“He’s desperate,” Nora said, holding onto the grab handle above her door. “Gareth is the weak link. Julian always treated him like a dog, and Eleanor ignored him. He wants to prove he can save the family legacy.”

“The legacy is dead,” I said, pressing the accelerator harder. “He just doesn’t know it yet.”

The road narrowed into cracked asphalt, bordered by overgrown weeds and rusted chain-link fences.

Cold wind whipped off the water, carrying the smell of salt and rotting wood.

I pulled the SUV behind a stack of abandoned shipping containers, killing the headlights.

“Stay here,” I told Nora.

“I have a service weapon, Madeline,” she said, drawing a small black pistol from her holster. “I’m not letting you go in there without backup.”

“He knows your face from the state attorney’s office,” I said. “He knows mine because I’m the mother who ruined his life. Let me draw his attention.”

I stepped out of the vehicle into the freezing air.

My boots crunched softly on the gravel.

The boat house was a sagging wooden structure suspended over the black water of the canal.