He hoped that this time the Dean would keep him waiting as he had done the last time, but he had barely sat down when the assistant told him that the Dean would see him now.
Finn stood up once more, straightening his tie before he reached for the handle of the door, opening it.
“Ah, Finn!” Dean Webber exclaimed as he stood up to greet him with a handshake. “You’re looking a lot better than you did the last time I saw you. Your cuts, and bruises are healing well. How’s your wrist?”
“Not too bad,” Finn replied, and he knew his voice sounded different. Almost like it wasn’t even him speaking. All he could think was what he would say if the Dean confronted him about his relationship with Emmy. Would he admit he loved her? Or would he deny it and pretend that Emmy meant nothing to him?
“And Ms. Warner?” The Dean continued without missing a beat. “I believe the news is somewhat better on that front.”
“My brother said that she was making good progress,” Finn replied, hating that he was talking about Emmy like she didn’t matter to him. “He said she is now awake, he thinks she could be released in a day or two.”
“That’s marvellous!” Dean Webber exclaimed as he picked up his glasses and slipped them on to his face and began to rummage through some paperwork on his desk, while Finn watched what he was doing with interest. “Finally, some good news.”
“Yes,” Finn replied flatly as he continued to watch the Dean closely.
“So,” he said as he looked back up at Finn from the paperwork, giving him a look that made Finn feel like his world was about to come crashing down. “As you know, as per our last conversation, Ms. Cooper Smith alleged that on the night of October thirty-first, she accompanied you home after she left a party on campus, once there you both engaged in sexual relations, something she claims you pressured her to do.”
“And I told you that Ms. Cooper Smith is a liar,” Finn replied as his heart hammered faster in his chest.
“Yes, well,” Dean Webber said, as he reached up, pulling his glasses from his face, and stared at Finn. “This is a serious allegation, we needed to investigate matters to be sure we had given both parties a fair hearing.”
“It’s funny,” Finn sighed as he wished that Landen would hurry the hell up. “It doesn’t feel like I’m being given a fair hearing, it feels more like I’m being accused.”
“I assure you, Finn,” Dean Webber replied as he looked Finn in the eye. “I take no pleasure from this situation, I promise you that.”
He slipped his glasses on yet again as he began to go through the paperwork once more.
“Now,” he said as he pulled a sheet of paper from the file in front of him. “During the course of our investigation, we discovered that you were in the campus library on the night in question.”
“I was,” Finn replied, having no clue where this was going. “But then that’s nothing new, is it?”
“Your security card shows you left the library at exactly eight forty-three,” the Dean continued as he slipped the sheet of paper across the desk for Finn to read. “You used your security card to get out of the door as the building had been closed for the evening.”
“If that’s what time it says,” Finn replied as he looked from the paper back up to the Dean. “Then it must be right.”
“Well, this is where my problem is,” the Dean explains, once more he removes his glasses, as Finn wondered if he was doing so purely for dramatic effect. “Ms. Cooper Smith claims that she was thrown out of the party at approximately the same time; something that has been confirmed by several of the other party goers.”
“And what has that got to do with me?” Finn asked, but he already knew where this was going.
Before the Dean could reply, the door to the office burst open as Landen came charging into the room like a bull in a china shop.
“Stop talking, Finn,” Landen said as he walked up to the Dean’s table. “Dean Webber, I do believe that I’ve already told you that any further questions you had for my brother, should be addressed to me.”
“For God sake, Landen,” The Dean huffed. “This is not one of your courtrooms now.”
“No,” Landen replied with a smirk. “Therefore, my brother doesn’t need to answer any more of your questions.”
“If he is so innocent,” The Dean said as he glared up into Landen’s face. “Why is he refusing to answer my questions?”
“I don’t believe you asked me a question, Sir,” Finn replied unable to hold his tongue.
“Where were you on the night of the thirty-first, after you left the library?” The Dean asked, turning his attention to Finn.
