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Dad moves behind her and wraps his arms around her shoulders, pulling her against his chest. The sight of my tough-as-nails Mom leaning on him for support breaks my heart. Usually she can brush things off. She’s always so laid back, but the fear on her face is an echo of my own.

God, I can only imagine how much she’s been worrying since she found out. I rush to her, throwing my arms around both my parents. “I’m sorry. God, I’m so, so sorry. I should have told you sooner.”

They squeeze me back, Mom’s voice is muffled against my shoulder. “I was so scared when Dolores told me. I only just got you back.”

Ouch. That pain is all on me. “I’m okay,” I whisper. “We’re all okay. I’m not going anywhere.” I don’t know what else to say to comfort her.

She pulls back to look at me, tears tracking down her cheeks. “You better not even think about leaving.”

I reach up and wipe the tear away with my thumb. “I won’t.”

She searches my face, seeking the truth, and then nods with a shaky breath. She squares her shoulders. “Well then. Do y’all have any iced tea? Because we’re gonna sit down, and you’re gonna tell me everything.” There’s no arguing with her, and I wouldn’t even if I wanted to.

I laugh despite everything. “Yeah, we have some tea.”

Mom grips my forearms, studying my face like she’s checking for damage. “Good girl. Let’s sit and talk.”

We head to the kitchen table. Brax grabs glasses from the cabinet while Jax retrieves the pitcher of tea from the fridge. Knox pulls out chairs for my parents and settles into the seat beside me.

“Start talking,” Mom commands once everyone’s seated.

We tell them about Theo showing up out of nowhere, about him trying to strong-arm me by retaining the only lawyer in town. How he picked a fight at dinner and made threats. The guys being questioned about murders they didn’t commit.

“And the theory about loan sharks?” Dad asks when I explain about Theo’s sketchy behavior and the threatening texts.

“They’re still investigating, as far as we know.” Jax’s voice is rough. “We haven’t heard anything since Callie gave them that information.”

Mom and Dad absorb all of this with the steady calm that comes from years of dealing with my chaos. I’ve been in trouble a lot, but never this deep. When we finish, they sit in silence for a moment.

“How can we help?” Mom asks finally.

I shrug, feeling helpless. “There’s not really anything to do except wait for the police to figure things out.”

Neither of my parents looks happy about that answer, but Dad changes the subject before anyone can dwell on it.

“Boys.” His voice drops into that tone every father perfects. “I need to know what your intentions are with my daughter.”

I nearly choke on my tea. “Dad! You already had this conversation.”

“Nope.” He holds up a hand. “That was different, but I can see you all are getting serious and this is important.” He levels each of the guys with a stare that’s meant to intimidate. “Callie’s my baby girl.”

My face burns with embarrassment, but I watch the guys’ reactions carefully. Knox sits up straighter, his expression serious. Jax leans forward with his hands clasped on the table. Brax nods once, like he was expecting this conversation to come up again.

“I don’t know how I feel about the three of you dating her at one time, but I do know that it’s been you four against the world for as long as I can remember.”

“Sir,” Knox starts, “we love your daughter. All of us. And we’re not going anywhere.”

“We’d never hurt her,” Brax adds. “She means everything to us.”

Jax’s gaze locks with mine across the table. “We’re in this for the long haul, Mr. Harrison. All of us, together.”

The sincerity in their voices makes my throat tight. I love them for taking my dad seriously instead of brushing him off or making jokes.

Dad studies each of them for a long moment then nods slowly. “Good. Because if you break her heart or one of you leaves her, I know where you live and I already have bullets loaded in my gun.”

Mom drains the last of her tea and sets the glass down with a decisive clink. She beams at all of us as if Dad didn’t threaten to shoot everyone to defend my honor. “Well then. Good thing I brought you some clothes from the house.”

The tension breaks, and I laugh, shaking my head. “Thanks, Mom.”