Market Close

The bull statue in the lobby had always seemed arrogant to Elena—massive bronze head lowered, horns ready to gore. Now, at midnight, it watched her through the glass doors as she slipped into the office tower. She wasn't supposed to be here. Not anymore. Not after the audit. The iphone in her pocket burned against her thigh, its weight suddenly significant.

She'd found it that afternoon, tucked inside a hollowed-out corporate report in her husband's briefcase. Not his regular phone—this was a burner, its screen showing only one app: an encrypted messaging service. Three messages from a number she didn't recognize.

'Package delivered. Phase complete.'

'Selection confirmed.'

'Tonight.'

Now, riding the elevator to the forty-second floor, Elena's mind raced. Marcus had been the one to suggest she apply for the compliance officer position at Sterling Capital. The one who'd celebrated when she'd uncovered minor irregularities last month, irregularities that—she realized now—had been distractions. Misdirection.

The office was silent, dark except for emergency lighting. Her husband's corner office had a view of the city skyline, but it was his computer that drew her. The iphone's screen lit up with another message as she reached for the keyboard.

'You shouldn't have come.'

She froze.

The door clicked shut behind her. Marcus stood in the doorway, silhouetted against the hall lights. He wasn't in pajamas. He was fully dressed, earpiece in.

'You're the spy,' she whispered. 'Not me. You're—'

'Corporate intelligence,' he corrected, his voice weary. 'For our competitors. They pay better than Sterling ever could.' He stepped closer. 'The information you gathered? The audit findings? They're uploading to my servers now. Your credentials were perfect.'

'Ten years,' she said. 'Our daughter—'

'Is why I did it. The market's turning, Elena. The bull run's over. This was insurance.' He reached for her hand, his thumb finding the bare finger where her wedding ring had been until an hour ago. 'I never wanted to drag you into it. That's why I hid the phone.'

She pulled away. 'You used me.'

'I protected you. You still have plausible deniability. Just walk away.' He gestured toward the door. 'Let me finish this.'

Outside, the bronze bull kept its eternal pose of frozen aggression. Inside, something else broke—something harder than bronze, something that couldn't be melted down and reshaped. Elena placed the iphone on his desk, its screen showing the message still: 'You shouldn't have come.'

'Someone should have,' she said, and pressed the elevator button for the ground floor.