But I stop. Chaos is erupting all around me, but everything stops entirely. My father isn’t alone. Standing at the wheel of the boat is my brother. My mouth is slack as I take a few steps down the dock, and then a few more. I rush ahead just as the boat pulls up, hitting hard against the rubber stoppers.
My father is already crying as he jumps off the boat onto the dock. Ellis is momentarily frozen as he watches the Surf Shack go up in flames, his face a portrait of horror. When he finally drags his gaze to mine, his eyes are apologetic.
My father rushes past me toward the burning building. I wait, rooted in place. My cheeks are still wet with tears, my adrenaline flooding my veins. Ellis cuts the engine toThe Tarponand jumps onto the dock, a few feet away. He smiles apprehensively.
“Hey, Noa,” he says, both of us out of breath. He looks the same, like the last year never happened, aside from a bit of stubble on his chin. As if nothing tragic had ever happened.
I haul back my fist and sock my brother in the face. Ellis yelps out his surprise, holding his cheek when he turns back to me. And then I jump forward and hug him, grateful that he’s home—even if there’s no home left.
“I’m so sorry,” he says, pulling back. “I didn’t mean to—” He stops abruptly as he looks over my shoulder. “Dad, no!”
I spin around in time to see my father ramming his shoulder against the door of the Surf Shack to get inside the burning building. Ellis and I rush toward him, but Jamie gets there first, yanking my father backward and holding him fast. My dad watches in horror, the orange flames reflecting across his face.
He screams, a guttural moan, and then lowers himself to his knees in the sand. Watching his life’s work burn down. It’s devastating to see him break, and when Ellis and I reach him, he gathers us in his arms, turning our faces away from the fire as we cling together.
Around us, people continue to work together and are able to tamp down the flames—coals smoldering as what was once the Surf Shack is now blackened and cracked, a frame barely standing with a small attached house covered in soot and ash.
Just then, as if remembering why he came here, my father looks at the people from the resort and then to my brother. “Ellis,” he says urgently, fearful. “Get back to the boat. You can’t be seen here.”
“What?” I ask, looking from my father to my brother. “He just got here. What do you mean? What’s wrong?”
“It’s not safe,” my father says, dragging me to my feet. “We came to get you and then we needed to leave town until your uncle could sort things out. But when we saw the dock, saw the… fire…” He looks at it again. He forces himself to focus. “It’s not safe here with them.” He motions toward the resort. “We have to go. Now.”
As he starts to pull us down the dock toward the boat, I turn toward Ellis.
“I don’t understand,” I tell him. “Where were you?”
“Where else?” Ellis asks, looking sideways at me. “I’ve been staying at the Starline Hotel. At least… I was until they showed up and killed Felix.” His face clouds over, and I stop him, letting our father run ahead. When Ellis looks at me again, his lip quivers before he bites it back. “I saw it all, Noa,” he murmurs. “I saw what happened to Felix.”
I clutch my brother’s arm, horrified for him. He was an eyewitness to his best friend’s murder. I can’t even imagine what he’s been going through—alone.
“You know who killed Felix?” I ask. “Was it one of Mancini’s employees?”
“Not an employee,” Ellis says, steadying his gaze on me. “It was Alessandro himself.”
I’m struck with fear as I stare at my brother, cold prickles racing over my skin. Oh… he’s in trouble. He’s in serious trouble
“You saw him?” I repeat. “You…sawAlessandro Mancini kill his own nephew?”
Ellis nods. “He didn’t know I was there,” he adds. “I was in the Starline, watching from the window. Felix and I had a plan to work things out with Alessandro, exchange my silence about the hotel for a way home again. Only when he got there, Alessandro demanded that Felix tell him where I was, not knowing I was already there.”
I can’t help but picture the two of them, plotting together and thinking they had it figured out. The moments of joy, anxiety, just before. Felix just wanted to help his best friend come home.
“What happened?” I ask, afraid for the rest.
“Alessandro wouldn’t listen. He told Felix that he was disloyal.” He shakes his head, like he doesn’t want to think about the rest, but continues on. “Felix wouldn’t let it go. He was angry. Tired. He told his uncle that it had to stop: the lies, the harassment. The takeover of Cape Hope. He told him that one way or another, he would stop him.”
Ellis’s eyes weaken, as if he can still see it. “Felix wanted to help,” he says, his eyes tearing up. “He wanted to fix it so we could go back to our lives, start our business, move on. Noa, he loved us so much.”
As his face breaks with a cry, I cover my mouth, trying to hold back my own tears.
“And then…” he starts, his voice thick. He straightens his back, as if distancing himself from the next part. “And then Alessandro pulled out a gun and shot him. Point-blank.”
My head is spinning. It was one thing to believe Mancini had a hand in it, but I never imagined him doing it himself. The coldness of it.
“I was in shock,” Ellis says, drawing my attention again. “I wanted to check on Felix… but I knew it was too late. All I could do was wait there. Alessandro started making calls, but then at one point, he looked up at the Starline, and I was sure that he knew I was there. I was a sitting duck. So I made a run for it… and he saw me.”
“Then what?” I ask. “Where did you go? You should have called the sheriff.”
