Page 103 of The Last Promise You Made

It would be a good place for Addy to hide. I gave him a small nod, and he bent down to look into her face. “You think you might want to stay in this room? Maddox and I used to argue over the top bunk, but it’s all yours.”

Addy nodded but didn’t let go of his hand. He dropped her purple backpack by the beds and then walked out into the hall where he pointed out two more rooms. “Mom’s old room and Granny’s.”

A door downstairs creaked open, and I whirled around, gun in hand, heart pounding until I heard Maddox’s voice softly announcing his presence. We made our way downstairs to the kitchen where Maddox had placed two burner phones on the table and was opening the plastic around a third.

While Ryder tried to distract Addy by scavenging for food in Phil’s pantry and then heating canned soup on the stove, Maddox called his sheriff pal and arranged for protection, and Rory and I exchanged new burner phone information. I took out my old SIM card, dug around in the drawers until I came up with a hammer, and smashed the card apart.

“You have your phone?” I asked Ryder, hating the sound of my destroyed voice and the pain that was slowing me down when I needed to be at my best.

He shook his head. “No. I left it in my truck.”

He placed bowls on the Formica kitchen table and waved at me. I didn’t feel like eating. My throat was throbbing, and my entire body was achy from the hits I’d leveled as well as received, but I also needed the energy to get me through the next few hours. So, I did my best to swallow some of the broth as it was nearly impossible to get down anything more than the liquid.

As if reading my mind, Ryder grabbed a bag of frozen peas from Phil’s freezer and set it on my neck. It stung and numbed at the same time. He ducked out of the room before coming back with a bottle of ibuprofen.

“Phil was renowned for his hangovers. I figured he’d have some kind of pain meds.”

Addy was almost silent throughout the entirety of dinner. Her face had returned to the blank wall she’d just started to leave behind, and I hated that even more than my messed-up body. The full sentences we’d been getting from her were gone. She was back to single words, nods, and shrugs.

Six of Scully’s men showed up. As Maddox and I got up, intending to step outside to make a plan with them, Addy jumped out of her chair and ran at me full force, hugging my legs much like Mila did with her family.

“Don’t go!” Addy cried.

My eyes met Ryder’s over the top of her head. Pain. Regrets. Love.

I bent down and brushed a kiss along her forehead. “I’m not leaving, Addy. I promise I’m not leaving.” But my already torn throat clogged because eventually I would leave, and it would hurt worse than anything my body was feeling. But it wouldn’t be until they were safe. “Just going to talk to your uncle Maddox and those officers. I’ll be right back.”

“Mama said she wouldn’t leave.”

“Wh-what?” I stuttered out my question.

“She said she wouldn’t. But she did. She closed her eyes and left.”

Tears rushed over her lashes, and I bent to brush at them, swiping them away, unsure what to say or do. Ryder joined us, picking Addy up and holding her tight to his chest. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, sweetheart. So sorry. But I’m here. Gia’s here. You have all those men standing out there determined that nothing like what happened to your mama happens to you or us.”

He nodded his head toward the door, letting me know it was okay to step outside, and I did, but my heart was still in my throat as I listened to Maddox discuss the arrangement with the officers. Four around the house, one on a back street behind the house, and one parked out front. They’d rotate off with another set of officers in the morning if Maddox and Scully hadn’t found a safe house to move us to by then.

If Laredo suspected we knew about him, he’d either be running or he’d be hunting, and my money was on hunting. He’d taken a huge risk in trying to grab Addy from a house already being watched. He wouldn’t stop now. He’d keep coming.

What I needed to do was lead him away from Addy and Ryder. I just hadn’t figured out what that looked like yet. I needed to talk to Rory.

After Scully’s team was in place, Maddox headed out for his home and the rest of the Hatley family, and I went back inside to find Addy and Ryder playing cards by the light of his new burner phone. I wanted to join them, just like we’d been doing for the last few nights where I’d teamed up with Addy to make Ryder lose. She’d laughed and smiled and even wiggled her butt in victory a couple times.

Instead, I headed upstairs to check the bedrooms again and talk to Rory.

I made my way into the room Ryder had said was his grandmother’s. It had a large, hand-carved oak bed with fairies dancing along the footboard and headboard. The creatures were so lifelike that I almost expected them to burst into song. The bed was piled with light-blue linens that looked brand new—a modern, geometric pattern that seemed to clash with the fairies.

I dialed the new number Rory had given me earlier. It was an encrypted burner line she was piggybacking around the globe, but I suspected we’d still need to keep the calls as brief as possible. Whoever was giving Laredo information from the task force had the same skills and connections we did. They’d find us eventually.

“I’ll only turn the burner on when I need it, so you won’t be able to reach me the standard way. You remember the dark website I gave you for dropping coded messages in emergencies?” I asked.

“Yep. Already got it recoded for us.”

I inhaled a shaky breath and asked, “Have you heard from Enrique?”

“He contacted me a few minutes after you left Ryder’s. He exchanged a few rounds with the shooter but never caught up to him. Enrique said he found blood on the road, so he believes he winged the man.”

“If we have blood, we can run him.”

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