Chapter 5

Logan hesitated. "And if the Whitford woman pushes back? Goes to the actual board, tries to fight it?""Then she fights a system built to outlast her patience." Venus's tone turned business-like, the warmth draining out of it entirely. "Fines, liens, paperwork nobody wants to read. That's not something you argue your way out of. That's something you drown in."She stood, walked to the window, and looked out over the manicured lawns and matching mailboxes of the street she'd spent fifteen years shaping into exactly what she wanted it to be."People like that," she said quietly, "always think they can just move into a neighborhood and expect it to stay the same. It won't. Not while I'm still on that board.""And if it gets messy?"Venus almost smiled. "It won't get messy. My husband sits on the county commission, Logan. Do you understand what that means? It means people return my calls. It means paperwork moves faster for me than it does for anyone else on this street. It means if this ever needs to go further than fines, it will go further. And it won't be me who gets hurt by it."She let that settle before giving her final instruction."Go back this afternoon. Bring the tow truck this time. Let her see it's real. And if she still won't move, then you tell her she's obstructing enforcement. Threaten the arrest. She'll back down." A short pause. "They always do eventually. And if she doesn't, well, that's what the board is for.""Understood.""Good." Venus's voice softened again, almost pleasant, like she was ending a call about lunch plans instead of a campaign to push a family out of their own home. "I want her gone before the season's out, Logan. One way or another."She hung up without waiting for a response.Outside, the afternoon sun sat high over Cedar Hollow, warm and golden, glinting off the windows of houses that all looked the same from the street, and hiding behind every one of them exactly how far someone with enough money and enough patience was willing to go to keep it that way.By the time Logan pulled back onto the Whitfords' street, the sun had shifted further west, throwing long shadows across the lawns. Behind his SUV rumbled a flatbed tow truck, its yellow lights already flashing, even though nothing had happened yet.Nancy was in the kitchen when she heard the engine. She looked out the window and felt her stomach drop. He'd actually brought it.

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