Page 119 of Promised to the Cowboy

His eyes flick toward Falcon—on his knees beside the utility truck—already separating himself from the consequences.Already deciding which employee, contractor, or subsidiary will absorb the blame.

He looks back at me. “I will answer any legitimate questions through counsel.”

“There it is.”

His eyes return to mine.

“The thing you’ve always given me instead of love.”

His brow shifts faintly. “What?”

“An answer that protects you.”

For once, he has nothing ready.

I don’t wait for him to find it. “You wanted to know whether Gabriel can give me permanence?”

I glance back at the ambulance. Jacob stands near the open doors, one hand braced against the frame. Daniel beside him. Ethan already inside with Gabriel, arguing with a paramedic about rhythm strips.

My family.

“He came for me,” I say. “Knowing his heart might fail, he came anyway.”

Alexander’s mouth hardens.

“He nearly died.”

“Yes.” The word hurts so much I almost cannot breathe. “But he has given me more love in a few weeks than you managed in my entire life.”

An agent takes Alexander by the arm. He resists—not physically, never enough to look undignified—but with the slight stiffening of a man unused to being directed.

“This is not over, Evangeline.”

I feel nothing when he saysEvangeline. Not anymore.

I close the distance between us in three steps. “For you, maybe. For me, it ended a long time ago.”

I punch my father in the face.

It isn’t elegant. My fist connects with his cheekbone, and the shock of it travels all the way up my arm to my shoulder. My hand explodes with pain—I’ve never hit anyone in my life, and bone is harder than I expected. I might have broken something. I don’t care.

Alexander’s head snaps sideways. For one unguarded second—the first I have ever seen—he simply stares at me. No script. No composure. Just a man who didn’t see that coming.

One of the agents grabs my arm.

“Leave her,” another says quietly.

Alexander straightens and touches his cheekbone with two fingers, then looks at them as though checking for blood.

Good.

I turn away and run toward the ambulance.

Jacob catches the door before the paramedic can close it. His hands are still shaking. “Go.”

I put one foot on the step, then look back at him. “You brought him back.”

Pain moves through his face. “We all did.”