Page 118 of Promised to the Cowboy

“Evangeline!”

I stop walking.

The paramedics continue toward the ambulance with Gabriel. His fingers slip from mine. Panic hits instantly.

“Evie,” Ethan says. “Go with him.”

Alexander takes one step forward.

An agent blocks him.

“You cannot keep me from my daughter!” he shouts, his words carrying across the field.

I turn fully toward him. For years, some part of me has still been sixteen, standing in a hotel lobby waiting for him to become the father I needed.

That girl is gone. She has Gabriel waiting in an ambulance. A daughter beneath her heart. A home beyond the ridge.

“My name is Evie Gale.”

His expression does not change, but I see the blow land.

“You are making an emotional decision.”

“No.” I look at the handcuffs an agent is fastening around his wrists. “I made the decision ten years ago. You just never accepted it.”

“I was protecting you.”

“You had me abducted.”

“I removed you from a dangerous situation.”

“You created the dangerous situation.”

His jaw tightens.

Behind me, the ambulance doors open. I hear one of the paramedics call for more oxygen. Every part of me turns toward the sound.

Alexander sees it.

“You think he can give you permanence?” he demands. “A man whose heart may fail before your child knows him?”

Jacob moves before anyone else.

Daniel catches his arm. “Dad.”

“Let go of me.”

“No.”

Jacob’s eyes are fixed on Alexander with a hatred so deep it frightens me.

Alexander watches him calmly. “That is the reality none of you wishes to discuss.”

I walk toward my father. Not close enough for him to reach me, but close enough that he has to look directly at me. “Gabriel’s heart stopped because of what you did.”

“I did not order that man to use a weapon.”

“You put every person on this field in motion.”