Page 31 of The Last Promise You Made

I pulled it out, and a flicker of triumph bled through me.

It was a sign. It was as if thinking of the cat had brought it to life.

My ancestors were speaking to me. They wanted me to succeed.

I used my knife to slice the stuffed animal open from head to tail, pulling out stuffing, searching every nook for what she’d hidden. I grew both frustrated and intrigued when I found nothing. Why would she have the stupid toy if it wasn’t to hide the key?

When I emptied the remaining items and found a kid’s T-shirt at the bottom, the realization hit me, followed by surprise. This was the reason she’d been so determined to stay anywhere but here. Not because of the nightmares she said surrounded her whenever she came home, but because of a child.

She should have known better than to hide it from me.

I always discovered the truth.

It was what I’d been made for.

I was the sword.

I was the fire.

I was retribution.

For the first time all day, a slow smile found its way over my lips.

Chapter Ten

Gia

HIGH ROAD

Performed by Kelly Clarkson

I paced the length of the mint room, ignoring the simplistic beauty of it while I listened to the update from Rory. She’d had no hits yet from the facial recognition software on the modified picture of Ravyn. It didn’t seem possible. There should have been something by now, and yet we were no closer to unwinding her identity than we’d been when we’d known her as Anna Smith. Even putting in the name Ravyn Clark had yielded little. She’d appeared out of nowhere ten years ago and disappeared not even three years later. She was as much of an enigma as Anna.

“She had to have hired someone to make her IDs,” I said.

“Or she made them herself. She was a tech genius. Hell, the bank in the Caymans didn’t even know the Lovatos had the account she’d assembled there.”

“Still, she’d need the right equipment, and that can be expensive. No. She hired someone to print them even if she created the backstop herself.”

“I’ll see what I can dig up from our list of known forgers. Has Addy said anything else?” Rory asked.

“I haven’t wanted to ask her about what happened again. Not after she shut down on me. She’s been through so much in the last twenty-four hours.”

“How’d Ryder take the news?”

“Like he’d been shot in the chest.” We were both silent for a moment. “Check in with the Denver PD for me. See if they have any new information.”

“While waiting for a facial recognition hit, I examined the camera footage from stores and streetlights near the motel. I might have identified the vehicle the suspect was driving,” Rory said.

I inhaled sharply, a chill washing over me. “Really?”

“I shouldn’t have said anything yet, as I’m not a hundred-percent sure, but I’m tracking it down.”

A prick of hope surged. “I feel like we’re close. Closer than we were even in D.C. in November.”

Rory was quiet, and I wished I hadn’t brought it up. She’d come out of the situation alive, but we’d lost the best lead we’d ever had when the woman working with Anna and the Lovatos had been killed before we could interrogate her. For months, we’d followed that lead, watching as she’d run some of the cartel’s offshore accounts, funneling money to gangs, assassins, and more, all while pretending to work for Rory’s dad’s private security business.

“Chanel was good, but the more I unraveled her work from her iPad and the computer in Dad’s office, it was clear she was just using someone else’s code,” Rory explained. “She didn’t always get it right and left behind a trail I don’t think Anna would have. Which got me thinking… Have you ever heard of the Houdini box?”

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