“The Confession”

Eric POV

The sky was a muddled color of gray and gold when I stepped out of the car. Traffic near Kailuxe was already swelling with the usual late afternoon chaos. I checked my watch again—five minutes late. Malik wouldn’t shut up about punctuality, so I expected a barrage of texts, but my phone stayed silent.

I tucked it into my coat pocket and started toward the entrance of the glass-front restaurant, trying not to breathe in the smoke curling off a food vendor’s stall nearby. The scent of spice and grilled meat normally made my stomach growl, but now it stirred nothing. My gut had been off...