Third Person POV
They were halfway back to Crescent Flame when the SUV hit a long stretch of road flanked by trees and silence.
Jax and Heidi were up front again, keeping things quiet for once. Taryn and Caz sat just behind them, whispering to each other. Daphne and Gavin occupied the third row, curled close together but wrapped in their own thoughts.
Daphne leaned her head against the window. Her cheek still ached from where her father struck her.
“You’re quiet,” Gavin said softly.
She turned toward him, eyes wide and glassy but not broken. “I’m just… trying to process everything.”
He nodded. “Me too.”
They sat in silence a moment longer before Daphne whispered, “He hit me.”
Gavin’s jaw tensed. “I know. I saw.”
She looked at him, uncertain. “Were you scared? Back there?”
He didn
