Corporate Assets

The morning sun glared off the infinity **pool** as Elena stood on the terrace, nursing her third espresso. Below, the CEO was already holding court at the padel court, his voice carrying across the water. Something about synergy and Q3 projections.

"You look like shit," Marcus said, appearing beside her. He'd been her mentor once, before the promotion that had made them competitors. Now he just looked tired—eyes rimmed with red, expensive suit hanging loose.

"I feel like a **zombie**," Elena admitted, something she'd never say back at headquarters. "Fourteen-hour days, Marcus. I can't remember the last time I saw my daughter awake."

He nodded toward the **padel** court below. "He wants us to play doubles after lunch. Team building." His laugh was dry, brittle things. "Remember when we used to actually talk about ideas? Now it's all performance metrics and stock prices."

"I have an offer from the startup," she said quietly. "Half the salary, but they actually make things. Real things."

Marcus turned to her, and for the first time she saw fear behind his eyes. "You can't. Not now. The merger—"

"Fuck the merger." The words hung between them, dangerous and liberating. "I'm thirty-eight, Marcus. I don't want to be this person anymore."

The CEO waved from the court, gesturing for them to come down. A man who'd **bear** any burden, as long as it came with a bonus.

"Go," Marcus said, and something in his face had changed. "Someone should."

Elena set down her coffee, took out her phone, and typed her resignation. Then she walked toward the exit, not the court. Behind her, the water glittered cold and indifferent, and somewhere in the distance, a game was about to begin without her.