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Rubbing my hand over her back, I try to soothe her. She feels as breakable as spun glass beneath my hand. “But none of that happened. He’s safe.”
Loud voices interrupt us. A clatter of footfalls echoes in the hallway.
“That’s Ariel and her family. The guards wouldn’t have let anyone else in here without a shootout,” Declan says as he moves toward the door. “I called them as soon as I called Kieran.”
“Thank you, I was so distraught...” Carra hugs the box of tissues from the desk into her chest, pulling one after another out to wipe her eyes.
I give her a minute to compose herself, before I suggest we join everyone else. In the main room, there’s a massive reunion going on. Lots of tears by the adults. Chocolate is waving in the air, and everyone talking over each other.
Carra throws herself into the middle of it all. For a few seconds, I let myself feel the rightness of it. If only life were this simple.
This calm won’t last.
Declan moves to stand by my shoulder. Voice just loud enough for me to hear, he says, “I could have killed him.”
“When I saw that ambulance, I wished that was the case. Sounds like you came close.”
“Not close enough.”
A grumble stirs in the back of my throat as I look over at him. “Why did ye stop?”
“Because I got one punch. The kid was watching.”
Poor guy. He’s been thrust into the middle of a nightmare. “What did you tell Finn?”
“That the man wasn’t nice to his Aunt Ariel.”
“Smart thinking.”
“Tis true,” Declan says quietly. When I follow the line of his sight, it’s locked on Ariel across the room. There’s something there, something darkly possessive and protective behind the way he’s studying her every movement. When he catches me looking, he shifts to face the other side of the room.
He meets my gaze with a fiery expression. “I told you, I’m in.”
“You have time to talk tonight?”
He glances at the group which is now all eating popsicles as they surround Finn on the couch, “You’re getting married tomorrow, aren’t you busy?”
I’m bitter when I say, “The wedding will have to be delayed if Coghlan’s not able to attend.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SEVEN
The kids are so happy to see Finn, he’s center stage. They ask lots of questions, and he shyly tells them about catching the bus.
“A man told me which bus to take, he helped me get on and off at the right stop,” he says with an expression that lets me know exactly what he’s going to look like as a young man.
I’m so proud of him and so terrified, that I can hardly let myself breathe a full breath. Anything could have happened.
But it didn’t.He made it here. And now we can protect him and Ariel’s family together.
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Kieran making a quick motion with his hand to Marcus. They leave, walking toward the offices at the back of the building.
When they come back a few minutes later, they are both stone-faced.
There’s an air of finality around them.
I rise from the couch and go to meet Kieran. “Is everything okay?”
“The five of us adults need to talk.”