“Don’t answer that, Finn,” Landen replied, not that Finn was planning to anyway.
“Don’t you see,” The Dean said as he stood up, looking from Finn to Landen. “If he just answered the question, then this would be over and done. Finn, for pity sake; defend yourself.”
“My brother has nothing more to say,” Landen replied before Finn could say a word.
“Then you leave me with no choice,” The Dean said as he took his seat once more, returning to his paperwork. “Effective immediately, you’re suspended, pended a full investigation.”
“This is crap, Dean Webber!” Landen exclaimed as he slammed his hand down on the table. “But you have my word that when my brother’s name is cleared, and believe me, I will clear his name. I’m going to take this university for every penny its worth.”
Without waiting for a response, Landen turned and walked out of the office, followed closely by Finn.
“This is bad,” Finn said as he hurried down the front steps of the building after Landen as they both headed for the parking lot.
“This is bullshit is what it is,” Landen growled. “If he believed for a second that you raped that girl, he would have called the police in. This is just keeping the man who writes the big cheques happy. He is throwing you under the bus to try to save face after throwing that girl out of school.”
“But if I can’t tell them where I was,” Finn replied with a sigh. “Doesn’t it just make me look guilty?”
“And what if you’d just gone home that night?” Landen asked. “And you had no one to vouch for your whereabouts. Does that make you guilty too? The only evidence they have is her say so, and a security card that puts you on campus, the same place you work. This is crap, and he knows it.”
“I just don’t get why she is doing this,” Finn sighed, feeling like his world was falling apart.
“Actually,” Landen said, giving his brother a knowing smile. “I think I have gotten to the bottom of our little Ms. Copper Smith’s issues.”
“What did you find out?” Finn asked, hoping that maybe he brother had gotten something that could help him get out of this mess.
“Not here,” Landen said as he unlocked his car. “We can head back to your house, and I will tell you everything.”
Chapter 25
Emmy sat in her hospital bed, trying to read the magazine that Gabby had brought her the day before, but her mind kept wandering to Finn, and how he was getting on, his first day back in school.
Even though he didn’t say so when he talked to her on the phone earlier that day, she knew that he was worried about going back to work.
She hated that Shelby was doing this to him, and while Finn, Dylan, and even Landen had tried to convince her that it wasn’t her fault; she knew in her heart that it was.
The only one positive thing was Dylan had told her that he could see no reason why she couldn’t go home the next day.
Emmy was unsure about staying with Finn’s parents when she left the hospital. Over the last few days, she had grown closer to Nell, who stopped by every single day to visit her, and while she really liked her, and liked Sean too, it still seemed like a crazy idea.
Still, she knew if she didn’t agree to it, Finn would want her to stay with him, or to stay in her apartment with her, and Emmy agreed with Nell when she said that either option would be t
oo risky while things were up in the air.
Her head was hurting, she also felt tired. She threw the magazine down on the bed, flopped back onto the pillow, closing her eyes. She blew out a long breath and tried to relax.
Suddenly the door to her room opened. Emmy instantly sat up. She half expected one of Finn’s family or even Gabby to be standing there, but instead, she found Shelby standing next to the door, staring at her.
“Shelby!” She exclaimed as her heart slammed against her chest. “What are you doing here?”
“Can’t I stop by to visit my friend; my classmate,” She said then laughed sarcastically, and Emmy realised that Shelby was drunk. “Oops. My bad. I guess I’m not your classmate anymore, am I? You saw to that.”
She stepped further into the room, stumbling a little, knocking over the flowers that were on the sideboard next to the door.
“Whoops,” she exclaimed with a laugh as she stumbled back away from it. “Silly me.”
“I want you to leave, Shelby,” Emmy demanded, wishing that someone would come in and just take her away.
“And I wished you to have died in that car crash,” Shelby hissed with so much hate, it scared Emmy. “But I guess neither of us are getting what we want today.”
