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*

Four months. Four fucking months. And she couldn’t look at him.

Ronan had held on to hope. He really had.

But it seemed it had all been for nothing.

Yet he didn’t regret his decision.

She sat across from him.

Free.

Not behind bars.

Not six feet underground.

Alive. Breathing.

Furiously angry with him.

And if keeping her alive meant she’d hate him for the rest of his life, he’d pay that price. He’d anticipated as much when he’d set events in motion.

But fuck, accepting it as reality was hard.

It was clear she wanted to be anywhere but here.

She looked deceptively soft in a cream-colored roll-neck sweater and black jeans, her pale hair loose around her shoulders. But her mouth was set in a hard line, her eyes flashing with anger, reminding him there wasn’t a damn thing soft about Felicity Graham.

No one knew where Felicity had gone or what she’d done during her absence. He could’ve found her. He had friends, after all. But he resisted that temptation, having already violated too many of her rights.

She hadn’t replied to a single one of his messages.

Not one.

Still, he’d kept sending them.

Because he loved her.

But sitting opposite her now, watching her avoid his gaze, defeat stared him in the face. Had he broken something between them that could never be repaired?

Ronan knew she was back to stay. She’d accepted the chief deputy position.

He should take comfort from that.

He should see it as a positive sign.

For the first time in his life, Ronan found himself wishing Thanksgiving would hurry up and be over. The food might as well have been cardboard.

He spent the entire meal waiting for an opportunity to talk to her.

It finally arrived at the tail end of dinner when Felicity slipped out onto the back patio, a pack of cigarettes clutched in her hand.

Trying not to appear too eager, he carried a stack of dishes to the counter, set them down, and slipped out the side door, rounding the house to the backyard.

Voices drifted from the patio. He stopped, listened.

“You’ve been out of sorts all day,” Rae said quietly. “What’s going on?”