Gregory shut the laptop.

“Everything I did was to protect this family.”

“From what?”

A silence settled across the kitchen.

Then Gregory said, “If the collector deal doesn’t close, the lenders will come after our assets. You like this house? You like your school? You like not worrying about money? That’s what I was protecting.”

Logan had spent seventeen years hearing that money solved problems. It had paid fees, replaced damaged things, quieted teachers, and turned consequences into meetings his parents could win. He had never understood that money could also become a trap so deep the people who controlled it would do almost anything to stay ahead.

“You used me,” he said.

“You volunteered to be part of this,” Vivien snapped.

“I volunteered to be a jerk. I didn’t volunteer to forge a dead man’s name.”

Gregory rose. “Watch your language.”

“You watch yours. You’re still lying.”

Logan left before either parent could stop him. He drove to Mason’s house and sat in the car for half an hour, gripping the wheel. He wanted to call Sophie. She had blocked his number. He wanted to blame her for the recording. But even he knew by now that the recording had not created the problem. It had revealed it.

The next morning, accompanied by his own attorney, Logan met Detective Price.

He admitted that he had repeatedly entered Elijah’s driveway after being told to stay away. He acknowledged making the edited post. He handed over text messages from Vivien telling him when to return and what to say. He also showed an image Gregory had sent him of the Mustang’s VIN, along with instructions to check whether the numbers on the car matched those in a forwarded listing.

“Did anyone tell you to damage the vehicle?” Price asked.

“No.”

“Did you plan to?”

He hesitated. “I thought about scratching it. I wanted him mad. But I didn’t.”

Price made a note.

“Why are you telling us now?”

Logan studied the table.

“Because my dad knew who he was. He used my mom to make a scene. He used me to make him look dangerous. And when it went wrong, he told us we were protecting the family.”

He swallowed.

“I don’t think he means us when he says family anymore. I think he means his money.”

Price did not congratulate him. Coming forward mattered; it did not erase his harassment or the false video that had harmed Elijah’s reputation.

She told him exactly that.

For once, Logan accepted an answer he did not like.

CHAPTER 20: THE LAST ATTEMPT

The attempt to move the other Mustang came on a rainy Tuesday, two days before the scheduled auction date. Investigators had already instructed the auction house to preserve the vehicle and its paperwork. Gregory’s attorney had been informed of the dispute. Yet a transporter arrived at the facility with instructions purporting to come from a Lakeview authorized representative, requesting the car for “urgent mechanical work.”