Page 104 of The Last Promise You Made

“Might not be in the system. And even if he was, Natalia could have wiped him from existence like she did herself.”

“Has Leland asked for an update?” I asked.

“He knows about the attack at Hatley’s and that you’ve gone dark. I didn’t tell him what we found out about Anna being Natalia, but I also wasn’t hiding my work from the task force before now, so he might see it anyway. They all might.”

“I’m not sold that Leland is dirty,” I told her.

“I’m not either. I’ll dig around carefully on this end and see what I uncover. If I find anything, I’ll use the dark site to get you a message.”

“Can you do me a favor and dig into Enrique also?”

Rory was silent for a moment. “No way, G. His brother was slaughtered by the Lovatos.”

“Not all siblings love each other, Rory. Maybe we’ve got an evil-twin/good-twin thing going on here.” When she didn’t say anything, I pushed, my voice getting hoarser with each word. “Someone has purposefully kept us off Laredo’s trail. Whenever we came even slightly close, we were thrown off to other clues. It had to have been on purpose. And Enrique’s been embedded in the gang in Lexington.”

“I hate this.”

“Me too.” I swallowed hard. “We need those encrypted files from the Switch.”

“Now that I know her real name, I’ll add that into the programming mix and see if we can find a new combination. Have you asked Addy if her mother ever went by a different name?”

“I haven’t, but I can. The letter seemed directed at Ryder though.”

“I agree, but what we have now isn’t working.”

The dresser had an antique glass mirror that warped my reflection in the hazy phone light, and I had to do a double-take on the image. My hair was wild, my eyes deeply shadowed, and purple welts were starting to form on my neck. Who was this person staring back at me? I wasn’t even sure I knew her anymore. She seemed out of control when I prided myself on having it. She was wanting things I’d never wanted and making mistakes, letting people sneak in under her defenses. I wasn’t sure I could trust her.

My gaze fell to the dozens of picture frames scattered along the dresser’s surface. Old family photos. Some were taken at the bar and some in downtown Willow Creek when the road was still dirt. My eyes settled on a picture that seemed to be in a position of prominence in the center spot. It was of a couple in thirties-style evening wear with the Hollywood sign in the background, as if they’d just stepped off the red carpet.

My mind whirled. “The gala is tomorrow at Laredo’s.”

“You can’t be thinking of going.”

“He’s just going to keep hunting until he gets her. I need to stop him somehow. I need proof that he’s behind this.”

“After what went down today, he’s not going to just let you walk in, and if he does it could be a trap.”

“As far as Laredo knows, we haven’t figured out he’s involved. Right? His mole is protecting him. We hardly had time to question the guy today before he was killed. We don’t even know his name yet, so if Ryder hadn’t recognized him as being one of Laredo’s men, we wouldn’t have known.”

“Those are all huge assumptions, G. If he has figured it out, you’ll be in danger the moment you show up.”

We were quiet, our minds whirling with thoughts. “Let’s use the mole to our advantage. Drop some facts that make it look like we’re still clueless.”

“I don’t like this.”

I didn’t either, but if we didn’t make a move to stop this, Laredo would be the one to come hunting. I needed to do this. I needed to go, get Laredo’s attention, and have him whisk me away from the party into the private parts of the ranch. I’d find a way to distract him, have him go get me something, or if worse came to worse, I’d use my gun and tie him up while I investigated. “If he’s got the box she created, it ties him to all of this. And we can’t risk him finishing the code without her. Just think what he’d do if he completed it.”

“At the moment, it’s only you, me, and Enrique who know about Laredo and Natalia,” Rory said. “If Laredo finds out, we know Enrique is involved. I can craft two or three different scenarios, all with false leads that the Lovatos would want. I’ll give them to different people around here, including Leland. If Laredo ends up with any of those facts, we’ll be able to trace it back to the person who gave it to him.”

“That’s a great idea. I don’t know what I would have done without you. Thank you for coming on board.”

“I want these assholes as much as you do.” And she did. While the men who’d been responsible for pulling the trigger on her mom had been killed or taken into custody, our major leads had all ended up dead. Whoever was in charge had ensured the guy closest to the head of the snake had ended up shivved in prison. Rory wanted the Lovatos taken down almost as much as I did.

Before I’d shown up in Willow Creek with Addy, I’d wanted it because I loved my job and was proud of my accomplishments. I was proud of cleaning evil from our world. Now…now I wanted to take the Lovatos down with a desperation that bordered on frenzied because I needed to keep Ryder, his little girl, and the entire Hatley family safe.

If anything happened to any of them, it might just rip my soul from my chest, and I’d never get it back.

Chapter Thirty-two

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