Page 45 of Daddy's Heart

“Ryder.” George fell in step with him.

“Hey, George. You think I can take Samantha home, or do you need her to keep playing secretary?” Ryder grinned.

“I know, I need to hire someone. I will. Soon.”

Ryder laughed. “You’ve been saying that forever.”

“Look, I wanted to talk to you about Sam.” George stepped in front of him when they entered the hallway leading to the offices, muting the noise of the dungeon and lounge.

Ryder’s back tensed. “Okay.” He raised his chin. “She spoke with you, good.” Ryder nodded. “I would have told you myself, but she insisted it come from her, and I let her—”

“What are you talking about?” George asked with raised brows.

“Samantha,” Ryder said, raising his gaze to the closed office door. “She told you…about…us.”

“She said there was nothing to worry about.” George frowned.

Ryder’s jaw clenched. She hadn’t told him.

“Don’t go getting angry.” George laughed. “She didn’t tell me the specifics, but I saw enough in her expression when she talked about you. The two of you are involved.”

“What exactly did she say?” Ryder asked, sensing the bedtime story he planned was going to have a very different ending.

“You two are involved, right? I’m not wrong?”

“No, George. You’re not wrong, but did she tell you that, or did you guess?”

George sighed. “That girl. Grown woman and she still thinks white lies will keep her out of trouble.”

“So, she didn’t tell you.”

“Not exactly. Sort of beat around the bush, but I got the idea.” George crossed his arms over his chest. “But if she wasn’t completely honest about that, I’m almost afraid to ask—”

“Ask what?” Ryder shuffled around until his back was to the door.

“Did she tell you about Randall?” George tilted his head, looking up at him like he was preparing for a storm to erupt right there in his hall.

“Who’s Randall?”

George’s arms fell to his side, and a fierce frown pulled on his lips.

“That woman,” he growled.

“What did she not tell me?”

“Randall is her ex-boyfriend. Very ex-boyfriend. There’s some drama going on back home with him, and her brother’s worried Randall’s going to come up here.” George’s nostrils flared when he blew out a breath. “She can tell you the rest. It’s her story, but she promised me she’d tell you now that he got paroled.”

“Paroled?” Ryder’s eyes went wide. What the living hell had she been involved in?

“I’ll let her tell it.” George shook his head.

“Where’s her brother in all this? Why isn’t he up here?” Ryder asked. She’d been getting messages and calls from him daily, so why wasn’t he up here helping her if her ex-boyfriend was causing a problem?

“He’s going through a mess of his own. His wife left him, it’s a shit show, and to be honest, Sam doesn’t know everything going on with him right now.”

“Great. Family secrets keep getting deeper?”

George shook his head. “Nothing like that. She knows Jerri walked out on Paul, but she doesn’t know the trouble his wife’s been causing him since Sam came up to Chicago.”

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