He handed the phone to Hacker.
Then he looked around the room, and every man there straightened.
“My daughter is upstairs hurt,” he said. “She is drugged, burned, bleeding, and scared because she thought she had to carry this alone. That ends tonight.”
Nobody breathed.
“If any kid from that party says her name, I want their family history. If any parent calls a lawyer, I want to know who pays that lawyer. If any video goes online, I want it found before it spreads. If any cop asks questions, they go through our attorney. Nobody talks without me. Nobody threatens those kids without my say.”
That surprised me.
Not the control.
The restraint.
Edge’s eyes moved to Tris, Jake, and Nyla.
“You three stay here.”
Jake stiffened. “We need to tell our families?—”
“You will,” Regan said, voice raw but steadier now. “But not yet. Not until we know who’s looking for you and what story they’re telling.”
Tris nodded immediately. “We’ll stay.”
Jake looked at her like she had lost her mind.
She glared back. “Destiny would stay for us.”
That shut him up.
Doc appeared at the top of the stairs then.
Every head turned.
Edge moved first. Regan was half a step behind him. Tarak came up from the side. I stayed where I was, but every nerve in me stretched toward that staircase.
Doc’s face was serious, but not grim.
That was the only reason I kept breathing.
“She’s banged up,” he said. “Head wound looks worse than it is, but I’m watching for concussion. Burn on her hand needs cleaning and wrapping. Ribs are bruised, maybe cracked. Shoulder’s strained. She’s got plenty of cuts, no major bleeding now. The bigger problem is whatever she took. Pupils are ugly, pulse is high, she’s dehydrated and coming in and out hard.”
“Hospital?” Edge asked.
Doc hesitated.
The whole room tensed.
“If she worsens, yes,” Doc said. “No argument. But for this minute, she’s stable enough for me to monitor her here. She needs quiet, fluids, and somebody she trusts when the panic hits.”
Regan was already moving up the stairs.
Edge followed.
Then stopped.
He looked back.
