Layla’s POV
The carnival came to town once a year. The Desert Rose Festival, they called it. Bright lights, food trucks, rides that spun you around until you couldn't walk straight. I'd gone every year as a kid, back when things were simple. Back before I knew what my father really was.
This year, I needed it.
Jax had been so tense lately. Always watching, always worrying. He barely let me out of his sight. When I mentioned the carnival, he shook his head before I even finished.
"No," he said flat. "Too many people. Too easy for someone to grab you."
"Jax, it's a carnival. Families go there. Kids."
"I don't care. You're not going."
I wanted to argue. To fight. But his face was set like stone. So I nodded and walked away. But the thought stuck with me. The lights. The music. The nor
