Rain struck the bulletproof windows of the Sterling estate's main study. A fire burned in the stone hearth beside shelves of leather-bound books and old family tapestries. I had grown up with those tapestries. Elias had never been inside the estate.
Sebastian sat opposite me with a cup of Earl Grey. He had said little. My tea waited on the mahogany table while I watched the split-screen monitor built into the wall.
One screen showed Apex Dynamics climbing on the stock ticker. Twelve others covered the estate grounds. The front gate filled the center display.
Elias knelt outside it.
He had stayed in the mud for three hours. His thousand-dollar suit clung to his knees, and rain ran from his hair into his collar. He kept looking at the gate camera, waiting for the light above it to change
