Pyramid's Edge

The corporate retreat was Marcos's idea, of course. Perched on the edge of a cliff, the infinity pool seemed to spill into the Pacific, an endless blue that matched Elena's eyes when she'd left him six months ago. She'd said he was living in a pyramid—climbing over people to reach a pinnacle that didn't exist.

Now Richard, that bull of a man who'd somehow finagled his way into VP, stood at the shallow end holding a papaya. Richard who'd stolen Elena's project, claimed it as his own, then watched her resign without a word. Richard who'd invited everyone to this retreat except the one person who'd actually built the product they were celebrating.

"Best fruit in the world, Richard says, his broad chest glistening in the Mexican sun. "Exotic. Like success."

Elena watches from her lounge chair where she's been hiding all afternoon. She didn't RSVP, but the concierge had taken one look at her tear-streaked face at the airport and found her a room anyway. Now she's just another guest in a resort that costs more per night than her first apartment.

The pool deck fills with VPs and directors, their conversation drifting between quarterly projections and which tequila was smoothest. Elena spots the ornamental pond near the bar—goldfish darting through lily pads, trapped in an elaborate ecosystem they'd never chosen.

"Just like us," she whispers.

Richard approaches, papaya juice dripping down his chin. "You're the new marketing hire, right? You look familiar."

Elena stands, her sundress catching the breeze. "Something like that."

She walks past him toward the cliff's edge. Below, the real pyramid awaits—Chichén Itzá rising from the jungle, ancient and immutable. Somewhere between the monument and the modern resort, between Richard's empire of sand and the goldfish in their gilded pond, something shifts.

She turns back to the pool, to Richard offering her a slice of papaya with that winning smile that never quite reaches his eyes.

"No thanks," she says, already pulling out her phone to book tomorrow's flight. "I've had enough of pyramids."