We'd been waiting at the airport for hours. Normally, all the sitting and walking around when I felt like I needed to stretch my legs would have annoyed me, but I was too anxious for that. I tried my best not to pace around, but I couldn’t help tapping my foot. Seamus sat right next to me and had been keeping up with me since we made it to the airport.

I hadn't talked to him much, he preferred just staying quiet. Eventually, I was going to start asking the questions I had for him, but they could wait. He probably felt as I did, scared that Ronan might not show up, he might be caught by Quinn's men. Maybe whatever they did to draw them out might mean they went back to report to him after a while.

He'd been gone for way too long. I had known I would need to be patient, but time was running out if he wanted to leave with us. The flight was in less than half an hour, and passengers would be called to board soon.

I tried watching some TV, though I'd been staring at it for a while. My attention kept being pulled into my thoughts, into other worries, in several different directions so that I felt I would lose my mind. There wasn’t anything on it that could even remotely hold my interest.

That was until I saw the newsflash about Quinn being killed. I tapped Seamus's knee even though he was probably seeing and hearing it with me.

It was strange like the whole airport suddenly went still and the news report ended up sounding louder. Everyone must have stopped to watch the news because Quinn was well known in the state, just not in the best ways.

When his death was confirmed, people in the airport actually cheered. Even the police were releasing a statement. No actual details were being released, but he was found at his home after an anonymous phone call that reported screams heard. There was no mention of anyone else being in the house, so wherever Ronan was, he must have gotten out.

At the end, they made a comment about the place being safer now that Quinn was dead.

It was over.

But I couldn’t take it in, not when Ronan wasn’t there yet. Where the hell was he?

"The job is done so he'll be here. Don’t worry, Teagan, he wouldn’t not make it. And if he isn’t here in, we'll wait for a different flight."

I looked up at him, eyes wide in surprise. I had thought he would insist we go ahead and Ronan would get another flight. Or just insist that I go, so that he could wait with Ronan's documents, so he wouldn’t need to procure more.

"But won't that be troublesome for you? Technically, people are still out looking for you. We've been here for hours. And you already canceled a flight before, didn’t you?"

"We did. But I'm not leaving the country without the both of you. And don’t worry about people coming after me. Now that Quinn is gone, the issue with the police will be handled, soon. We won't leave without Ronan."

"That's good, because you don’t have to."

The voice startled me, but in the next second, I whipped around and threw myself at him. He stumbled back in surprise, but he regained his balance, and his arms wrapped tightly around me. My throat felt tight, but I was too out of it to cry. I was just so glad to have him there alive, and in time to leave while the police dealt with the fall out of Quinn's death. I still shook in his arms, and he made shushing noises, rubbing my back, petting my hair.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here."

I buried my face in his shoulder, whispered, "I was so worried."

He gave me a tight squeeze and then held me by the shoulders to push me back. "I trained two years for this. There was nothing for you to be worried about."

I'd worried anyway. He could have been good and made a mistake that cost him everything. Or something he hadn't planned for happening. It had kept me too nervous to eat since he'd told me the plan. The only reason I had agreed to go along with it was because he wouldn’t give it up, not until he had revenge for his family.

Instead of telling him all that, I brought my hands up and cupped his cheeks in my palms. What I wanted to say got caught in my throat, my eyes blurring with tears that wanted to fall and my lower lip trembled. But I mouthed the words for him. He watched my lips intently, and then beamed down at me, looking so much different in the time since I'd known him.

Like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Like he was truly happy for the first time. He mouthed the words back at me, and I gave him a tremulous smile.

An announcement was called that broke us up. They were finally calling for our plane to board. Ronan and Seamus each grabbed some luggage, and Ronan took my hand and tugged me toward the right terminal so we could finally get on board the plane.