Surveillance at Midnight

The hotel pool was empty at midnight, its surface still as glass. Elena had needed to get out of that room. Out of that bed. Away from Richard's sleeping form and the terrible secret she'd been carrying for three months.

She slipped into the water, letting it swallow her. When she emerged, dripping wet, she caught her reflection in the darkened glass of the sliding doors—strands of wet hair plastered to her face, making her look like a stranger. She touched the gray at her temples, a recent development. Stress, she told people. Genetics. The truth was more complicated.

The truth was that she worked for a private intelligence firm as a corporate spy, and her latest target had been Richard's own company. She'd been hired to gather evidence of embezzlement, and she'd succeeded. Richard was going to prison. The man who'd held her every night for two years, who'd run his fingers through her hair and told her she was beautiful, was a stranger. And she was the one who'd made that discovery.

"You going to stay in there all night?"

Elena jumped. Richard stood at the pool's edge, silhouette against the moonlight.

"Couldn't sleep," she said, which was technically true.

He sat on the edge, rolled up his pant legs, and let his feet dangle in the water. "I got a call tonight. From our legal department. There's been an investigation." He paused. "They found proof someone's been stealing from the company for years. They're making arrests tomorrow."

Elena's heart stopped.

"I know what you're thinking," Richard continued softly. "That I'm involved. Everyone will think that." He looked at her then, and in the moonlight, his expression broke her heart. "But I'm not, Elena. I've been trying to find the person responsible for months. I hired someone to investigate internally."

He hired someone.

The implications hit her like a physical blow. If he'd hired someone, they might have found evidence of her investigation. Of her.

"Richard," she whispered, reaching for his hand. "There's something I need to tell you."

But he squeezed her fingers, shaking his head. "Not tonight. Whatever it is, not tonight." He moved to pull her from the pool, and she went willingly, water streaming from her hair like tears she couldn't cry anymore.

In the morning, she would turn in her resignation and destroy the evidence. Tonight, she let him hold her, knowing she'd never spy again.