Beautiful Redemption Chapter 24:
Liis calls her mother while she makes dinner. I guess so McGuire can try to demonstrate she has one character with a decent-ish familial relationship:
“At least you’re cooking for yourself and not eating that processed poison every night. Have you gained any weight?”
“I’ve lost a few pounds actually,” I said, smiling even though she couldn’t see me.
“Not too much I hope,” she grumbled.
I laughed. “Mom, you’re never happy.”
Oh ho ho, mom, you’re going to give me an eating disorder, you crazy you.
Liis finishes up her chat with her mom (and dad) and then Thomas shows up! Without explaining why he’s there, he’s basically just like, “Smells good in here.”
“Yeah.” I turned toward the kitchen. “Stir-fry. I have plenty, if you’re hungry.”
“It’s just you?” he asked, looking past me.
I chuckled. “Of course it’s just me. Who else would be here?”
After Thomas confirms that Liis isn’t serving stir-fry to another man, he gets down to business:
“I, uh…needed to speak to you. The office is buzzing about your outburst.”
“Just mine? I’m the emotional one because I’m a woman. Typical,” I muttered.
“Liis, you spoke in Japanese at the office. Everyone knows.”
I blanched. “I’m sorry. I was upset, and I…shit.”
“The S.A.C. gave the green light to move forward with the plan to remove Grove.”
Wow! Shit is really kicking off in the penultimate chapter. I’ve been tossing and turning at night wondering what would happen to Grove.
Turns out Sawyer and the rest of the FBI are trying to locate Grove so they can actually remove him. I don’t think Grove will show up and cause harm to our characters, do you?
Thomas asks if he should stay with Liis, but Liis realizes that if she lets him stay he’ll never shut the fuck up about getting back together with her, so she declines. I love you, Liis. At least for the moment.
So Thomas kisses Liis in response, and they make out furiously. God damn it, Liis. BUT it turns out he’s kissing her goodbye?
He blinked a few times. “I tried not to. I’m sorry.”
Then, he walked away.
“No, it’s…it’s fine,” I said to an empty hallway.
The hallways immediately responds with, “I don’t fucking care. Stop. Goodbye.”
Liis decides that even though she is in Grove danger,
she needs to get out of her building. Thomas immediately stops Liis on the street to find out where she’s going. Thus marking the shortest and most ineffective goodbye in the history of the world. The empty hallway would be proud.
They talk about Feelings, and Thomas says, “Baby, look at me…it can’t be any worse together than it is apart.” Which is debateable, but apparently starts to work on Liis. She is still concerned about Cami, though.
“Liis.” He waited until I looked up at him. “Please believe me. I did love someone before, but I have never loved anyone the way I love you.”
But…but why? This doesn’t ring true at all given how little they really know each other? I get that they could be falling in love for sure, but IDK. Also, even imagining for a second that they actually had built a real love like the book wants us to believe, WHY THE FUCK DIDN’T HE JUST EXPLAIN THIS BETTER BEFORE? Like that is a very normal thing.
And it only gets dumber:
Thomas loved me. He needed me. Maybe I wasn’t the first woman he’d loved, and maybe the kind of love a Maddox man felt lasted forever, but I needed him, too. I wasn’t the first, but I would be the last. That didn’t make me the second prize. It made me his forever.
How in the fuck would Liis know that Maddox men allegedly love forever? Also, Trent had that other girlfriend who died in a car accident, but no one is like, “Welp. He will love her forever. Is Cami second place?”
Luckily, Grove shows up and shoots Thomas. I wish that happened in all the Maddox books. Importantly, Grove has a mustache. He is definitely a true villain.
Grove halted, only twenty yards and a parallel-parked car between us. “I saw you sprinting out of your building to catch Agent Lindy—in your bare feet. I doubt you thought to grab your gun. Did you tuck it into your shorts before you left?”
For a greasy-looking, pudgy, short man, he was awfully condescending.
Grove’s mustache twitched, and he smiled, revealing a mouthful of teeth well on their way to rotting. It was true. Evil ate people from the inside out.
Heavy meet handed.
Okay okay, so I had jumped ahead. Now he shoots Thomas. Once it is confirmed he has a mustache. Liis shoots Grove, and checks on Thomas’ wounds, but then GROVE SHOOTS AT LIIS TOO. Try talking about love now, ya assholes.
Thomas jumps in front of the bullet, but it goes through him and also hits Liis. They say their ‘I-love-yous’ and are obviously going to be fine because all Jamie McGuire novels have to end with the protagonists in serious peril.
Liis wakes up in the hospital later, and her friends/colleagues show up. Thomas and Liis are both fine, and Sawyer agrees to divorce Val if he can keep the fucking condo she’s been banging on about this whole book. What an unsatisfying conclusion.
BUT WHAT ABOUT TRAVIS/BENNY???
“What about the witnesses?”
“It’s taken care of. Benny has no clue that Travis will be knocking on his door soon, and Tarou will just think he’s lost his infiltration. The investigation can go on as planned.”
Glad that was all wrapped up so tidily.
Thomas is really happy they apparently have matching scars now, which is a thing they said earlier in the book, so it’s good they got shot. Liis decides they should be together, so again, good thing they got shot.
Enjoy the epilogue tomorrow!
“Luckily, Grove shows up and shoots Thomas. I wish that happened in all the Maddox books.”
There could be a whole series about that.
Anyway, the part about Sawyer and Val sounds a bit non-sequiturish. “Hey, the boss and his love interest were shot, so I guess I’ll sign these papers if I can keep the condo.” – “Finally! If I just had known that random shootings would solve our relationship-problems, I would have gunned down our most greasy-looking co-worker months ago!”
The villain was never described that way before! Did Scooby and the gang unmask him while we weren’t looking?