he trunk of a Lamborghini Huracán was not what one would call spacious. “You’re sure you’ll be all right?” I asked Sadie-Grace.

She folded herself into a freakishly small ball, arching her neck at an angle that did not look, in any way, possible. “You know how I told you I was really good at tying bows and telling stories?”

I nodded.

“I am awesome at riding in trunks.”

As the minutes ticked down, I tried to get a rough count of the number of ways this could go wrong and the number of laws we’d already broken.

“Sadie-Grace in place?” Campbell came to stand beside me. Tonight’s ball was drawing close enough now that no one would question our presence at the venue—which, luckily for us, was Northern Ridge.

The only thing someone might question was why we weren’t sequestered inside, putting on our dresses.

“If she gets hurt…” I said.

“As long as you’ve done your job right, she won’t.” Not bothering to spare another word for me, Campbell withdrew her cell phone from her pocket.

Showtime.

“Daddy?” Campbell let her voice wobble. “I just talked to Walker. He’s so angry. I think he’s been drinking. He kept raving about going to the press.”

I could practically imagine the senator cursing on the other end of the line—but no. He was in the men’s grill. One wouldn’t want to cause a scene.

“I did what you told me to,” Campbell continued. “I said that he was mistaken about what happened that night. I told him that he was the one who…” She trailed off.

Just a silly little girl, easily cowed.

“I think Walker is going to do something stupid. Something big. He said he’s going back to where it all started.” Campbell managed an impressive sniffle, even as a wicked grin spread over her face. “The site of the crash.”

The senator came for his car, as planned. Campbell and I were in the ladies’ sitting room, as planned.

Lily arrived with my dress, and the three of us stripped. I was fairly certain no Debutantes had ever gotten gowned and gloved up so quickly.

We made certain we were seen on our way back through the club. Greer asked us if we’d seen Sadie-Grace. Once we’d told her we hadn’t, Campbell snagged a bottle of champagne. We ducked out of the building, giggling. If anyone came looking for us, the oh-so-discreet staff would mention, oh-so-discreetly, that we were simply off somewhere celebrating in advance of the ball.

Better to be seen breaking minor laws than suspected of something worse.