Ryker glanced toward the door, then back at me, something clicking into place behind his eyes. His brows furrowed.
“A new employee … she wouldn’t be a nurse, would she?”
I cocked my head. “How’d you know?”
He tested the words. “Her name wouldn’t happen to be Harper, would it?”
I blinked. “How do you know her name?”
Ryker’s head fell back. “Fuck me.”
“You know her?”
“I know her …” He wobbled his head. “Adjacently.”
“The hell does that mean?”
“Time’s up,” the guard repeated, louder this time.
“She’s Faith’s friend,” Ryker said quickly.
“Faith?”
“My girlfriend.”
“I know who Faith is,” I said tersely. “Blake’s sister. How does she know Harper?”
“Neighbors. And now best friends.”
I huffed a breath of disbelief.
Of all the prisons in all the world.
And why did that give me a jolt of something that felt dangerously close to hope? That she had some connection to our group? Like she couldn’t just up and disappear on me. Not fully.
“You’re telling me Faith’s best friend works at my prison, and you didn’t think to mention this?”
“I’ve been buried in a trial for weeks. And in my defense, I never imagined you’d be falling for her.”
He said that last part like I’d committed a cardinal sin.
Ryker stood, buttoning his suit jacket.
“Wait.” I reached into the pocket of my jumpsuit and pulled out a folded envelope. Slid it across the table.
Ryker looked down at it. His jaw tightened. “Knox.”
“Just add it to the pile.”
As my lawyer, Ryker was allowed to receive hand-delivered letters, thanks to attorney-client privilege. Ryker had been holding on to my letters for years now. A shoebox full ofenvelopes addressed to my daughter. It was safer to keep them at his place than in my cell.
“You sure you don’t want to mail it?” He picked up the envelope, turning it over in his hands.
“I’m not going to force myself into her life while I’m locked up.”
“Then why keep writing?”
I stared at the table. “Maybe a better father would let it go completely. Stop writing. Move on. But I’m a selfish bastard who wants her to know I never stopped thinking about her. Even if she doesn’t find out until I’m out of here and hand her that box of letters.”
