Sky frowned.
“Probably.”
“Smoke detectors?”
“I don’t know.”
“Background check?”
“He’ll pass.”
“You don’t know that.”
“He’s not bad.”
“Bad isn’t a legal category.”
Sky looked away.
Martha softened.
“Listen to me.”
Sky looked back.
“The fastest way to lose this is to treat love as proof that everything else is irrelevant.”
Silence.
“The court will care that you have a bond.”
“It will also care where you sleep.”
“School.”
“Medical care.”
“Supervision.”
“Transportation.”
“Gregory’s age and health.”
“Whether the club environment is appropriate.”
“Whether Lucy can support him.”
“Whether there is a better relative.”
“Whether the group home allegations are substantiated.”
“Whether you ran because you were in danger or because you hated rules.”
Sky bristled.
“I didn’t leave because I hated rules.”
“Then we document why.”
Martha took one sip of coffee.
“And we do not lie.”
That afternoon, child-protection intake sent caseworker Dana Ruiz.
Dana was thirty-nine, exhausted, professional, and instantly disliked by Gregory because she carried a government badge.
Martha pulled Gregory aside.
“If you glare at her like that, I will personally throw you out.”
“She’s here to take Sky.”
“She’s here because a fourteen-year-old under state supervision disappeared for twelve days.”
Gregory’s jaw tightened.
“That doesn’t make her the enemy.”
Gregory looked through the window.
Sky sat beside Lucy.
“Fine.”
Dana interviewed Sky privately.
That was nonnegotiable.
Sky did not like it.
She agreed.
She told Dana about Briar County House.
The sketchbook.
Mark Deller.
Michael Ventry.
Leaving.
The bus stations.
The garage.
Dana asked whether anyone at Iron Jaws touched her inappropriately.
No.
Gave her alcohol?
No.
Drugs?
No.
Weapons?
No.
Asked her to lie?
No.
Did anyone know she was a runaway the first night?
Not until morning.
Did they call authorities?
After speaking with a lawyer.
Dana wrote everything.
Then inspected Lucy’s house.
Spare room.
Working locks.
Smoke detectors.
No unsecured firearms.
Adequate food.
Clean bathroom.
School transportation possible.
Lucy passed an expedited background check.
Gregory’s house was inspected two days later.
Small two-bedroom bungalow on four acres behind his sister’s old property.
Clean but cluttered.
One motorcycle engine in the dining room.
Martha stared at it.
Gregory said:
“It’s temporary.”
“For how long?”
“Six years.”
“Move it.”
Gregory muttered.
It moved.
He owned firearms legally.
All were secured in a locked safe bolted inside a utility room.
Martha documented it.
Gregory’s background check showed two arrests from his twenties.
One disorderly conduct.
One bar fight.
No felony convictions.
Nothing in thirty-one years beyond traffic citations.
Dana asked:
“What changed?”
Gregory answered:
“My knees.”
For the first time, she laughed.
Sky remained with Lucy under an emergency safety plan while the agency reviewed placement.
Not hidden.
Not kidnapped.
Not simply “protected by bikers.”