The Court of Secrets

Elena's hair clung to her neck in sweaty tendrils as she smashed the padel ball against the glass wall. The thwack echoed through the court, a satisfying sound in a life that had become increasingly quiet.

"You're distracted," Sarah said, adjusting her ponytail with practiced ease. "Who is he?"

Elena hesitated. Sarah had been her friend for seven years—since before David left, before the promotion, before everything changed. But lately, Elena had noticed things. Sarah knew details she shouldn't. Details about the project Elena hadn't even told her mother about. Details about the man she'd been seeing, whom she'd mentioned only in her encrypted journal.

"There's no he," Elena lied.

That evening, as her golden retriever, Buster, nudged her hand for attention, Elena found it. A small device tucked inside Buster's collar—weightless, almost invisible. Her hands trembled as she turned it over in her palm. A listening device.

Sarah had given Buster this collar last month. "A present," she'd said with that warm, generous smile.

Elena's dog sensed something was wrong. He whined, pressing his wet nose against her cheek. She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his fur, and realized with sickening clarity what she'd been living with for years.

Sarah wasn't a friend. She was a spy—corporate, personal, it didn't matter anymore. Every confidence Elena had whispered, every late-night confession about work frustrations, every tearful admission about her loneliness—it had all been harvested.

The betrayal tasted metallic in her mouth. Tomorrow, she'd confront Sarah. Tomorrow, she'd go to HR. But tonight, Elena sat on her floor with her dog, running her fingers through his hair, grateful that at least one creature in her life loved her without conditions.

She canceled their padel match for next week. Some games, she realized, you just had to stop playing.