Page 98 of The Last Promise You Made

“Thank you,” he said softly, “for making sure they didn’t take her.”

I shook my head, and my ears rang, and my vision blurred.

“They would have gotten her, Ryder. If you hadn’t shown up…” I was humiliated by my inability to defend myself. To defend Addy. Maybe it was time to stop pretending I was some female James Bond and sit down behind the computer with Rory. “My team—”

“Please stop talking, darlin’. Please let McK check you out first. Your phone was ringing, so I answered it. Even if I hadn’t shown up, Rory had already called for backup. She said something about my cameras being offline and that she wouldn’t apologize for not waiting the full two minutes when she’d seen that.”

I was glad she hadn’t. Glad she’d listened to the instincts that had me hiring her in the first place.

“I gave her what information I could,” Ryder continued. “She knows you and Addy are here and relatively safe. She knows you’ve been injured and that McKenna is coming to check you out.”

“I’m so sorry…” A sob escaped. “I’ve been so stupid.”

Instead of being angry, instead of storming away from me as I felt he should, Ryder did the opposite. He pulled me to him, holding tight, and whispered soothing words into my hair. The sweetness of it undid me further, and I let tears of fury and frustration and mortification fall. I let him hold me up in a way I hadn’t let anyone do in so long I’d almost forgotten what it felt like to be soothed.

Chapter Thirty

Ryder

I DON’T REMEMBER ME (BEFORE YOU)

Performed by Brothers Osborne

I’d driven home from the bar, thinking of all the ways to tell Gia how I felt about her when I still wasn’t even sure how to express them to myself. I didn’t know what or how we could make what was stirring between us stick, but Sadie was right. I needed to let Gia know I was interested in letting these feelings grow, interested in trying to explore them. If I didn’t, I’d regret it for the rest of my life.

When I’d seen the gigantic man dragging Gia through the kitchen, it had taken me two seconds too long to realize what was happening. My alarm system hadn’t alerted me to anyone outside my door. None of Maddox’s men had issued an alert. And yet, a man with a gun was coming down the hallway from the bedrooms, and another held Gia against his chest.

I’d already leaped from my truck as the sirens filled the air behind me. Backup was on the way, but the worst could happen in the minutes it took for them to get here. So I’d raced toward the door with my pulse pounding viciously, dimming the sounds around me.

What I was going to do when I got inside, when I faced a man who looked like he could body slam me with a pinky and another man with a gun, I hadn’t known, but I’d do anything I could to prevent them from taking Gia and Addy.

As I’d burst into the entryway, the giant wearing a ski mask and I had shared a steely glare. He’d looked behind me to where the sounds of the sirens were getting closer. Then, he’d tossed Gia at me as if she was nothing more than a toy. I’d barely had time to catch her before she would have hit the floor. The relief that had coursed through me at having her in my arms had been short and bittersweet as terror for Addy burned another hole in me.

It wasn’t until I’d come back up from the game room to see Addy and Gia wrapped together that I thought my heart actually started to beat again. And even then, it had been a pained stutter full of anger and frustration directed at the situation and at the cartel. Maybe it should have been directed at Gia and the task force for allowing the men to get this close, but it wasn’t.

The person who’d led the cartel to my door was Ravyn.

In my bedroom, as I held Gia in my arms and let her cry, I could almost feel the remorse beating through her. I knew because I’d come to know her pretty damn well through the intensity of the last few days. She’d blame herself for not seeing this coming. She’d feel like a failure for not defending us against a giant and a man with a gun.

Maybe we all held a bit of responsibility for allowing them to come at us so easily. As thrown as I’d been by Addy’s mere existence, by the life she’d been leading on the run, and by the feelings that were pummeling me for Gia, I hadn’t considered the cartel threat with enough seriousness. Even after they’d broken in and stolen Addy’s backpack, it had still felt as if I was watching it all happen from a distance—as if it wasn’t real.

And I’d almost lost them because of it.

There was enough regret to go around.

No more. We’d figure out a way to keep everyone safe, and we’d do it together.

A knock was followed by my brother’s fiancée striding into the room with an old-school doctor’s bag in her hand. McK’s gaze bounced back and forth between me and Gia, who was still tucked up against my chest.

“Go see Maddox while I check Gia out,” McK said. When I made no effort to move, Gia pushed against me, pulling away and wiping at her face.

“I’m okay,” she said, but her voice was still scratchy and hoarse, and when I looked at her neck, there was a distinct purple mark surging to the surface.

I reached out and ran gentle fingers along the discoloration. “You’re not okay.”

She pulled my hand into hers and squeezed. Her eyes were a soft amber at the moment, spiked with colors of the fields in the spring.

Another knock, and Maddox’s head poked around the door. “Ryder, can I see you?”

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