“What is it that you want from me, Shelby?” Emmy said, watching her closely. “Why are you here?”
“Don’t you want to know why I did it?” She asked as she stumbled a little closer to Emmy. “Why I told them what your precious Finn did to me!”
“He didn’t do anything to you,” Emmy replied, stunned that she would come here, saying these things to her.
“I know,” she whispered as she held her finger to her lip, then stepped closer once more. “Just like I know your dirty little secret too.”
“I…I don’t know what you mean,” Emmy replied, wishing that she could close her eyes and make this girl disappear.
“Come on, Orphan Emmy,” Shelby spat back, and Emmy could see pure hatred in her eyes. “I followed you that night. I saw your knight in shining armour stop while you were sitting on that bench. I saw you get into his car, I then saw you go into his house. You told him what happened, and the next day he paid me back in the classroom, he humiliated me in front of everyone.”
“Is that why you did this?” Emmy asked, knowing that there was no point in denying it anymore. “Because you were embarrassed? Why would you be so cruel?”
“Because I could,” Shelby replied matter-of-factly. “See, I knew I crossed the line with those pictures, I wasn’t even that surprised that I got suspended. If anything I was glad because it pissed my dad off more than you could imagine. But my mom said that if I came and said sorry to you that you would probably drop the complaint.”
“I never made the complaint,” Emmy replied, unsure why she was even explaining herself to this girl.
“I realised that at the hearing,” Shelby continued with another laugh like she was almost reliving everything in her mind. “It was Adam. He was the one that went to the Dean. I sat there in that room, listening to how mean I was to perfect Orphan Emmy, and how you hadn’t done anything to provoke me. That you were completely innocent in this whole thing. But what they didn’t know is, I went to your apartment the morning after Thanksgiving to talk to you because that’s what my mom wanted, but I saw him leaving your apartment, making the walk of shame. So I thought what if they knew what you were really like?”
“Then why didn’t you just tell them about Finn and me?” Emmy asked, finally having her worst fears confirmed. “Why didn’t you just punish me like you want to? Why did you lie about him?”
“Because I wanted you to lose everything,” Shelby replied with a smug grin. “Because I wanted those that you love to regret they ever met you. I wanted you to hate yourself as much as I hate you. As much as I hate your whore mother.”
“My mom?” Emmy asked, giving Shelby a questioning look. “What has my mom got to do with anything?”
“SHE RUINED MY LIFE!” Shelby yelled at Emmy, and to Emmy’s surprise, unshed tears glistened in her eyes then suddenly spilled down her face. “She was a whore, and she got what she had coming to her, but that wasn’t enough, was it. You had to turn up in my class, and Professor Murphy only had eyes for you, just like it was with your mom.”
“What are you talking about?” Emmy demanded completely thrown by what she had said. “My mom died when you were just a kid.”
“YOUR MOTHER AND MY FATHER!” She screamed, and finally, Emmy got it. “My mom loved my dad so much, but all he cared about was your whore mother. He was leaving my mother for her, but your mother refused to leave your dad, it nearly destroyed him. Then she was killed, and I had to watch my father fall apart because a woman, who didn’t love him enough, was dead, and my mom was the one to pick up the pieces.”
“Shelby, I had no idea,” Emmy replied, stunned by what the girl had just told her.
“Of course you didn’t,” Shelby cried as she glared at Emmy. “You were little miss perfect, with your perfect family, while mine fell apart. My mom started to drink every day to cope with living with a man that didn’t love her. All they ever talked about was poor Emmy, living without her mother; living with what she witnessed. I was fourteen years old, but they forgot that I even existed.”
“You sent the pictures to my father,” Emmy said, as suddenly it all became clear. “It was you.”
“My life was in pieces,” Shelby replied like that gave her the right to destroy Emmy’s too. “I found them in a box in Mom’s closet, and I thought, why should your life be a bed of roses?”
