Page 96 of The Last Promise You Made

Boots pounding on the tile had me jerking my head around to see two of Maddox’s deputies racing into the house with their guns drawn.

“One of them went that way!” I had to use the force of a scream to get the words out as I pointed to the broken window.

The officers followed the beast out the window, sprinting into the woods and relaying their position into their radios.

Ryder came back, face panicked. “There’s no one here. But I can’t find Addy!”

Desperation and heartache rang through every word.

I wobbled as I stood and forced air into my lungs so I could say, “She was in the kitchen when I told her to hide.”

With a mere glance at the empty kitchen, Ryder darted down the spiral staircase to the basement, calling her name, shouting for her to come out, that it was safe.

But it wasn’t. It wasn’t safe. We’d been so stupid, so ridiculous, thinking we could guard her here. That we could keep her safe in a house made of glass with a handful of officers taking patrol. God, I was such an idiot. The tears that filled my eyes were angry ones. Fury that was all self-directed. What had I been thinking?

I’d spent days getting to know them, as if I was on some reality TV dating show instead of doing my job.

My phone rang, vibrating in my pocket, but I couldn’t answer it yet, not until we found Addy.

I used the wall to hold myself up. The world spun, but I forced myself toward the kitchen on legs that trembled with every step. Where would she hide? Where?

I propped myself up on the walls and then the counters, flinging open cupboards.

Ryder’s voice calling for his daughter screamed heartache and sorrow. It slid inside my chest like a knife. I’d done this. I’d caused him this grief.

When I got to the pantry, I jerked it open and heard a rustle that brought a spike of relief so hard and so strong it brought the black spots back to my eyes.

“Addy,” I said gently, my voice barely audible. “It’s me. It’s okay.”

From a bottom shelf, a bulk-sized box of paper towels was pushed aside, and two terrified eyes found mine. Tears rushed over my lashes.

“Thank God! Thank God!” I whispered.

I held out my hand as Ryder’s feet pounded up the staircase, still calling her name. Addy slid tiny fingers into mine, and I’d just pulled her out of the pantry and into my arms as Ryder found us.

“Addy!” Tortured relief pounded through the syllables, stabbing me as much as it soothed.

He didn’t yank his child from my embrace. Instead, he wrapped us both in a hug, squeezing tight, holding us with firm bands of muscle and love. Emotions wafted over us that I didn’t know what to do with but felt myself respond to anyway.

“I got you. I got you both. You’re okay. You’re okay!” It was murmured as if he was still trying to believe it himself. We stayed that way for several seconds before he loosened his hold enough to look down, first into my face and then into Addy’s terrified one.

“Are you hurt? Let me see.”

When he stepped away to squat down in front of his daughter, running hands along her arms, I felt the loss of his touch in every part of me. Not just the physical loss of his warmth and strength but the loss of his affection that had lodged deep in my soul. How could he ever forgive me? I’d almost allowed them to take her.

The dark spots threatened again.

The adrenaline rush that had held me up while fighting deserted me.

My knees hit the ground. I tried to catch myself. I tried to stop, but as the blackness enveloped me and I crumbled, the only thing I registered was Ryder calling my name.

? ? ?

I came to, lying on a bed that smelled like Ryder—hay and spice and soap mixing together in a strangely enticing way. My eyelids felt heavy, but as I forced them open, I was greeted with a pair of vivid blue eyes, the deep color of the sky right before the sun completely disappeared. Except, instead of holding the peace and calm of dusk, the gaze he sent me was tormented.

Ryder’s large palm cupped my cheek. “You’re awake. Thank God.”

I tried to move, tried to sit up, and my entire being objected.

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