Page 115 of The Last Promise You Made

“Ravyn. She loved Ravyn,” I said.

Addy nodded, a tiny smile appearing. “She said she’d promised to be Ravyn Eowyn Hatley. She said that was who she really was.”

The name hit me hard in the chest for multiple reasons. My past, present, and future all colliding.

I looked over at Gia, and our eyes locked. Was this the name we needed to break the encryption?

“It’s a good name,” I finally was able to say.

It was a name she should be buried with. I’d make it happen. I’d find out what they’d done with her body in Denver, and I’d have her brought here. I’d have her placed in our family plot in the far corner of the ranch with the rest of the Hatleys, and in that way, Addy would forever have her mom close by.

I cleared my throat and broke away, with reluctance, from the little haven the three of us had made with our tangled arms and joined souls. “She belonged here, sweetheart, and so do you.”

Addy looked up at me with so much trust in her eyes I wasn’t sure I could hold on to it without disappointing her. Wasn’t sure I’d earned it. But I would do my damnedest to do so.

“Okay, Addy, we need to head out,” Maddox said, his own throat thick with emotions, and when I looked up at my brother, his jaw was working as he blinked back tears. I couldn’t even bother to harass him about it because I felt the same. I felt about to break. As he held out his hand for my daughter, and she moved from me, sliding her hand in his, my entire being clenched.

When she glanced back at me with worry in her eyes, I said the only thing I wanted her to remember if things went sideways. “I love you, Addy. Know that I love you.”

She pulled away from my brother, ran back, and flung herself at me. I caught her, hugging her tight, kissing the side of her head, feeling so many emotions that I couldn’t quite catch up to them.

“Love you too, Papa.”

Tears hit my cheeks. Goddamn tears, but I let them be. I’d earned them, hadn’t I?

We stayed that way for a long time, then I set her down, and she went back to my brother.

As I watched them walk down the steps, I promised I’d do whatever it took so we’d be together again. Even if that meant breaking the promise I’d given Mila days ago to never kill another living thing. If it came down to me and Jaime Laredo, I’d be the one who came out on top because I had everything to live for.

? ? ?

Scully’s men dropped us a town over at the mall, where Gia picked up a pair of low-heeled sandals to go with Great-Granny’s dress, I picked up my tuxedo, and we snagged a rental car. Then, we headed an hour north to Corbin, which was the town nearest Laredo’s ranch. As I drove, Gia went online and rented a hotel room under an alias, secured a camera to the tiara, and talked with Rory multiple times. Gia gave her the name Addy had told us Ravyn had claimed was her real one, and then the two of them discussed strategies for breaking the encryption on the data from the Switch as well as plans for getting behind the scenes at Laredo’s.

No one had seen Enrique since he’d left my house the day before, after having wounded the sniper. The dead man from my living room had been identified as Jose Ruiz, and he’d worked for Jaime Laredo for over a decade. It tied Laredo to the attempted kidnapping, but defense lawyers would poke a million holes in that loose connection, as the dead man couldn’t confirm that Jaime had sent him to get Addy.

As we drove into the parking lot of the mediocre hotel Gia had booked, Rory called back yet again with excitement dripping from her voice. “It worked! We broke the encryption!”

The tension that had held Gia’s back stiff and straight all morning seemed to ease ever so slightly. I longed to make that tension disappear completely. I could do so easily with my mouth and hands, but Gia had asked for the space to do her job today, and I respected that. Needed that. Needed us both to stay focused on the endgame.

“What did you find?” Gia asked.

“More than enough to get a warrant for every place and device he owns. It lists shipping dates for guns and drugs, people working for him, and even hits he ordered. It also has every financial scheme he ran and the money he took. Ravyn had it all.” Rory’s voice was almost ecstatic.

“Does Leland know?” Gia asked, and the tension ramped back up in her shoulders.

“No. I figure we need to let our false-information campaign play out first so we know who we can trust.”

“I hate that you’re right.”

“There’s something else.” Rory was all eagerness again. “She left the final code for the Houdini box. Except, it’s not just the final code.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think…” Rory took a huge breath. “I think it’s a Trojan horse. If we give him this code, it installs correctly at first so he’ll believe it’s actually working because, well…it does. But then she delivers another little packet, and boom, the whole thing gets wiped.”

“She can tell that all by looking at some lines of code?” I asked doubtfully.

Rory heard me and laughed, but I heard the bit of offense in her response. “Do not doubt me, cowboy. I’ve spent my life swimming in code. I know what these strings mean.”

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