Grace’s house collapsed, Finn missing in landslide
The storm came without warning, a dark omen looming over the hills outside Malibu. The once serene sky transformed into a tempest, unleashing torrential rain that battered the cliffs with an unforgiving force. Perched precariously on the edge of that rocky slope was a villa, a private retreat owned by the hospital for its staff. It was never built to withstand nature’s wrath, and as the storm raged, the ground beneath it began to tremble.
Inside the villa, chaos unfolded. Grace Buckingham, a doctor with a tarnished reputation, found herself cornered. Finn, a young and idealistic physician, had come to confront her, expecting a confession. But the truth that spilled from Grace’s lips was a dagger, sharp and unforgiving. She admitted to manipulating hospital records, to tampering with surgery reports, all to protect her own name. Her voice trembled with guilt, but there was no redemption in her words.
“You risked Liam’s life,” Finn said, his voice cracking with betrayal. “You used your medical license like a weapon.” Grace’s panic was palpable. “I didn’t mean for it to go that far,” she pleaded, but Finn stepped back, disgusted. “You’re a doctor. Meaning doesn’t matter when people die.”
Their argument escalated, filled with accusations and justifications. Finn threatened to expose her, to report everything she had done, no matter the consequences. In a moment of desperation, Grace snapped, warning him that she still had leverage, secrets buried deep that could ruin him, his family, maybe even Steffy, Finn’s wife.
As the storm outside intensified, neither of them noticed the cracking wall behind them. A deafening sound split the air, and the mountainside gave way. The villa collapsed, swallowed by mud and rock in mere seconds. First responders scrambled as debris rained down onto the road below. Sirens blared, helicopters combed the area, and fire crews with search dogs dug through the wreckage. By dawn, only one survivor had been found: Grace, bruised and bloodied, pulled from the edge of a broken staircase, screaming Finn’s name. But there was no sign of him.
Steffy was home with the kids when she received the call. The words from the police were a blur—landslide, structural collapse, possible casualties. Her heart stopped when she heard Finn’s name. He had gone to meet Grace and never returned. In a daze, she dropped the phone, moving like a ghost through the house, whispering his name over and over again.
Ridge, Steffy’s father, met her at the scene, along with Thomas and Liam. None of them had answers; all they could do was wait while rescue crews continued their search. Hours turned into a full day, and still, there was no sign of Finn. The press caught wind of the story, and CBS issued a statement acknowledging the accident. Rumors spread like wildfire online, fueled by a cryptic farewell from actor Tanner Novelin on social media—a sunset photo with a caption that hinted at an ending.
At the hospital, Steffy clung to hope, refusing to believe Finn was gone. She screamed at the police chief, demanding more resources for the search. Ridge tried to hold her together, but she crumbled in his arms. The search was called off on the third day, and the declaration was made quietly: Finn was presumed dead. No funeral was planned, just a memorial held on the cliff near the collapsed villa. Steffy stood in silence, holding Hayes in her arms, surrounded by family, even Brooke, who had come to support her.
Grace was under police surveillance, having confessed to medical fraud and obstruction of justice, but her role in Finn’s disappearance remained a gray area. Some believed she had tried to warn him before the collapse, while others whispered darker theories—that she had dragged him down with her, trying to silence him permanently. Steffy wanted answers, but mostly, she wanted Finn back.
Then came the twist. A week after the search ended, a signal pinged from a survival beacon registered to hospital staff. It was faint but enough to reopen the case. Steffy rushed to the scene with Ridge and a private rescue team, hiking for hours down unstable trails. When they finally arrived, they saw a makeshift lean-to and smoke from a small fire. A figure slumped against a boulder—it was Finn, alive but broken, dehydrated, and barely clinging to life.
Steffy collapsed in his arms, sobbing. The world thought he was gone, and the show nearly wrote him off. But Tanner Novelin was back, and Finn’s story wasn’t over. However, the joy was short-lived. After weeks of searching, the truth settled in like concrete: John Finn Finnegan was gone. The survival beacon had malfunctioned, a corrupted ping from a damaged device buried under rubble. The lean-to was a misinterpreted debris pile, and the fire was from a nearby camper, unrelated to Finn.
Every glimmer of hope dissolved, and this time it wasn’t a twist or a soap illusion; it was real. The Forrester family broke under the weight of the loss. Steffy, in particular, unraveled. She had clung to hope longer than anyone, convinced that if Finn could survive a gunshot and a coma, he could survive this. But he didn’t. When the final confirmation came—a burned and warped fragment of his medical ID badge—something inside her shut down. She didn’t scream or cry; she just stopped speaking for three days.
The house fell into silence. Hayes kept asking for his daddy, but Steffy couldn’t answer. Kelly tried to comfort her mother, but she was too young to understand the gravity of the situation. Thomas stayed by her side, refusing to leave her alone, while Ridge stood helpless, watching his daughter crumble under a loss he couldn’t fix. Even Brooke offered to help, swallowing old rivalries just to be there.
Liam Spencer, who had stirred the pot before the collapse, was haunted by guilt. He watched the pain he had helped create take root and spread. He couldn’t sleep or function, knowing deep down that this was his fault. He had pressed Finn to confront Grace, wanting justice for Luna, but he never considered the timing or the risk. Now, Finn was dead.
At the memorial, Steffy stood frozen beside a framed photo of Finn, eyes red and hollow. Hayes clutched her hand, confused, while Liam stood in the back, fists clenched, eyes full of torment. He wanted to apologize, but how do you say sorry for breaking a family? After the service, he approached her, but she cut him off, her voice cold and filled with pain. “You always think you know best,” she said. “And now he’s gone.”
That night, Liam sat alone in his apartment, a bottle of bourbon untouched beside him. He replayed the events in his mind, the urgency in Finn’s voice, the text about meeting Grace. He wrote a letter, a confession not for the police but for Steffy. It was raw and honest, admitting that he had pushed Finn too hard, that his ego had clouded his judgment. But he couldn’t bring himself to send it.
The viewers were shaken, online forums flooded with theories about Finn’s fate. But the show remained silent, no interviews or leaks. In that silence, Steffy stood at the edge of the beach one morning, barefoot, holding Finn’s wedding band. With a heavy heart, she tossed it into the waves and walked away, leaving behind the echoes of silence that would forever haunt her.
