CHAPTER 10: What the Mirror Showed

In the sedan’s side mirror, Preston saw himself the way Elias had seen him for years.
Not the loyal nephew. Not the young executive saving an outdated company. Not the grieving relative forced to make hard decisions about an aging founder.
Just a man in a tailored suit beside an old man he had left on hot asphalt with a suitcase and no water.
Camilla saw it too. Her face in the mirror was pale, mouth open, diamonds useless against the desert light.
Elias stepped forward with Caleb’s jacket around him.
“You wanted the story to be that I was lost,” he said. “But you forgot something, Preston. Lost men do not pack evidence.”