Page 58 of The Last Promise You Made

“Good for her,” I told her, not daring to look at Ryder and break the trance.

“He had knife. Mama fell.” Tears filled her eyes, and then they were rolling down her cheeks, and she was crying, quiet little sobs, her body shaking. Ryder held on to her. He held on and kissed the top of her head and whispered soothing sounds and words. Promises of keeping her safe that I desperately hoped we both could keep.

After several seconds, she looked at me again. “I hid. He kicked her. He left…” She sobbed again. “I tried to help.”

Ryder squeezed her tight to his chest. “You did real good, sweetheart. Gia’s right. You’re brave. So very, very brave.”

They sat that way, cuddled together, for a long time with him soothing her, and I wished I could do the same. With her. With him. Because the tortured look in his eyes was almost as heartbreaking as hers. I wanted to wipe the agony away from both of them.

But the only thing I could truly do was find the man who’d done this.

I gritted my teeth and turned back to the computer, determined to get the image out to as many agencies as possible. He’d show up somewhere. Better yet, Rory would figure out who he was, and we’d have every single detail of his life spread out before us.

Chapter Eighteen

Ryder

OPPOSITES ATTRACT

Performed by Jake Bush

As I pulled into the ranch, my emotions were still ping-ponging all over the place. If the kiss with Gia hadn’t already shaken me to my core, holding Addy and feeling her little sobs as she’d explained what had happened in the hotel room with Ravyn had shattered what was left of my calm. I felt shaky and unstable. Things I hated. I wanted control and peace. Not the chaos and disorder Gia had thrust into my life just by showing up.

And yet, at the same time, I wouldn’t go back and undo it if I could.

Regardless of whether Addy was really mine or not, she was here. She was in my life, and I didn’t want that to change. All I wanted was to make her life better. I wanted to make sure she never again lived through anything even close to what she’d experienced hiding under a goddamn bed while her mother was killed.

It made me want to throw up.

I looked over to where Addy sat in the booster on the far side of the bench seat in my truck. We’d left Gia at my house, working to find the murderer. She hadn’t wanted to let Addy out of her sight, but we both knew the little girl needed a distraction, an escape from the nightmare she’d walked us through with halted words.

I helped Addy out of the truck, and she reached inside to grab her backpack and put it on again before turning and tucking her hand into mine. Every time she did it, I felt an overwhelming sense of rightness but also an overwhelming sense of responsibility. I couldn’t fuck this up, and yet I wasn’t sure what the hell I was doing. It continued that ping-ponging in my chest until I thought my rib cage might burst open.

We made our way over to the barn. It hadn’t snowed, but the temperature was in the thirties. The leftover puddles had a thin layer of ice, easily broken. The fields beyond the barn were covered with the shimmer of frozen dew. Gray and white clouds blew through the sky, the sun barely getting a chance to warm the earth before it was covered again.

The barn doors were already partially opened, and as we got closer, Mila’s and Sadie’s voices wafted out to us over the frigid air, accompanied by a soft neigh.

Addy’s feet slowed, and I came to a stop, looking down at her.

“It’s Mila and Sadie. You met them both last night.”

Her face went blank again, tucking her emotions away. It shouldn’t be possible for someone so little to be able to do that, and yet she was exceptional at it.

Another gust of wind hit us, and Addy shivered next to me.

“It’s warmer in the barn. You can meet the kittens and the horses. Have you ever ridden one?” She shook her head. “Well, we can fix that easily enough.”

I pushed open the door some more, the scrape of it echoing through the rafters. The smell of hay and horses hit me. Familiar and soothing. We’d installed solar panels and storage batteries to warm the barn enough that it kept the cold to a minimum. It helped entice the guests into the barn in the early part of the season when we might still have snowy weather, and the animals seemed to appreciate it too.

Sadie’s and Mila’s voices drifted down from the loft, and my horse, an all-black mustang, stomped loudly to get my attention. I walked over to her stall, sliding a hand down her neck, and she pushed her nose into me. “Morning, girl. I know you’re getting antsy. I hope to take you for a ride soon. But in the meantime, I have someone I’d like you to meet.” I gently pulled Addy’s hand up to place it on the mare’s nose. “Addy, this is Arwen. Arwen, this is Addy.”

Addy stilled, and then she let her fingers relax under mine, petting Arwen before withdrawing. “My name,” Addy said, and when I didn’t seem to understand, she continued, “Adelaide Arwen. My name.”

Her words shoved me right back in time to arguing with Ravyn about The Lord of the Rings and its epic qualities. Half the horses on the ranch were named after characters and animals in the trilogy. Ravyn had thought it was silly to name the horses after the books. She’d thought the series was boring and overrated. The only thing we’d agreed upon was Liv Tyler’s portrayal of Arwen. When I’d teasingly said we could name our daughter after her, she’d given me a flat-lipped, single-syllable answer—a resounding no.

And yet she’d gone and done it anyway.

I cleared my throat. “Well, then, it was fated for you two ladies to meet and get along.”

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