Page 76 of In the Shadows
"If you do this," Caleb said, "there's no coming back. Shadow Ops can't protect you. I can't protect you. You'll be on your own."
"Not on my own."
Caleb crossed his arms. Uncrossed them. His shoulders pulled back slightly—resignation, maybe. Or acceptance.
"You really have changed."
"People do."
"Not people like us. Not usually." Caleb picked up his laptop. "I'm at the hotel tonight. Room with a view of the park. I want to see this town before everything changes."
"Caleb." Ronan stopped him at the porch steps. "Thank you. For everything. Six years of watching my back. I don't take that for granted."
"Don't thank me yet. Tomorrow's going to be chaos." Caleb paused. "But for what it's worth—I hope it works out. The town. The girl. The life you're trying to build." His mouth curved, just slightly. "Someone should get the happy ending."
He walked down the steps and disappeared around the side of the cottage.
Ronan stood alone on the porch, watching the sun sink toward the water.
He found Lila at her house.
She was sitting on the back porch, a glass of wine untouched beside her, staring at the yard where her father used to garden. The light was golden, the air thick with humidity, and the smell of jasmine from the neighbor's fence.
She looked up when he came through the gate.
"I saw a car," she said. "At your cottage.”
“Caleb.”
Ronan sat down beside her. "He wanted to be here for the end."
"Is that what this is? The end?"
"The end of one thing. The beginning of something else." He took her hand. "There's something I need to tell you."
She went still. "What?"
"The arrest list. The people the FBI is picking up tomorrow." He watched her face, saw the tension gather behind her eyes. "The medical examiner is in on it. The one who signed your father's death certificate."
She didn't move. Didn't speak.
"They're investigating his death as a homicide," Ronan said. "They believe he was murdered."
The sound that came out of her was small. A breath. A whimper. Something breaking.
"I knew," she whispered. "I always knew. But I thought—I thought I was just?—"
"You weren't crazy. You weren't paranoid. You were right." He pulled her against him, felt her shake. "You were right about everything."
She cried then. Not the controlled tears from the car, but real sobs—the kind that came from somewhere deep, somewhere she'd kept locked for five years.
Ronan held her and let her grieve.
For her father. For the years of doubt. For the truth she'd carried alone, that was finally being seen.
When the sobs quieted, she pulled back and wiped her face.
"I'm sorry," she said.
