"That bastard warned us never to go near you or Ryker. He would kill us, said he. We could not see you up close. It killed us. We wished so much to be in your life. And Nicole, she wanted to take you, too, so much. You must understand that. Everett wouldn't let her. He was an evil man," Samuel explained, his voice low and full of years of pain and regret. He looked hunted, and the burden of all that he had carried within himself so long was written in the drooping of his shoulders and the ...