Almost damned.
JD let that settle before he continued.
“That age is the legal tipping point. If this lands on her before her birthday, we have options. Bad options, expensive options, ugly options, but options. Juvenile court. Treatment. Community service. Restitution. Sealed records if we fight hard and get lucky.”
Edge did not move.
Regan gripped the railing.
JD’s voice hardened. “After next week, if someone pushes the adult angle, if a prosecutor wants to make a name, if Judge Carson decides her little princess’s Bronco is worth crucifying yours over, we’re talking adult charges. Hard time becomes a real conversation.”
Regan whispered, “No.”
Edge’s eyes went dead.
“Not happening.”
“I agree,” JD said. “Which is why you stop thinking like a man whose daughter got hurt and start thinking like every person with power in this town is already drawing a map to everything you own.”
Edge’s gaze sharpened.
JD pointed toward the walls around them. “Look, Edge, I hope every asset you care about is in trusts. The land. The clubhouse. The garage. The house. Everything. Because if this becomes a civil bloodbath, they will come after all of it. They’ll say the club enabled her. They’ll say the bike proves it. They’llsay the Royal Bastards created the danger, armed the danger, hid the danger, and then intimidated witnesses after the fact.”
“They can try,” Bullet growled from near the bar.
JD rounded on him. “They will. That’s the point.”
Bullet shut up.
JD turned back to Edge. “Country club Santa Fe has hated this place for years. Most of the town respects the Bastards because they know what you protect, what you handle, who you keep away from their daughters when the law doesn’t show up fast enough. But that other half? The gated estates, the board seats, the charity luncheons, the judges, the developers, the people who smile at you in restaurants and call you trash in private? They have been waiting for a clean shot.”
Regan came down the stairs slowly.
“This gives it to them,” she said.
JD nodded once. “Maybe. If we let it.”
Edge looked like every word was carving something out of him.
“My daughter was bullied for years.”
“Yes.”
“Drugged.”
“Looks that way.”
“Humiliated.”
“Yes.”
“And they filmed it.”
JD’s jaw tightened. “Yes.”
Edge’s voice dropped. “Then why am I the one who needs to be careful?”
“Because you’re the one with something to lose besides money.”
