If I Stay {Fillie}

At the End of the Day

"Get out."

"Finn, I can explain everything—"

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS HOUSE!" Finn thundered, knocking a lamp forcefully off of a table in the living room. It shattered into glass shards that skittered across the polished marble floors.

Maddie could not stop the flow of tears that came at that moment. All of this emotion that had been building up since she was a child was now bubbling over like an overfilled pot of boiling water. All of the heartbreak she'd experienced in her life was hitting her like a tsunami.

She could not tell Jacob Sartorius what she'd found in Millie's notebook.

So she kept it to herself.

And so, that morning, just about a half hour ago, he had sent Jaeden to the mansion with the news that—surprise—Maddie had been secretly working with Jacob all along to ruin Finn's career.

And now she was paying the price.

Finn was viciously kicking lamp shards across the floor and pacing like a madman. He wheeled around and shot Maddie a glower filled with utmost hatred. "What, are you just gonna fucking sit there and cry? I said, get out!"

Maddie could hardly speak through her sobs. "Finn, I did it because he swore he could help me," she cried, slumping to the ground on her knees. "Please don't kick me out, I can explain everything."

Finn shook his head and turned away from her. "Maddie, there is no possible way you could justify what you've done!" He was yelling louder than Maddie had ever heard him yell, and it was scary. "I trusted you! My childhood best friend, my closest employee, and my confidant, and you threw all of that away for Jacob fucking Sartorius?! So he could, what was it? 'Help you?'" He scoffed and stalked into the kitchen.

Maddie inched forward to see what he was doing, her tears making her hair stick to her face uncomfortably. She did not wipe it away.

"I've tried time and time again to be a good friend to you," Finn continued hotly, yanking a garbage bag from one of the kitchen drawers. He began to roughly thrust all of Maddie's belongings into it as he spoke.

"I've told you all of my problems and asked for advice! I've trusted you with secrets I would never trust anyone else with! Hell, I've even asked you for suggestions on how to get Millie to like me!"

He chucked Maddie's cookie jar into the bag, which no doubt shattered as it hit the pans and platters he had already tossed inside.

Maddie ran her hands down her face, hoping that at any moment she would wake up from a long, long dream, that she would be back at that panel before she met Jacob, that she would decide to walk the other way. She wished with everything she had that she could just start over and be the person she wanted so badly to be.

But that wasn't the case.

Finn was at the door now. He yanked it open, not even flinching as it banged against the wall. Maddie, knowing exactly what he was about to do, leapt to her feet and rushed forward. "Finn, please don't!" she begged. But she was too late.

Finn threw the garbage bag, full of her precious, breakable cooking supplies, as hard as he could, and watched, unmoving, as it hit the concrete. Maddie's entire body seized up at the massive crash that followed the collision. It would be a miracle if anything had survived.

Finn shoved past her roughly, making his way back to the kitchen. He began opening drawers and cabinets, trying to find anything he'd missed. "You might as well just leave now, Maddie," he grumbled, his attention half on her, half on his task. "There's nothing here for you anymore."