Fox in the Henhouse

Elena watched him from across the bar, studying the way his dark hair fell over his eyes when he laughed. Three months of marriage, and she still couldn't decide if she was the luckiest woman in Chicago or the biggest fool.

Marcus worked in corporate intelligence — a polite word for being a professional spy. He'd told her on their second date, over water glasses that remained conspicuously full between his careful sips. "I gather information," he'd said. "For companies who need to know what their competitors are planning."

She'd found it romantic then. The secrecy, the danger — it had seemed exciting. Now, watching him laugh with a woman whose red dress matched her lipstick too perfectly, Elena wondered if she'd simply been another assignment.

The stock market had been a bull run of euphoria since their wedding. Marcus's firm had somehow shorted every major tech crash before it happened. She'd been proud, bragging to her friends about his instincts. Tonight, seeing the way his hand lingered on the small of the redhead's back, Elena wondered if his instincts came from inside the boardroom or somewhere much closer.

She walked to the table, her heels clicking like a countdown. Marcus's face didn't fall. It didn't anything at all.

"Elena," he said, as if she'd simply stepped out for water. "This is Sarah. She's with the SEC."

The Securities and Exchange Commission. The federal agency that investigated insider trading.

Sarah's smile didn't reach her eyes. "We've been following your husband's firm for months, Mrs. Chen. His trading patterns are... interesting."

Marcus looked at Elena then, really looked at her, for the first time all night. "I told you I gather information."

"From me?" The realization hit her like cold water. All those pillow talks about her work at the venture capital firm. The confidential deal discussions she'd thought were just marital intimacy.

"You're not the only one," Sarah said, pulling out a badge. "We've identified seven spouses he's... gathered from. We call him the fox. Charming, clever, always in the henhouse."

Elena looked at her husband and saw a stranger. The bull market had made them both rich, but the crash was coming now, and this time, Marcus wouldn't see it coming.