Page 99 of The Moment He Saw Her

“Which means what?” Ryder said as calmly as he could.Remember, you’re the even-tempered Duke.

“Real shame what Libby’s asshole father did to her,” Dan said.

“What did he do to her?” Ryder demanded.

“The Caldwells didn’t know I was listening in to their discussion along with Red, Dee, and most of the others who were close in the Rollaway. They were sitting up at the bar.”

“But what did you overhear?” Ryder said through his teeth.

“They were talking about how her father had cut off her finances, and I’m not entirely sure how a person can do that in this day and age, but the guy’s a millionaire?—”

“I think there’s abin front of thatillionaire,” JD interrupted.

“Whatever,” Dan said. “Red and Dee tore Phillip Caldwell a new one, and it seemed to me like the brother—and when was the last time we saw someone in a suit in Lyntacky?”

“Would you just stay on topic,” Ryder thundered.

“Settle, bud, just building the scene,” Dan said, deliberately needling him.

Ryder lunged at him, and soon they were rolling around the floor, grappling.

“Just leave them. They won’t hurt each other, and when they stop, Ryder will have gotten rid of some of his pent-up energy,” Brody said.

“This family,” JD said. “Never a dull moment.”

“Enough!” Sawyer bellowed.

Dan got up grinning from the wrestling match, and Ryder stayed on his back, looking up at the ceiling. It needed painting, but right then, all he wanted to do was… what? Lock his emotions away so he couldn’t feel the pain?Find Libby?

“Why would her father cut off her finances? She’s an accountant. Surely she had her own bank accounts?” Zoe asked.

“She told me about it. The father handles everything from what I gathered,” Ryder said, feeling like he’d aged at least two hundred years since he’d woken this morning. “I don’t even think she knew he could do that.”

“Red went for Phillip Caldwell, tearing him a new one about leaving his kid to fend for herself with no money when clearly she’s not used to surviving in the wild, so to speak,” Dan said.

“What an a-hole,” Sawyer muttered. “Caldwell, not Red,” he added.

“Libby is a good person, Ryder,” Zoe said.

“You, the person interrogating her at Mom’s that night for dinner, now think she’s good?” Ryder scoffed.

“I can change my mind now that I know her,” Zoe said calmly.

“Libby’s just a talented actress,” Ryder said because she’d certainly fooled him.

“She helped Dee with her books and then took on the Hylands,” Brody said.

“They paid her,” Ryder said.

“Come on, Ryder, you know what state those books would have been in. No way was that a job anyone would willingly take on if they weren’t a good person,” Brody added.

“She wore the amulet Meadow gave her every day because it made her happy,” Sawyer added.

“Did you know she spent an hour with Dr. Hannah’s niece, helping her with some application for something she was struggling with?” Brody asked.

He hadn’t known that because no one had told him… Libby hadn’t told him.

“Ryder, you have more shit going on inside your head than any of us. So don’t tell me that like Libby, you don’t have secrets,” Dan said.

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