Their unbreakable bond wasn’t forged out of his willingness to protect her. If she were forced to pick a single moment when she knew for certain that their fates were forever joined, it was when he had first introduced her as his daughter. He would claim that it had been done solely out of convenience, a way to avoid awkward questions by people who might cause trouble, but she knew better. By identifying her as his daughter, Tanner had made a conscious decision to take her in, to make her his own. And that, she thought, was when they both knew that wherever one went, the other would follow.
