Dating Walker wasn’t loud.

There were no flashy posts, no grand gestures. Just late-night drives with the windows cracked, his hand finding hers without thinking, the way he listened like what she said actually mattered. He didn’t treat her like something to win. And somehow, that meant more than everything she’d ever had.

Which was exactly why her father hated it.

He found out the way he found out about everything—through someone else. A name mentioned at a dinner table. A look held too long when Walker dropped her off one night and waited until she was inside before pulling away.

“Who is he?” her dad asked, voice calm in that dangerous way.

She already knew how this would go.

“A boy I’m dating,” she said, chin lifted. “His name’s Walker.”

Silence. Then a clipped laugh. “And what does Walker’s family do?”

She hesitated. Just a second. It was enough.

“I see,” her father said. “That won’t continue.”

The argument exploded from there.

He talked about futures and expectations and how love didn’t pay bills. About how she deserved someone who could give her the life she was used to. She talked about Walker—about how he didn’t care what she wore or who her friends were, how he saw her when she wasn’t performing.

“It’s not up for discussion,” her dad said finally. “You’re not seeing him again.”

Her chest burned. “You don’t get to decide that.”

“I absolutely do.”

She stormed out before she said something she couldn’t take back.

Walker knew something was wrong the second she showed up at his place.

She didn’t cry. That was the thing. She just stood there, jaw tight, eyes too bright, like she was holding herself together with sheer force.

“He hates you,” she said flatly.

Walker blinked. “Okay.”

“That’s it?” she snapped, then immediately softened. “I’m sorry. I just—he says we can’t be together. That you don’t fit. That this is a phase.”

Walker leaned against the counter, hands in his pockets, processing. He wasn’t angry. He was… tired. Of being measured against things he couldn’t control.

“I figured it’d come up,” he said quietly.

Her head snapped up. “So that’s it? You’re just okay with it?”

“No,” he said, meeting her eyes. “I’m okay with you. I’m not okay with someone else deciding what that’s worth.”

She stepped closer, voice breaking despite herself. “But daddy—” She stopped, exhaling shakily. “He’s not going to change his mind.”

Walker hesitated, then reached out, thumb brushing her wrist. Gentle. Steady. “Then we don’t make this about him.”

She laughed weakly. “You’re saying that like it’s easy.”

“I know it’s not,” he said. “But I’m not dating your dad. I’m dating you.”

That did it.

She pressed her forehead into his chest, fists curling in his shirt. For once, she didn’t care how it looked. Walker wrapped his arms around her, solid and warm, like he wasn’t going anywhere.

Outside, her world was still expensive and controlled and full of expectations.

But right there—standing in a place that didn’t impress anyone but felt like home—she knew one thing for sure.

This wasn’t something her father could buy her out of.

And Walker wasn’t letting go.