Page 88 of The Last Promise You Made

The fact that he might have gone with her stunned me. That he would have given up his life on the ranch and the love of his family to be at her side was slightly appalling because I couldn’t imagine Ryder anywhere else.

My pulse skittered as the reality of his words rolled through me. I’d thought my family didn’t know how to stay. That we’d drifted like nomads. And we had, but my parents had done that drifting together. My mom could have thrown in the towel, refused to move any of the number of times we’d had to pull up stakes. Instead, she’d followed the person she loved every time. Because she loved my dad. Because she believed in the life they lived together.

My brother had walked away from the Secret Service to be with Leya, trailing her and her band around the globe. He’d chosen to stay…it just wasn’t in a physical location. He’d chosen to stay with her, wherever that was.

As I looked at Ryder, with his dark hair flopping over his brow and his blue gaze whispering of promises I might have in the future if I let us continue down this path, I suddenly understood Ravyn. I understood her with a clarity I would never have gained without the feelings I had for him curling through me. Seeing Ryder with his family and his daughter, seeing the pride with which he managed the ranch, and seeing the home he’d designed and built out of love, there was no way I’d want him to give any of it up. I certainly wouldn’t want him to give it up to chase after me as I followed my career, darting around in the darkness with me playing spy. He may not realize it, but taking him from this place would destroy him. The absence of his family, the absence of a purpose, would eat away at his insides until he was no longer the brilliant, generous man I saw before me.

It would be too great of a sacrifice. One not even love could overcome.

Ravyn had known it and ran.

Originally, I’d thought she was selfish, but maybe it had been her ultimate sacrifice.

As much as I was tempted by him, by the beauty of him, I couldn’t reach out and take it. Not because it would destroy me—that seemed almost worth risking—but because it would destroy him, and that I couldn’t allow.

I swallowed hard, pulled myself away from him, breaking the little thrall he’d surrounded me in. I stepped around the island, determined to put more than physical distance between us. Determined to pretend the intimacy of our conversation had never existed.

I forced my voice to be cold and calm as I said, “I need the guy’s name who’s running the DNA test.”

Then, I walked out of the kitchen before I lost my resolve, dragged him to me, and finished what he’d started.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Emiliano

COLD BLOODED LOVE

Performed by The Trishas

I traced my finger over the NL on the black backpack. Nostalgia I didn’t want and despised welled through me before I shoved it away. I flicked open my father’s knife and slashed through the letters. Slashed through the bag repeatedly until there was nothing left but long threads of black canvas and plastic zippers. I told myself I wasn’t angry. That I wasn’t reacting in the heat of the moment but because I wanted to see if she was hiding something.

When all that was left were pieces, and the only thing I’d found was a ring, I shoved the remnants aside. I twirled the jewelry between my fingers. Art Deco style from the 1930s with a box-cut diamond and sidesteps off to each side, creating an elongated geometric shape the period had favored. Nothing I would have expected Natalia to choose. Maybe she’d stolen it, planning to sell it for money. Except, I’d given her plenty of money, and she had access to even more.

I palmed the ring and turned slowly to face Julio.

“Ruiz missed something,” I growled.

“He said everything else in the little girl’s bedroom was new. No way it came from Natalia.”

“Then perhaps the child herself has the key in here,” I said tapping my forehead. “Bring her to me.”

Julio shifted his feet ever so slightly, the merest of movements, but I still caught it.

“Do you have a problem with that?” I demanded.

“She’s covered with family, the sheriff’s department, and the task force. Maybe we should wait until things cool off a little. You’ve gone this long without exposing yourself. This is too big of a risk. None of them are going to just let the child disappear.”

Anger roared through me. Impatience. The pieces of my father I couldn’t shake that were embedded in my DNA. The pieces I’d sworn I’d overcome. I’d sworn whenever I struck out, it would not be in anger like him. I’d always be in control. I’d strike with a purpose. For retribution and revenge. To take what was mine.

“You’re positive the woman is with the task force?”

“Yes. She was in the hotel room in Colorado. She was the one who found the girl.”

Gia Kent was beautiful, and Hatley had claimed her. I’d seen it in the way he’d reacted to my flirting. The way he’d entered her space to mark it, like a dog peeing on a tree. Coarse and unrefined.

It would give me great pleasure to take her from him as he’d taken Natalia from me.

I’d take her and the child.

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