Page 114 of The Last Promise You Made

She nodded, but then turned incredibly serious as she said, “But for the rest of today, I can’t let myself think about it, Ryder. I have to be the job today. Otherwise…” She shook her head, throat bobbing.

I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing her to me. I wished I could wave a wand and jump us a day or two into the future, when this was all over, and everyone was safe, and all we had to do was crawl back into bed and make love all over again.

“What do you need from me?”

“Can you go back to being an asshole? Say something that will really piss me off? That might help.”

I chuckled and then released her, but as I did, I slapped her on the ass. “Stop trying to seduce me, darlin’. We’ve got work to do and can’t afford to laze around in bed as if we’re royalty.”

A garbled choke of laughter and irritation broke from her.

“That’s a start.”

? ? ?

Maddox showed up with Gia’s bag that she’d requested from my house, along with breakfast burritos from Tilly’s café for us and the men outside. After we ate, I sent Addy upstairs to wash up, and we got my brother up to speed on Gia’s plan for the gala. As I’d suspected, he wasn’t pleased. “I can go in your place. I’m a Hatley. I’m part of the family and the ranch.”

“He doesn’t want you, Mads,” I told him. “And the truth is, I need someone I trust with Addy. She needs someone she knows with her today. You take her to the safe house.”

“Scully found a place over in—”

“Don’t tell us,” Gia cut him off. His eyes widened, and she just shook her head. “You know it’s better that way. If we don’t know, we can’t tell him.”

My gut rolled, the burrito I’d eaten trying to crawl back out as I thought of the ways the leader of a cartel might try to get a person to talk.

Addy came down the stairs with her purple backpack over her shoulder and her jaguar clutched in her hands. Her eyes were scared and sad, and I hated it. Hated that she was back to the frightened child I’d first seen in Maddox’s office.

I squatted down, hugging her to me, stroking her head. “Uncle Maddox is going to take you somewhere safe today. Gia and I need to go take care of things. I’m hoping that what we do today will make sure you’re safe forever. That the bad men won’t ever come for you again.”

She looked at me with fear growing in her eyes. “Bad men…hurt you? Hurt Gia?” Her gaze turned to Gia, who was standing by me.

Gia kneeled, wrapping her arms around us both. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure we’re all safe.”

I was overwhelmed by the feel of them tucked up against me—the family I’d thought I’d lost and that, somehow, Ravyn had brought back to me. It was shitty the way it had happened, but maybe this was what the universe had intended for me—for us—all along. Maybe Ravyn was supposed to come into my life, give me this beautiful child, and lead me to Gia. Maybe she’d had a purpose I hadn’t been able to see. I wasn’t the same doe-eyed twenty-something who’d fallen for Ravyn and thought I’d always have her. I’d learned how to appreciate what you were given, and I’d spend the rest of my life showing these two stunningly courageous women exactly just how much I loved them.

“You’re the bravest kid I’ve ever met,” I told Addy. “I just need you to be brave a little bit longer. Brave and smart, just like your mom.”

Her eyes widened at the mention of her mother, whom we’d mostly avoided.

“You liked Mama?” Addy asked.

“I loved her, but I won’t lie, she hurt me good by leaving and not telling me about you.” I shook my head to clear it of those last shreds of pain. They couldn’t hurt me anymore, not with Addy and Gia at my side. “But when I knew her, I was continually amazed by how smart she was. How beautiful. How courageous she was to start her life over from scratch. I see so much of her in you.”

“She didn’t like her old life,” Addy said, the full sentence twisting inside me. “It scared her. She was scared when people knew her real name.”

Gia and I shared a look, thinking of the encryption password and the name I was supposed to know.

“What name was that?” I asked quietly.

“Natalia. We always moved when anyone used it. They wanted her to go back to the ranch where bad things happened, but she promised I’d never have to go there,” her little voice cracked.

“You won’t have to, sweetheart. Not ever.”

“Did she have a name she liked best, Addy?” Gia probed gently.

“She said Papa and me were the only ones who knew her real name. That I should only tell my papa it.”

I swallowed, hope pounding inside my chest. I could feel it wafting off Gia as well.

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