The night smelled like wet tar and cheap perfume. It wrapped the docks in a velvet hush, and every shadow felt like it had been bought and paid for. We moved like people who’d been given a deadline and a hunger.
Dominic rode shotgun in the truck, jaw set, eyes the way a man’s look is when he’s been living inside a plan too long. Dad drove like he’d rediscovered his spine. Tyler sat in the back with his phone open, fingers trembling in that nervous way that used to mean he was about to pee money away on drinks — only tonight his trembling was useful. Gage’s location pinged at the edge of town; the contractor yard Julian used was a rusted mouth ready to swallow more lives.
“You sure about this?” Dad asked, voice low. There was fear in it that no amount of suits could hide.
“We split the r
