Chapter Nineteen
—NOA
The sun is hot as I stand at the counter of the Surf Shack. My father is already gone for the day to test run The Tarpon after its repairs. Shawn is meeting up with Nina at the resort and Tech is on his way in to work. We were up late, and I’m exhausted.
There is still no news on who was found on Rum Runner or that the Starline itself has been rediscovered. No nothing. I even tried to get in touch with my uncle this morning, but he had his office tell me he’d call me back. He hasn’t yet.
I think about last night at Bonfire Beach, the entirety of the night coming back to me in snippets.
Jamie and I had a moment, several actually, where I could remember what it was like to be lost in him.
To trust him. At the same time, it’s clear that our lives have moved on.
We’re not the same people we were back then.
And, of course, there was the fight with Matteo. Thing is, I’ve known Matteo for years, and although he appears to be living his villain origin story right now, he’s not typically an outright maniac. What did he want to say to me last night? What could he possibly have to say to me anymore?
Clicking back, there was the Starline Hotel itself and its mystery. A dead body left behind in the marsh. And then the news that my brother could be in town, somewhere in Cape Hope, but avoiding us. Everything has to be connected somehow. There is too much happening at once for it not to be.
My phone dings with a message, and I see it’s an image sent from Shawn with the caption: What is this about?
I open it and scan the picture.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I murmur. My stomach knots up.
I hear the sound of a car door slam and look up in time to see Tech rounding the corner to clock in for work. I flip my phone face down on the counter. Tech glances past me toward the dock.
“Your dad with The Tarpon?” he asks, stuffing his backpack under the counter.
“Yeah,” I say quietly.
“What’s your deal?” he asks immediately. “Something happen? You hear from the sheriff?”
I shake my head no, but just as I open my mouth to tell him about the text, I notice the figure heading our way from the resort. I stiffen, straightening my back. I can’t help but feel a little betrayed.
Jamie smiles widely when he sees me, his arm still bandaged cartoonishly.
“That handsome fucker is up early today,” Tech says, sounding bored. He turns to me. “You mad at him or something?” he asks.
“Or something,” I respond. Tech watches me as if trying to figure out my mood.
“I’m glad you’re both here,” Jamie announces as he approaches, slightly out of breath. “Where’s Shawn?”
“At the resort,” I say, nodding to him knowingly. He furrows his brow, seemingly confused by my tone, but then he comes to lean against the counter, facing us.
“Okay, listen,” he says to both me and Tech. “I’ve figured a few things out. You see, I like puzzles and…” His voice trails off when he notices me staring at him.
“What?” he asks.
I tilt my head. “How’s Jordan Miles?” I ask.
“Not great… actually?” he responds as if the question is completely out of the blue.
“What’s going on with Jordan?” Tech asks, looking between us.
I hum out an annoyed sound and click open my phone. On it is a picture of Jamie sharing a sunbed with Jordan, his arms wrapped tightly around her while her head rests on his shoulder. It’s intimate; it’s more than friends. Maybe I don’t have the right to care, but he claimed to miss me last night.
“You two look cute,” I tell him. “Still just friends?”
Jamie is about to defend himself, but does a double take at the picture. “Okay,” he admits, holding up his hand. “That does look bad, but it’s not what you think. Also, that was literally five minutes ago. How did you even get that?”
“Like I said, Shawn’s at the resort.”
“No,” Jamie shakes his head, and appeals to Tech who has already crossed his arms. “No,” he repeats louder, to both of us. “I have no relationship with Jordan Miles beyond mutual wealth. However, I did ask to speak with her. I learned some shit.” He swallows hard. “And none of it’s good.”
There is a sinking feeling in my chest, and Tech and I exchange a concerned look. When I turn back to Jamie, I motion for him to continue. Ultimately, I believe him about Jordan, but the image of them fitting so perfectly together will bother me for a while.
“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 actually saw them. 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. The Shittalker.”
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.”
I’m not sure what to say, but I’m scared. “Do you think…?” I look around. “Do you think he knew we were at Rum Runner Island yesterday?”
