diff --git a/lib/kill.js b/lib/kill.js
index c23d6a5ad5..dc1c77c384 100644
--- a/lib/kill.js
+++ b/lib/kill.js
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ const setupTimeout = (spawned, {timeout, killSignal = 'SIGTERM'}, spawnedPromise
 // `cleanup` option handling
 const setExitHandler = (spawned, {cleanup, detached}, timedPromise) => {
 	if (!cleanup || detached) {
-		return;
+		return timedPromise;
 	}
 
 	const removeExitHandler = onExit(() => {
diff --git a/test/fixtures/sub-process-exit b/test/fixtures/sub-process-exit
index 2b350a2b66..ea05f0e2d4 100755
--- a/test/fixtures/sub-process-exit
+++ b/test/fixtures/sub-process-exit
@@ -4,4 +4,14 @@ const execa = require('../..');
 
 const cleanup = process.argv[2] === 'true';
 const detached = process.argv[3] === 'true';
-execa('node', ['./test/fixtures/noop'], {cleanup, detached});
+
+const runChild = async () => {
+	try {
+		await execa('node', ['./test/fixtures/noop'], {cleanup, detached});
+	} catch (error) {
+		console.error(error);
+		process.exit(1);
+	}
+};
+
+runChild();