“Tell me,” I say.
His eyes weaken, and now I really am scared.
“They identified the body,” he says quietly, like he’s trying to make it hurt less. “It… it was Felix Mancini.”
I stagger back, my hand flying to my chest like I’m trying to hold in my heart. Or the scream building in my throat.
“No.” It comes out wrong, small like a whimper. My knees threaten to give, and Tech puts his hand on my arm to steady me. “Are they sure?” I ask, breathless.
Jamie just nods. The way you do when there’s no way around it. When the truth is too heavy.
Felix is gone.
He’s not missing. He’s not coming back. He’s not breathing, not laughing, not a constant in my life the way he used to be. I can’t understand at first, and I have to fight the wild moment of disbelief.
Felix Mancini is dead.
And the world is suddenly less good. Felix was reckless and loud and completely fearless. When Ellis jumped off that forty-foot cliff, Felix was already in midair. He didn’t hesitate. He never did.
And even though he came from the Collective, he was never one of them. Not really. Not where it counted. He looked at people and actuallysawthem. Kind in a way that felt natural—so free of ego. So honest.
Felix was family. Not by blood, but by choice.
Even after he stopped coming around the beach, I never blamed him for it. I know it was hard to see the Surf Shack without Ellison Acosta at the counter, waving in all the tourists like they were his personal guests.
They had so many plans together. All that was lost when Ellis left. And now… I’ve lost Felix, too.
“Fuck,” I murmur, and cover my face. Tech holds on to me while Jamie watches quietly, seeming sorry to have been the one to break the news.
I swear, I can still hear him. Feel him on the dock.
“Are you going to come work for us when our business launches?” Felix asked as he leaned back, toes in the water and his hands behind his neck like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“And leave the Surf Shack?” I said. “Never.”
“Oh, come on.” He grinned. “We’ll name one of the boats after you. TheShittalker.”
I shoved his shoulder, laughing so hard, it echoed off the water. “You can eat shit, Mancini.”
“But seriously,” Felix added after a moment. “It’s a family business. So you have come with us. We wouldn’t do it without you.”
I smiled at him then, liking the sound of it. And in that moment, I believed it. Believed we were all building something together. Our family.
And now all that is gone, this final piece slipping away. Another plan that never got to grow up. Another person in my life taken away.
“I’m here,” Tech says, hugging me to him. I hear him sniffle, feel the weakness in his posture. I’m not the only one grieving. We all loved Felix.
After a few minutes, I slowly start to come back to myself. When I’m steadier, I clear the tears from my cheeks with both hands, my eyes still burning. This isn’t the time. I can’t fall apart right now.
I take a few breaths, and then I turn back to Jamie. “How did you… how did you find out about Felix?” I ask, my voice thick with tears. “What happened to him?”
“Jordan told me,” Jamie says. “And it seems… obviously, they think he was murdered.” He winces when I turn away, face scrunched up as I try not to cry again. “But”—he looks between me and Tech—“they said they found him washed up on the beach in Cape Hope. No mention of Rum Runner Island. There’s another cover-up.”
I straighten, horrified. My uncle would have known that Felix was at the island, which means he would have been the one lying. It occurs to me suddenly that Matteo would have also heard about his cousin by now.
“Matteo,” I gasp out, looking at Tech. Jamie nods along.
“That’s who told Jordan,” he adds. “Matteo knew last night, apparently.And I wondered if… if that’s what he wanted to talk to you about at Bonfire Beach.”