“My life was no bed of roses!” Emmy exclaimed, realising this girl had ruined her life long before Emmy even knew she existed. “My life was a living hell.”
“But yet you still landed on your feet,” Shelby said as she straightened her shoulders. “You still got your happy ever after. Well, almost.”
“But what has Finn got to do with any of this?” Emmy said as tears suddenly spilled down her face. “He had nothing to do with my mother. Why destroy his life too?”
“DON’T YOU GET IT?” Shelby yelled. “This is down to you. Now you get to make a choice. Will you give up everything for the man that loves you, or will you leave him to burn just like your mother did to my father.”
“I would give up everything for Finn,” Emmy breathed out, as she brushed the tears away from her face.
Before Shelby could reply, Dylan walked into the room.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Dylan demanded before he turned to Shelby. “I want you out, now!”
“Relax Doogie Howser,” Shelby mocked as she turned, walking to the door. “I’m going.”
She stopped, turning back to look at Emmy.
“You know, you could tell the Dean that he was with you,” Shelby said with a smirk. “You will be kicked out of college too, but your precious Finn will be just fine. But I guess the question is how much you really love him. The ball is in your court now.”
Without waiting for Emmy to reply, she turned and hurried out of the room, leaving Emmy alone with Dylan.
“Was that…” He asked as he glanced out towards the door before he turned back to Emmy. “Was that Shelby?”
Emmy nodded as the tears continued to spill down her face. As insane as Shelby sounded, Emmy knew she was right. She had to decide whether to save Finn or save herself, but there was no competition.
“I need to get out of here,” Emmy said, surprising Dylan.
“Not today Emmy,” Dylan replied as he walked over to her, reaching for her wrist to check her pulse, but Emmy quickly pulled her hand free.
“Yes,” Emmy insisted as she gave Dylan a pleading look. “Don’t you get it, she’s right. I can end all this now. She did this because of me; because of my mom. I can’t let Finn take the blame for something he didn’t do.”
“But Landen is going to fix this!” Dylan assured her, but Emmy was determined. She pushed back the bedclothes, before dropping her feet
down to the floor. “Emmy, please don’t do this.”
“What’s going on,” Gabby said suddenly from the doorway.
“I need to get out of here, Gabs,” Emmy said, giving her friend a pleading look. “Please.”
“But you’re not well enough, Sweetie,” Gabby said as she walked further into the room.
“I’m going home tomorrow,” Emmy assured her. “So what’s one less day?”
“You’re upset,” Dylan said, trying to reason with her. “I really think leaving is not the right thing to do. Maybe once you calm down…”
“I’m not going to calm down!” Emmy exclaimed with a nervous laugh. “Not until I have finished this for good.”
“Fine!” Dylan sighed, and Emmy thought she had finally made him see sense. “But first I need to call Finn.”
Before Emmy could even respond, Dylan turned and walked out of the room.
“UGGHHHH!” Emmy cried out in frustration. In her heart, she knew she wasn’t strong enough to leave the hospital and go to the college alone. She also knew that if Dylan called Finn, Finn would rush straight up to the hospital, refusing to let her leave too. Her only hope now was Gabby, but she knew this was going to be a hard sell.
“Gabby, please, I need you to help me,” Emmy said, as instantly the look on Gabby face said she was not going to agree to this.
“Dylan said that you’re not ready to leave yet,” Gabby said as she walked towards the bed, pulling the blanket back once more. “So why don’t you just get back into bed.”
“No!” Emmy exclaimed, “I don’t want to get back into bed. Please, Gabby, I never ask you to do anything for me, but I’m asking you to do this. I’m begging you. Gabby, I’m happy, for the first time that I can remember, I’m happy. And not because of some stupid school. I’m happy because of Finn. I’m happy because I found someone who loves me.”
“What has Finn got to do with anything?” Gabby asked, not fully following her friend.
“I need to go talk to the Dean,” Emmy explained. “I need to tell him the truth about Finn and me.”
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