Page 62 of In the Shadows
Ninety seconds later:
Running it now. You okay?
Fine. He’s not.
A pause.
Ronan. Don’t start a war before we’re ready to finish one.
He pocketed the phone and drove toward the town hall.
He was done being careful.
Lila's office door was closed when Ronan arrived.
He knocked twice. Heard her voice, tight and controlled, call out for him to enter.
She was standing at the window with her back to the door. Her shoulders were rigid. Her hands, clasped behind her, were trembling.
"What happened?"
She didn't turn around; her voice was barely above a whisper. "Warren called. Twenty minutes ago."
Ronan shook his head and motioned for her to follow him. As they stepped into the hallway, he held his finger to his lips and continued walking to the exit. After stepping outside, he turned to face her. Her face was pale. Her jaw clenched so tight he could see the muscle jumping. Her brows bunched together as she stared into his eyes. “Why?”
“In case your office is bugged.” He waited a beat for her to process that information, then asked. "What did he say?"
"He wants to have lunch tomorrow. Just the two of us." Her voice was flat, mechanical. "He said he has something important to discuss. Something about my future in this town."
"The council seat."
"That's what I thought. At first." She turned to face him, and the look in her eyes made his chest tighten. Not fear. Something worse. A kind of bleak recognition. "Then he mentioned my father."
Ronan went still. "What about your father?"
"He said he's been thinking about Daniel lately. About the work he did for this town. About how much he's missed." Her voice cracked. "He said he sees so much of my father in me. The same dedication. The same curiosity. The same willingness to dig into things that other people overlook."
The words hung in the air between them.
"He knows," Ronan said.
"He knows something." Lila's hands were shaking harder now. "Maybe not everything. But enough. Enough to make that phone call. Enough to bring up my father and watch how I react."
Ronan reached for her. Stopped himself. Anyone could walk by. But she looked like she was about to shatter, and he couldn't just stand there.
"Come here," he said quietly.
She crossed the distance between them in two steps and pressed her forehead against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held on. Felt her shake. Felt her breathe.
"I can't do this," she whispered. "I can't sit across from him and smile and pretend I don't know what he did. I can't."
"You can." He spoke into her hair. "You've been doing it for two years. Every time you saw him at a town meeting. Every time he waved at you on the street. You've been carrying this weight alone, and you've never let him see."
"That was before." She pulled back to look at him. Her eyes were wet. "Before I knew for certain. Before I had proof. Before I—" She stopped.
"Before you had something to lose."
She nodded.
