Page 68 of The Last Promise You Made

Acid curled its way up my throat.

“You don’t know that’s the reason. Anna made it clear the Lovatos didn’t know about her daughter,” Gia shot back. “But you’re probably right that he wasn’t supposed to kill Anna. There were defensive wounds on her body, and she was key to the organization, so it’s unlikely they’d put out a hit on her.”

“I heard Rory’s idea about her leaking things to the authorities. If she did, they’d end her,” Enrique parried.

“Look,” Maddox said, tossing his hat onto his desk before dragging his hand through his hair. “He’s dead. Unless we can figure out where it actually happened and who slit his throat, there’s nothing we can do about it. Way I see it, if he’d known about Addy being in that room when he killed her mother, he would have taken her then. He didn’t. And with him gone, there’s even less chance they’ll come looking for her now. This is good news for us.”

“The little girl have anything with her?” the man asked, and for some reason, the nonchalant question made the skin on the back of my neck crawl.

“No,” Gia’s response was instantaneous. “I pulled her out of that room myself. She didn’t have anything but the clothes on her back.”

I thought of the backpack Addy wouldn’t leave, and I knew Gia was lying. Avoiding eye contact, I stared at my muddy boots. I had to fight every urge in my body to run out of the room, get Addy, and hide her away.

The silence in the room turned thick. “Thanks for delivering the news in person, Enrique, but you made a trip for nothing. You could have just told me on the phone.”

“Leland asked me to stick around and be your backup now that we know how easy it was for the information about the girl to get out. I’ll be here when they show up.”

My blood turned cold for multiple reasons—this man sticking to Gia and my family was the least of them. The fact that these assholes were going to come after Addy made me want to destroy something…someone. Worse, I didn’t trust this new dickwad they’d sent to protect her.

I swirled around and headed for the door.

Gia was on my heels. “We have no indication they’re coming here, Ryder.”

I looked down, anger burning through me. “I see you’re as good as your brother at keeping your protectees safe. Maybe you should start a club—Bumbling Agents Unite.”

“Ry,” Maddox warned, but I didn’t listen.

“This time, they’ll have to go through me to get to her, and I won’t let them. No one is taking her on my watch. No one!” My body was quivering with fury.

“Nobody knows she’s here. No one saw the letter but Leland, Rory, and me.”

“And now him.” I lifted my chin toward the DEA agent just as he said, “What letter?”

I didn’t wait to hear her response. I couldn’t. I had to get back to the little girl I’d left unprotected with my mother and Rianne. God. What if something happened again? What if another member of our family was shot? I slammed my way out of the office and the station, only to realize I didn’t have my fucking truck.

Gia stormed out right behind me with my brother on her heels. She rounded the driver’s side of the Escalade, jumping in and starting it up without a word.

Maddox grabbed my arm, holding me back before I could open the door. “Ryder. Look, I know Enrique. He helped me with the case with Chainsaw and the West Gears. He’s been working the Lovatos undercover for a long time. If he’s here to help, you can be sure he will.”

“If he’s been undercover for so long, why hasn’t he shut them down? What if he’s dirty?” I hissed quietly as the man himself appeared in the doorway of the station.

Maddox shook his head. “These kinds of cases take years, decades even. You don’t just drop down in the middle of a fucking cartel and say, ‘Hey, everyone, we’re here to shut you down.’”

“She saw her mother’s body being cut apart, Mads. She watched that fucker slice her up. She watched the blood pour from her and then tried to save her mother with her little hands.” My throat clogged, and I slammed my eyes shut to prevent the dampness from leaking out.

“Fuck…I know.” Maddox sighed, and when I opened my eyes, his brows were furrowed in concern. “All I’m saying is, we can’t fight off a cartel on our own. We have to trust this task force, these people who’ve been working the case for years, are here to help us.”

“Maybe that’s what you have to do because you’re wearing that shiny badge. I don’t have to trust anyone. And I’m not going to. She’s mine to protect.” My voice grew deep and rough. “And I damn well will.”

I brushed off his hand, climbed into the SUV, and slammed the door behind me.

Gia backed up, and the wheels squealed as she headed out of town toward the ranch and the little girl I would shield with every bone and breath in my body.

Chapter Twenty-one

Emiliano

JOHN WAYNE COWBOY

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