Page 14 of The Last Promise You Made

It took her several seconds before she gave a slow nod.

When she removed her hand from mine and took a tentative step toward Amy, I felt a strange loss I couldn’t explain. Loss that was followed by worry as I watched the older woman lead Addy down the hall to an open door revealing a fridge and a microwave. I reminded myself that she was safe here. No one knew who she was, and yet the same nervousness I’d tried to shake on the drive pounded through my veins even stronger.

Maddox waved me toward his office, and I followed him in. When he went to shut the door, I asked him to leave it open. “Just in case she needs me.”

He nodded.

“It’s Gia, right? You stayed at the ranch last year. Got under my brother’s skin a bit.” His eyes twinkled as if the idea brought him a lot of joy.

“I did.”

“Thought you were an agricultural journalist or something like that. Amy said you had a fed badge.”

“NSA, Special Collection Service. I’ve been undercover for a while.”

“And you were looking for something at our ranch?” He crossed his arms over his chest, immediately defensive, causing the tension in the room to grow.

“Yes.”

“What the hell?”

“You’d just had a good tangle with the Lovatos, and I’m part of a multi-agency task force slated with bringing them down.”

He rubbed his stubbled chin and made his way to his desk, lowering himself into the seat behind it. I did the same to the hard plastic one in front.

“The man running the West Gears made the mistake of trying to hook up with them. Since he died, the bikers have returned to their normal stupidity. Irritating stuff but nothing serious,” he acknowledged.

I didn’t agree or disagree, and that annoyed him.

“What brings you back with a little girl in tow?”

I told him the basics. How I’d been chasing another lead and found a woman dead in a hotel room in Colorado. Then, I told him how the little girl had been hiding and had likely witnessed the whole thing.

“Okay?” he prompted with confusion written on his face.

“The little girl had a letter that basically said if anything happened to her mom, we were to take her to her dad.”

“And he lives here? Is he a member of the West Gears?”

“No,” I responded, hesitating for a beat. “He’s your brother.”

Shock trailed over Maddox’s face for a second, and then he started laughing.

“Oh hell. I almost believed you for a moment. Who put you up to this? Ryder? Sadie? Jesus.”

I pulled a copy of the letter from my pocket. The original was with forensics in Denver, but I’d photographed it and made several copies. I pushed one over the desk at him.

“I wish I was kidding.”

His smile disappeared, and he picked the letter up as if it was a hairy-legged tarantula. As he read it, his expression turned dark.

“If there’d been any other name on that letter, I still would have insisted you were kidding. But Ravyn? Fuck.” He shook his head. “Ryder would never use her as a joke. None of us would. We don’t even speak her name. She nearly destroyed him when she took off two days before they were going to be married, with a chunk of the ranch’s cash in her pocket. She left nothing behind but a letter that said she’d lost his baby. Fuck…fuck, fuck, fuck.”

He banged the desk, emphasizing the words, and the sound echoed through me.

No wonder Ryder Hatley didn’t trust women all that much. No wonder he’d looked at me like I was the devil when he’d caught me snooping. No wonder he’d kissed me and all but tossed me aside, afraid to get close to someone he knew was lying and looked like she’d been stealing.

I hadn’t stolen, but I had lied.

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