Edge’s daughter.
Mandy’s shadow.
Almost eighteen.
Almost ruined.
Almost mine.
No.
I killed that thought before it finished forming.
JD was still laying out the Cabo cover when I heard myself speak.
“They can’t go alone.”
Every head turned toward me.
Not fast.
Not dramatic.
But enough that the weight of the room shifted and landed squarely on my shoulders.
I probably should have kept my mouth shut.
That seemed to be a theme tonight.
Edge was at the bottom of the stairs, one hand still gripping the railing like it was the only thing keeping him from turning around and going back to Destiny. Regan stood beside him, pale and furious, her eyes red but dry now. JD had a phone in one hand and the expression of a man building three legal strategies at once. Callum watched me from near the bar. Nate, traitor that he was, looked entertained.
JD’s eyes narrowed. “Say that again.”
“They can’t go alone,” I repeated. “Regan and Destiny. Cabo, Houston, wherever you’re sending them. They can’t move without eyes.”
Edge’s face hardened. “I’ll go.”
“No,” JD said immediately.
Edge turned on him.
JD didn’t flinch. “You can’t.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“And that’s exactly why you can’t,” JD said. “Every cop, parent, lawyer, private investigator, bored receptionist, and country club gossip in Santa Fe knows you would crawl through broken glass before letting Regan take Destiny out of state injured and alone. You go, the cover gets too obvious.”
Edge’s jaw flexed.
“You think anyone’s going to believe I let my wife and daughter go on a graduation trip without me?” he asked.
JD’s mouth tightened. “No. I think they’ll believe you planned to join later because club business kept you here. That gives us a window.”
Regan’s eyes flashed. “I’m not leaving him.”
Edge looked at her then, and whatever was in his face made the whole room feel like it had backed into something private.
“You are,” he said quietly.
