Finn shifted, his gaze dropping to stare at the ground beneath his boots.‘It was Drew who got me the pardon,’ he murmured.‘Said I’d earned a second chance to build something good.He’d remembered me as that sixteen-year-old, wanting to join the police just to be on the Stock Squad.So I built this squad.For him.For Bree.For what we all lost.But also for everyone in this region, and all those involved within the industry.’
With her heart full, and eyes stinging, Taryn tried not to let the weight of it pull her under.
She suddenly understood why he fought so hard.Why he couldn’t stop.And why he owed Drew everything.
Lost in their thoughts for a while, she finally found her voice to say what she didn’t want to say at all, ‘I’m leaving in three days.’
‘I know.’
‘And I’m not asking you to say anything you don’t mean.We both know what this is.’
Finn looked at her like he wanted to argue.
But didn’t.
‘You don’t do goodbyes, right?’she asked.
‘Not well.No.’
‘Then let’s not say it, because I’m used to leaving.’That’s what happens when you’re a military brat.You’ve already got one foot out the door, never getting close to anyone.
He didn’t move for a moment.Just stared into the fire like he was weighing up the pros and cons.‘So… we’ve got three days?’
Taryn lifted a brow.‘Are you calculating the hours now?’
‘Not yet.But I figure we can use them.’
‘How?Spend my time on surveillance and smuggler spreadsheets?’
‘Worked last time.’He slid his arm over her shoulders, bringing her close to his side.‘And I think you should finish what you’ve started, with me… After all, Fed, you made the trek all the way out here for answers.’
‘Finn, no one can know about us.Because if they did, it’d be seen as a conflict of interest.Everyone and everything would be compromised.’
‘I know,’ he murmured with heaviness in his deep voice.
She stood slowly, brushing off her jeans.The firelight painted him in red and gold and shadow—this man who wore silence like armour, looked at her like she’d slipped through its cracks.
He rose with her.Close now.
So close.
‘Taryn.’
She turned into him like gravity wasn’t a choice.
‘But we’ll know, and I’ll never forget.’He kissed her slowly—and for once, it wasn’t about heat or hunger.It was the preparation for a goodbye without saying it, even if part of her wanted to believe this could hold.
She knew how time, distance, and reality could strip even the best moments bare.That the second she stepped back into her office, it would all fade like a half-remembered dream.Where Finn might become nothing more than a name she whispered in the dark when the city got too loud.And already knew she would never forget him.
Twenty-nine
One month later—Canberra
The smell of bacon was the first betrayal.
Taryn had barely gotten the pan sizzling before her stomach flipped like it was having a bar fight in a tin can—and then she was sprinting.
The bathroom tiles were freezing against her knees.Her hair stuck to her cheeks.And she hated every second of it, hugging that toilet bowl as the waves of nausea washed over her.
