Page 101 of The Last Promise You Made

We followed. Once we made it into the room, even though we were on the opposite side of the house from where the sniper had taken aim, we still stayed low.

“I’m going to pull the Bronco as close to the front door as I can. Get Addy and our parents, and meet me there,” Maddox told me. He looked over at McKenna and kissed her hard on the mouth. “I love you.”

McKenna’s face was shell-shocked. Fear and worry scrolled over it. I’d brought this to us. I’d brought this to all of us by hiring Ravyn and then falling in love with her. Gia had been upset with herself for not protecting us, but I was the one who’d really led the devil to my family.

A devil I’d shaken hands with, drank with, and who’d helped me plan my future.

Fuck.

Maddox was gone before I could even think to apologize.

I turned to Gia, overcome with the same desire to kiss her and tell her that I loved her like my brother had just done with his fiancée. Goddamn awful time to figure out what I felt for her was love. Goddamn useless timing to figure anything out.

I stared at her for a moment, gaze dropping to her lips and then back to eyes that were flashing with as many emotions as surged through me. I let myself touch her briefly, a soft stroke of her cheek, before saying, “Get to the front door while I get Addy and my parents.”

She swallowed hard, and as I went to leave, she grabbed my hand. I looked back at her, and she didn’t say anything. She just gripped my hand tightly. I leaned in and kissed her forehead. “We’re all getting out of this. Then we can talk. Get McK to the front door.”

She shoved something cold into my hand, and I looked down to find one of the guns she’d grabbed from the table. It wasn’t hers. That one was black and smooth. This pistol had a black slide and a bronze-colored grip.

“Safety is off,” she said. Then, she turned to McKenna. “Stay low.” As I watched, she hovered over my brother’s fiancée while they both hunched down and headed toward the front door.

Walking out of the office meant facing the wall of windows in the direction the shooter had been. More gunfire burst through the quiet, but it sounded farther away this time. I had to hope Enrique had forced the man from his perch.

I ran hunched over, flinging myself into Addy’s room where Dad had both women huddled in the closet. “Was that gunfire?” he demanded.

I nodded. “Maddox is pulling the Bronco up to the door. We’re all going with him.”

My father eyed the gun in my hand. He shouldered the purple backpack I’d bought Addy, and my stomach flipped over. She’d been forced back into hiding and running, but I promised myself this would be the last time. She wouldn’t have to do this ever again. We would put an end to it even if I had to kill Jaime Laredo myself to make it happen.

Chapter Thirty-one

Gia

IF IT AIN’T YOU

Performed by Smithfield

Maddox’s Bronco fishtailed as he turned the corner after the covered bridge. Addy was in Ryder’s lap, and he pulled her tighter to his chest. Brandon swore, and Eva and McKenna looked white-faced and terrified, smooshed next to them in the back seat.

I was in the front passenger seat with my gun aimed out the window. My throat throbbed. The force I was required to use to talk was painful as I asked, “Where are we going?”

“Phil’s place is empty,” Brandon suggested from the back seat. “Go there until you can make a better plan.”

Ryder’s dad had kept his cool in a way I hadn’t quite expected. It was one thing to stay calm on the ranch when you were dealing with animals and nature, but to stay so calm when bullets were firing was something altogether different.

I hated that I’d brought this to them.

If I’d taken Addy somewhere else, to a safe house covered with a dozen agents, none of them would be in danger.

But then again, if Leland was involved, maybe Addy would have been taken days ago.

I bit my cheek as more tears threatened. I trusted Leland more than I trusted Enrique, didn’t I? It was Enrique who’d offered my boss up as being on Laredo’s side when we’d been at Ryder’s. Still, it was clear Jaime Laredo had been protected by someone with access to the task force. That someone was still unclear. But I wouldn’t rest until I uncovered them and saw them punished. Until I brought them all down.

“I’m not calling my guys,” Maddox said with a glance over at me. “Whoever has been watching and listening will know if I do. Once I get to a secure line, I’ll call over to Dale Scully and have him bring his men over. If we can keep Phil’s house dark, make it look like it’s still empty, it should buy us a few hours.”

I looked down at my phone. Was it being tracked? Did I trust the people on the other end?

I trusted Rory. One-hundred-percent. I’d seen what the Lovatos had done to her mother. I’d seen how she’d reacted to that, chasing them down with her gun blazing. Right now, my only way of staying in touch with her was my phone. I’d get a burner tomorrow.

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