Page 102 of Ireland

“We’re good, Dak,” she told him with a reassuring smile. “Thanks for checking.”

“See you later.” He headed down the street.

Ronan stood there unmoving, watchful and waiting. “You do know me, Ireland. I’ve never been more honest with anyone. It’s… instinctual with you. It has been from the first.”

“You killed a cop, Ronan,” she whispered, trembling even though it wasn’t cold. It felt damn near psychotic toknowsomething but tofeelsomething else.

His face changed, his features sharpening, his mouth compressing briefly. “I killed the man who murdered my mother. He was also Jules’ and Claudette’s father. Him being a cop had nothing to do with any of it aside from extending my sentence.”

Her lips parted, her breathing shallow.

“I don’t regret it,” he said hotly. “I’d do it again, and I’m only sorry I didn’t do it sooner. Maybe my mother would still be alive today.”

“Oh… My god…” She listed over to the bench outside the studio’s entrance and sat, eventually realizing that she’d been locked with tension all day, fighting herself and grieving what she’d lost. Not so much because Ronan had left, but because she’d thought she never truly knew him.

He sat beside her and stared down at the ground. “I was at Marcelle’s one afternoon. She was putting together a meal for our family. It was the one day of the week when my mother was home. I was fifteen at the time. Jules was six. Claudy was five. Irish twins, they call it, when two siblings are born within the same year.”

The picture of him at that age was fresh in her mind. The hollowed cheeks and eyes. The signs of gross neglect. She wouldn’t ever forget it. It was now an indelible part of him in her memories. “Please don’t say more. I had no right to dig for information you didn’t want me to know.”

“I don’t mind telling you,” he said gravely. “I would have eventually.”

“So, we’ll wait until then.” She reached over and laid her palm on Ronan’s knee. He immediately covered her hand with his, the warmth of his skin making her aware of how cold her fingers were.

The door opened, and three people walked out: two guys and a woman she knew. Ireland jerked her chin in greeting and managed a wan smile.

Taking her hand in both of his, he chafed it to warm her. He caught her gaze and held it, nodding toward the entrance. “Half a dozen cops were working out in there. You detailed my sins for all to hear, but not this one. You didn’t tell Alina about it, either, did you?”

Ireland looked away. She hadn’t allowed herself to examine why she’d kept his past to herself. “Your history is not for me to share.”

“Bullshit. You thought I’d destroyed your business and went home to a secret fiancée, but you kept this terrible thing you knew about me to yourself. You didn’t believe it could be what it sounds like, did you? And you were protecting me, still, as you’ve been doing the whole time.”

She opened her mouth to say something but didn’t know what. She closed it again.

His smile flashed briefly in the shadows, there and then gone. “Except for when I manage toreallypiss you off. Then you cost me millions and evict me into the street.”

Leaning into her, he pressed a kiss to her temple. “Let’s go somewhere. Anywhere.”

She didn’t answer right away. Then, with a long slow exhale, Ireland slouched into the bench. “We’ve got to end this, Ronan.”

He stiffened beside her. “Let me finish explaining.”

“That’s not why.” She squeezed his hand. “I appreciate that you’re willing to save Vidal. I can’t tell you how much, but I will.”

“It’s not necessary.”

“It is. And once I get my head on straight, I’ll write you a letter and thank you. But if you really, truly think about it, there’s no way to make this work long-term, and we’re wading in too deep for something that can’t last.”

“Ireland…” He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “Let’s just take it one day at a time.”

She shifted toward him. “You’re just going to come into the offices every day and work side by side with my father, the man you came here to destroy? Just like that?”

His throat worked on a swallow, but he was otherwise motionless. “No. He can’t be involved. In any way. I’ll take his office and figure out the rest with your help and maybe even Christopher’s.”

Straightening, she spoke with resolve. “Are you going to bring Marcelle up here?” she pressed. “And Marie Laveau? What about Jules and Claudette? You all shared a hotel suite. You work together. You’re very close, and I think I understand why now. Dotheywant to base themselves here? Or are you thinking you’ll commute a few days a week?”

“I don’t have it all figured out yet.” He raked a hand through his hair. “You could travel, too. You love New Orleans.”

“Who doesn’t? It’s unique in all the world.”Like you are. “But you're suggesting we split our lives between two places and two families. If I go down there with you, I’ll strain your relationship with your family. And let’s not get into howmyfamily will react. My brother is coming home tomorrow,” she warned gently. “Christopher will drag Gideon into this first thing.”

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