Palm Shadows

The orange light of sunset filtered through the palm fronds outside Elena's office window, casting long shadows across her desk. She'd spent three years building this department from nothing, and now it was all crumbling around her.

"You're overthinking it," Marcus said, leaning against her doorframe, that damn cat-like grin on his face. "Corporate shuffles happen all the time."

Elena ran her fingers across her own palm — a nervous habit she'd picked up during the merger that nearly sank them. "This isn't a shuffle, Marcus. It's a slow-motion execution."

He shrugged, his expression unreadable, sphinx-like in its indifference. "Maybe you've been here too long. Remember what you told me when we started? 'Don't get attached to anything that can be deleted in a meeting.'"

That was before. Before the promotion, before the affair, before she'd started keeping her own notes on everyone's secrets. Including his.

The spy software she'd discovered on the company server last week had been a wake-up call. Someone was monitoring everything — emails, calendar invites, even the private Slack channels where colleagues vented about management. And the trail led straight to Marcus's pet project, that "innovation initiative" that was actually a data-mining operation disguised as employee wellness.

"You should take the package," Marcus said now, his voice soft. "Severance is generous. You could finally write that book."

Elena looked at the man she'd once trusted with her career, with her body, with her fears about the company's direction. He wasn't just ambitious; he was dismantling everything they'd built to line his own pockets.

"I'm not taking the package," she said, closing her laptop. "I'm taking the evidence."

Marcus's smile faltered for the first time. "Elena, don't be stupid."

"You should worry less about what I'm doing and more about what I know." She stood up, the orange light deepening to red as the sun dipped lower. "Like how your wellness initiative is actually selling employee data to third parties. Or how you set me up to take the fall when the regulators start asking questions."

The cat had claws, after all. And sphinxes weren't the only ones who could keep secrets.

"You wouldn't."

"Watch me."