Jace looked up from the lawn, his jaw tight. “You better start talking.”
“I will,” I said. “After I get Grandpa’s things.”
I walked past them toward the front door.
My mother made a reflexive movement like she might block me, then saw the security men, saw Vivienne opening her folio, saw Helena Vale standing on her lawn in a Bugatti and high heels looking like a woman for whom legal conflict was an acceptable breakfast activity, and decided against heroics.
Inside, the house smelled like flowers, catering trays, and stale champagne.
The anniversary decorations were still up. Gold ribbon. White roses. Photographs of my parents smiling through decades of staged happiness arranged on the entry table. In one frame my mother wore a silver dress and my father looked young enough for hope. In another, Tyler and I stood between them at some long-forgotten holiday, already old enough for the family roles to have hardened. Jace wore his favorite expression even then—that easy self-satisfaction people mistake for charisma until it starts costing them money.
The foyer tiles shone.
The dining room table glittered.