Jamie shrugs, and Tech looks equally confused.
I’m overwhelmed. Between Felix being dead, my uncle covering it up, and then Matteo wanting to talk to me about something… I think we’re in pretty deep.
It seems impossible, but… would they try to blame us?
Jamie shifts, as if indicating he has more to talk about. I motion for him to continue, and wrap my arms around myself to hold it all together.
“I did some digging online,” Jamie starts again. “About the Starline, Rum Runner, everything. I found out that Jordan is related to Florence Marsten. Did you know that?”
I furrow my brow. “What?”
“How did you…?” Tech asks, leaning closer.
“My dad owns an IT security company,” Jamie says. “Plus, I’m good at finding stuff on the internet. But yes, Jordan’s mother is Cecelia Marsten Miles, Florence’s sister. She owns half of the Grand Augustus Resort.”
“Okay…” I say, confused. “Obviously, we didn’t know they were related, but does it matter? Whether it was Jordan or Hailey or even Creed, we knew the socialite had been part of the Collective. Her family blamed the Chasers. If anything, it’s just another reason to hate Jordan.”
Jamie hums as if that’s not fair, but presses on with his story.
“That’s not all,” Jamie continues. “Florence’s family is one half of the Augustus Resort while the Mancini family is the other half.
So I asked Jordan how the two families connected to build the resort in the first place.
She let me know that Alessandro Mancini used to date her aunt.
She didn’t say which one, but thinking about it”—he taps his temple—“one of the articles I found said Florence was engaged before her death. I think he might have been her fiancé.”
There’s a chill over my skin. A connection that seems out of time, and somehow… a bit sinister. “You’re saying Matteo’s dad was engaged to Florence Marsten?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I think so,” he says. “If we check that photo, I think he’s the blurry guy standing next to her.”
“Nice digging,” Tech says, sounding impressed. He reaches under the counter to grab out his backpack. “I was going to wait for Shawn, but…”
He upends his backpack and a pile of papers falls onto the counter.
“After we talked yesterday,” Tech says, picking through some of them, “I examined the papers we found in Florence’s room at the Starline. Some weren’t readable, but the others, they were pretty informative.”
“What was in them?” I ask, looking over the papers.
“A few personal letters and receipts,” Tech says.
“But right away I learned that Florence was engaged to be married”—he points at Jamie to let him know he was right—“but she told her friends he was a nobody. She called him Alex. Pretty sure that’s Alessandro Mancini.
Anyway, in one letter, she said that her parents were going to help her break off the engagement since Alex couldn’t afford to secure her future. ”
“How do you go from a nobody to one of the richest men in Cape Hope?” I ask.
“Great question,” Tech says. “But I have no idea.” He looks at Jamie. “You?”
“Not yet,” Jamie replies. “Florence’s family could afford their portion of the resort, but the Mancinis? No way.”
Although I’m heartbroken about Felix, it gives me another reason to find out what happened at the Starline. “I think Felix’s death and the mystery of the hotel are connected,” I say, and both Jamie and Tech nod that they agree. “We have to solve this. We have to set things right.”
“For Felix,” Tech says quietly.
“And for Gabriel,” Jamie adds.
Tech reaches out to bump his fist into Jamie’s, and then the three of us settle into a quiet reflection, heavy with grief, but also determined. The pieces are coming together. It won’t erase the tragedies, but maybe it will bring some comfort.
Jamie’s phone rings. He takes it out to turn it off, but when he glances at the caller ID, I see him visibly pale.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. He swallows hard, slipping his phone back into his pocket without answering it.
“I actually have to go,” he says, motioning toward the resort. “I’ll text you later?” he asks, already stepping backward.
“Yeah,” I say, a bit worried. “But are you all right?”
“I am,” he assures me. “Just some family stuff. We’ll talk soon. Be safe.”
“You, too,” I say, watching as he turns to jog toward the resort.
He doesn’t overshare, but my stomach is in knots as I watch him go. There is only one person who could send him running back like that. One person who could make him look so scared.
His father.