambulance, Fionn breaks down to his brother. Finally confessing his role in their father’s death.

Once the ambulance arrives, Fionn is determined that Rose will survive. At the hospital Leander sends a friendly reminder about Fionn’s obligations. Sloane sits with Fionn as he soaks up every last moment he can with Rose. Even if she still hasn’t woken from surgery.

Sloane moves to leave, wanting to give Fionn some privacy to say goodbye. Since he is refusing to tell her where he is going, Sloane hands him a slip of paper with a Croatian address. Fionn can send letters to Rose, discreetly through it. Lark pulled some information from Leander with some well placed threats. None of them will be telling his brothers.

Fionn dangerously has hope followed by a lot of doubt. He only has five minutes alone with Rose before he has to leave. He tries to wake her but her body is too deep in healing mode. Saying goodbye, he leaves her a note, an explanation, apology, and a promise all in one.

Rose is gearing up for her first performance in the Globe of Death since being back with the circus. There’s no excitement. There’s nothing. Her heart and spirit are broken. Heading out of her RV, Baz is waiting for her with a letter from Fionn. Telling her that he understands that she is done with him but he will never be done with her, never stop fighting for her. He’s included a tarot card.

Every week a new letter arrives with at least one new tarot card. The letter using the the card and the theme to spill his truths to Rose. Even though Rose has nowhere to send them, she answers every letter. Filling page after page with her own truths and heart.

Even on the road Fionn’s letters arrive every week delivered by Baz. Until one day Jose brings it. He’s worried about her. She’s no longer thriving in the circus, only surviving. She hasn’t even set up her tarot tent once since they began their tour. She’s been scared of how detrimental the consequences could be for those she loves. Forgetting all those whom she has helped and how important her work is to them.

Jose confesses Fionn sent him a letter as well. He loves Rose like a daughter and only wants to see her happy. Even if that’s not in his circus. He tells her to go, take some time away. And take that racoon with her.

In his latest letter, Fionn tells her he is in Maine, where the circus should be currently. He will be waiting for her at Lookout Rock from dawn until dusk if she would like to come and find him.

Fionn gets ready to leave his perch on Lookout Rock. It’s been three days since he believes Rose received his letter. Three days without her showing up. Turning he finds Rose standing there.

Their meeting is tentative at best. Rose is reserved as Fionn hands her the last card from the tarot deck, keeping the letter it was with to read to her. Rose begins to dissolve the old rules to set new ones. They kiss and embrace before Rose agrees to stay the night with him at the inn.

After feeding Barbara and grabbing a few things for the night, they head for his room. Rose is still hesitant in her words and actions. Fionn understands it will take time to rebuild what they had. He left for the better part of a year with no explanation really.

As he fixes them a drink, Rose begins to read Fionn the first response letter she wrote to him. It softens every hesitation either had. Getting comfortable, Rose reads him all the letter she wrote.

Three weeks of talking, traveling aimlessly in her RV, learning to just be. Fionn and Rose land at a cabin where Rowan, Sloane, Lark, and Lachlan are waiting.

Butcher and Blackbird drive six hours as part of their hunting game with Rowan dressed as a dragon. When they get to Linsmoe, the town is deserted. A freshly painted sign indicates the whole town, including the killer they are looking for, may be at a barn dance.

When they arrive at the cabin, Lachlan is on the porch. The dragon costume goes over as well as can be expected. They are about to exchange info on one-uping the girls in the game while the girls conspire on their own. Rose and Fionn surprise everyone as the arrive at the cabin.

Once the tearful reunion is settled, Fionn proposes to Rose.

A woman watches the five Kane’s and the one soon-to-be Kane from the bushes outside the cabin. It’s not the first time she’s watched them. Three years ago to the day, she lost her love, Adam, to Harvey Mead. Adam was Harvey’s last victim before Rowan and Sloane killed him (Butcher & Blackbird).

As the six gear up to go hunting, she admires Sloane’s strength, convinced she could be just like her.

As they file out of the cabin, the girl stands, catching Sloans’e eye. Sloane recognizes the girl, giving her an approving nod before following her family.

Autumn Bower now has her own story to tell.

Bonus Chapter.

Rose and Fionn have been married for one month. It’s been a year since their murder game meetup at the cabin. Rose arrives at the house the two of them moved into a week ago. Fionn has a surprise for her. He ushers her into a room where he has hung the completed crocheted sex swing. They test it out.