Page 89 of The Last Promise You Made

They’d come to the gala because she’d see it as a way into my lair. To snoop and sneak and try to undo me.

She believed she had the upper hand. That she was the hunter.

That excited me, stirred me, and made me hunger for more than just revenge.

I’d let her come. I’d let her stalk.

And then I’d show them all the true meaning of predator and prey.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Ryder

LOVE THE LONELY OUT OF YOU

Performed by Brothers Osborne

After giving me a glimpse of the true woman behind the mask, Gia had nearly run from the kitchen, and I’d let her, even though I’d yearned for her to stay. I wondered how many people even knew she’d tried to give her heart to someone. That she’d had it batted away with even more callousness than Ravyn had treated mine. Because after reading Ravyn’s letters, I at least knew that she hadn’t set out to con me as I’d thought for years.

What Gia had experienced had been colder—both Kieran’s actions and hers in return.

I didn’t hold it against her. I would have handed Ravyn over to the authorities without any compunction if I’d gotten my hands on her back then.

But now, the parallels and the differences between Gia’s life and mine had me stumbling around for footing.

So, instead of following Gia from the kitchen and showing her just how much a person could be loved, I stepped back. I concentrated on my daughter.

Maddox dropped Addy at home just before dinner, and she seemed quiet and subdued. A step back from the openness of this afternoon when we’d played in the snow. I did my best to tease her out of it as I cooked burgers and made a salad. Gia and Enrique ate with us and then went back to work, him on duty, Gia doing whatever it was she did, tucked away in the guest room, typing away on that computer of hers. Addy and I watched television before I tucked her into bed.

On entering her room, Addy honed in on the bedside table where she’d left her backpack. When she saw it was missing, I was surprised she didn’t ask about it, and even though it tugged at my heart, I followed her lead because I didn’t want to upset her, because I was just the coward Sadie had teased me of being days ago.

As Addy climbed into bed, I felt the need to distract her from the bag’s disappearance, so I asked if I could read one of her books to her. She hesitated and then nodded. I leaned up against the headboard next to her, reading without using the voices Maddox was so good at, but at least it was me, sitting next to my daughter and sharing this time together.

After I closed the book, full of dragons who were brave enough to save the universe, I knew I had to man up and tell her the backpack was gone. I met her gaze and told her it had been wrecked in the water break, which was the excuse my parents had given for why I’d left the ranch so suddenly.

“I’ll get you a new one. What color would you like?”

She stared for a moment, as if she knew I was lying. She looked sad in a way I hated, and a tear escaped her eyes that she brushed away. Finally, she just shrugged. What did it feel like to lose everything you knew and loved. Other than the damn Switch that was now evidence and a handful of clothes, Addy had nothing left from before. She’d been forced out of her cocoon into a new life.

“If you ever want to talk…” I spoke past that semi-permanent lump in my throat. “About your mom, or your old life, or just anything…you know you can, right? I may not always have answers or be able to soften the blow of your loss, but I can listen. I can be here for you.”

More tears rolled down her cheeks, and suddenly, she was crawling into my lap and clinging to me. I hugged her tight, ran a hand over her back, and tried to let the unexpected and overwhelming love I felt for her encompass both of us.

Eventually, she stopped crying, and when her breathing grew even again, I realized she’d fallen asleep. I sat there for a long time, lost in the feel of having her with me. My daughter was alive. She was here. I may have lost the first seven years of her life, but I had the entirety of our future to look forward to. I’d love on her. I’d make sure she knew she was wanted and adored and cherished.

When my neck started to kink, I was forced to move. I lifted her and tucked her in, drawing the covers up close to her chin. She never even opened her eyes, and knowing she’d felt safe enough to fall asleep on me filled me with more pride than I’d ever had before. More than turning the ranch around.

Addy was the most incredible little person I’d ever met. So damn brave.

I kissed her forehead and left the room with a heart brimming with mixed emotions.

The lights were off in most of the house, allowing me to easily see the glow coming from under Gia’s door, announcing she was still awake. I wanted to knock and ask how she was. I wanted to pick her up, carry her down the hall to my room, and give us both a reprieve we desperately needed.

Instead, I turned and went to my room alone, sliding into a bed where the taste of Gia’s lips followed me into my dreams.

? ? ?

For the next three days, our life slipped into a routine. We drove to the ranch in the mornings, with a team of officers unobtrusively following us. After the stress of the break-in and our suspicions about Addy’s family ties to the Lovatos, the only reason I could leave her doing schoolwork with Rianne at the farmhouse was because I knew we had people watching over them. And even then, I checked in on them more than was probably healthy.

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