“They might try,” JD said. “And if you act like you’re hiding the girl and burying evidence, they’ll know exactly what we’re doing.”
There was a beat.
Then River said, quieter, “Which is why we don’t do what they expect us to do.”
That got through the fog.
Not because I understood all of it.
Because River sounded like a man standing in front of a train and deciding to stare it down.
“Old-school cleanup makes us look guilty,” River continued. “So we don’t give them that picture. We sit here. We answer with lawyers. We let them think we’re too obvious to be subtle.”
JD hummed approval. “Good head fake.”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” River muttered.
“Stop being right so rarely.”
Another drift.
Another fragment.
“…San Diego isn’t supposed to be here,” Callum said. “Most of my men are already back at the Airbnb. As far as anyone asks, we came in for a meet, saw fire in the distance, and kept our distance because we’re not idiots.”
Nate said, “Speak for yourself.”
“Dylan and Nate remain available,” JD said. “Not here. Not visible. They go with Regan and Destiny to Cal’s first, then Cabo.”
My heart moved before my brain did.
Dylan.
I tried to open my eyes, but they were too heavy.
Edge’s voice cut through the room.
“I don’t like the fact that you’re gluing yourself to my daughter’s side, son.”
He did not say son like affection.
He said it like a warning shot.
Dylan answered, calm as night. “Just trying to be useful.”
“She trusts me,” Dylan said.
The room went quiet.
I felt my own breath catch, even from wherever I was floating.
Because it was true.
I did.
I didn’t know what to do with that.
Edge apparently didn’t either.
