give you this when no one else was around.”

Victor looked at it, then at Ryan.

“Did he also leave a sob story?”

“No, sir.”

Victor picked up a letter opener and slit the seal.

Inside was one sheet of thick white paper and a slim metal key card embossed with a silver V.

He unfolded the note.

As his eyes moved down the page, the color in his face changed.

Ryan had never seen Victor Sterling startled.

Irritated, yes.

Angry, often.

Amused at other people’s discomfort, constantly.

But startled was new.

“What is it?” Ryan asked before he could stop himself.

Victor did not answer immediately.

He read the note again.

Then he said, very quietly, “Where did he go?”

“He left.

About thirty minutes ago.”

Victor stood so suddenly his chair rolled back into the credenza.

“Get Khloe.

Now.

And Steve.

Immediately.”

Ryan hurried out.

Within a minute, Khloe and Steve entered the office, both wearing expressions of mild confusion.

Victor closed the door behind them.

“Tell me exactly what happened,” he said.

Khloe frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“From the moment the old man entered.

Every word.

Every action.”

Steve laughed uncertainly.

“Come on, Victor.

He was some drifter having fun.”

Victor put the note on the desk and tapped it once.

“He was not a drifter.”

Khloe’s confidence flickered.

“Who was he?”

Victor stared at her.

“According to this letter, he is Elijah Vale.”

The room went still.

Even Ryan recognized the name.

Elijah Vale was not a tabloid celebrity or a tech mascot with a famous face.

He was older money than that, quieter money, institutional money.

He was the founder and principal shareholder of Valoran Holdings, a private investment group that owned controlling interests in transportation, hospitality, logistics, and high-end automotive retail.

Including, Ryan now realized with a jolt, Prestige Auto Gallery.

Prestige was not independent.

It was a Valoran company.

Victor continued, voice tight.

“He wrote that he visited anonymously to observe the customer experience and management culture at Prestige.

He also wrote that he learned enough in fifteen minutes to conclude this location has been operating in direct contradiction to Valoran’s service standards and acquisition philosophy.”

Steve’s mouth opened.

No words came out.

Khloe looked down at the note with disbelief.

“No.

That’s impossible.

Why would a man like that show up dressed like…?”

Victor snapped, “Because he wanted honesty he couldn’t buy with a tailored suit.”

Ryan stood near the door, pulse hammering in his ears.

Victor lifted the key card from the desk.

“He instructed me to attend a meeting at Valoran headquarters tomorrow at ten o’clock.

He included executive access credentials.”

He turned to Khloe and Steve, and for the first time all day, nobody in the room saw control in his face.

They saw fear.

That night, no one at Prestige slept well.

Ryan told himself he wasn’t part of their wrongdoing, but even he replayed the scene again and again: the guards laughing, Steve throwing water, Khloe smiling without stopping it, Victor refusing to come out.

He wondered what kind of man Elijah Vale really was.

The answer arrived the next morning.

Valoran Holdings occupied the top floors of a granite tower across the river, removed from the glittery retail energy of the dealership and wrapped instead