Page 26 of The Last Promise You Made

The ease with which she seemed to lie raised all my red flags.

I could admit I didn’t trust any woman easily. I’d earned the mistrust after watching Maddox be burned by the woman he’d loved most and then personally feeling the brutal hand of Ravyn’s betrayal. Even still, I knew not every female was out to steal and cheat and leave, but I also wasn’t sure how to get over it enough to give my heart away again.

A heart I’d thought I could only give once and was no longer mine.

I thought back to the letter and Ravyn’s words about having always loved me.

Maybe she had. Maybe I’d had the misfortune of being her one true love, just as she’d had the misfortune of being mine.

That didn’t bring me any comfort.

The silence grew as Gia and I watched Addy slide another token into the machine, and in that silence, my doubts and alarm bells grew.

Every time lust flared hard and heavy between us, I had to remember the ease with which she’d acknowledged keeping secrets from her loved ones. Every time that heart of mine tried to wiggle in my chest and tell me I still owned it after all, I had to remember Gia Kent wasn’t the one to give it to. She wouldn’t care if she left a torn-up soul behind her any more than her brother had cared about the torn-up fields and fences he’d left strewn in his wake.

I stood, stepping away from her so our knees no longer touched. So I could clear my head and my soul of the darts she was sending my way, unintentionally or not.

“We need to get our stories straight, not only for my family but for anyone in Willow Creek who asks.”

“I’ve been thinking about what you said, and I’m not agreeing that Addy is too old to be mine.” She shot me a look that told me not to gloat about being right. “But your family has already met me and my brother. It would be a hard pill to swallow if I suddenly said I had a child. I’m thinking…maybe she’s my cousin. I’m watching her for a couple months because of a nasty divorce?”

I wasn’t going to lie to my family, but I passed over that for the moment, saying, “We can tell anyone in town who asks that her mama is in rehab.”

Gia’s head tilted. “Rehab. That’s a good one. And the dad is an ex-con. It would be a reason for them to stay alert in case someone from the Lovatos comes sniffing.”

That thought twisted my gut tighter. Maybe I should take Addy and Gia and skip town for a few weeks. But the list of things I needed to get done at the ranch was a mile long, and if I suddenly decided to take a vacation in the middle of the construction, all the tongues in Willow Creek would wag.

“I know you don’t like the idea, and I even understand your concerns, but I’m telling my family the truth. They’ll all take what I tell them to the grave if it means protecting her.”

Gia snorted. “Your niece finds out, and she’ll scream from the top of the hills that she has a cousin.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“My parents and siblings at least. I won’t lie to them. That’s only four people, seeing as Maddox already knows.”

Gia sighed. “That’s four on top of the six I told before arriving here, plus Maddox, you, and me. The only way to keep a secret is not to tell it.”

I stepped back toward her, lowering my voice so my words wouldn’t be heard by the little girl at the machine. “If you didn’t want anyone to know, you shouldn’t have brought her here. If she’s mine, like Ravyn claimed, I won’t keep that from my family. People in town can remain in the dark for now, but I won’t keep it a secret forever. I guess that means you need to do your job and figure out a way to keep her safe by shutting down the Lovatos once and for all.”

Her eyes narrowed, flashing like a thunderstorm, but she was calm when she said quietly, “Look, asswipe, I’ve just spent the last three years of my life hunting the Lovatos. I will end them, but this isn’t like your brother being able to drive up to the West Gears clubhouse and cuffing them for possession. We’ve got multiple agents in multiple agencies working nearly twenty-four seven on this case. I’ve come close to knocking them down several times. And she,” Gia said as she tipped her head toward Addy, “just may be the key to finally unlocking all the doors.”

Her calm words triggered something inside me. She was talking about a child—fuck, my child. “She isn’t just some random piece of evidence. She’s a human being.”

Gia stood, pushing herself into my space, slamming a finger into my chest, and every nerve ending in my body came alive. Her voice was a low, barely audible growl as she said, “Fuck you.”

Then, she forced her way around me and strode to Addy’s side.

She talked to her in Spanish, her voice a low hum with none of the anger she’d just shown me. She gave her a squeeze on the shoulder and then headed for the stairs.

My pulse raced. Was she leaving?

“Where are you going?” I demanded.

Addy was watching her just as intensely as I was. Gia turned at the base of the stairs. “I need to make a few calls. To do my job.” She stressed the last few syllables, tossing my words at me. “I’ll just be upstairs in my room.”

Her fancy blue boots clanged on the metal staircase as she disappeared.

When I looked back at Addy, she had an almost panicked look on her face. I took a step toward her, and instead of easing her alarm, it seemed to grow. My hands clenched tight. If this was Mila, I’d tease her out of her fear with comments about her stuffed unicorns and the bacon she adored, or by challenging her to a poker match with M&M’s at stake. This quiet, afraid child I didn’t know what to do with.

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