The sedan’s suspension groaned heavily through the turn.

I’d spent my entire adult life building a career far from Beaufort.

I’d wanted to come home and show them I had finally made something of myself.

Instead, I was fighting a proxy war with Glenn over a property lien.

Maybe Aunt Martha had me pegged.

Maybe I really was treating my own family like enemy combatants.

I watched a squad of Marines running in formation on the other side of the fence.

Their boots struck the pavement in perfect unison.