The Due Diligence

Elena pushed the spinach around her plate with her fork, watching him across the candlelit table. Marcus, with his practiced smile and that ridiculous orange tie—his 'lucky tie,' he'd claimed during the IPO roadshow. She should have known then. Should have recognized the performance.

'You're quiet tonight,' he said, slicing into his steak.

'Just thinking about the merger.' The lie came easily. Three years of corporate counter-espionage had taught her that truth was a currency to be spent sparingly.

His wife's cat—a haughty Siamese named Duchess—jumped onto the windowsill behind him, yellow eyes unblinking. The animal knew. Animals always knew. That was why Elena had been feeding her treats from her pocket all evening.

'Worried about the valuation?' Marcus reached for his wine.

'About the IP transfer.' She let her hand brush his wrist, watched his pulse jump. 'Nervous energy.'

They'd been sleeping together for six months. Four months longer than her assignment required. The dossier had been complete after eight weeks: Marcus was selling proprietary algorithms to their competitor, using shell companies in the Caymans, leveraging his position as CTO. The evidence was irrefutable.

The orange sorbet arrived. She watched him eat it, the spoon clinking against the porcelain, and thought about the flash drive taped to her thigh under this dress. The drive containing everything—emails, bank transfers, the source code he'd stolen.

'I love you, you know,' he said suddenly.

Elena stopped breathing. In her line of work, love was a complication you couldn't afford. A vulnerability in the system.

The cat meowed—sharp, insistent.

'I know,' she said softly.

She'd submit the report tonight. By morning, security would escort him from the building. The merger would proceed, the theft would be contained, and she would request transfer to a new city. A new life.

Duchess jumped down and wound through Elena's legs, purring.

'She likes you,' Marcus said, smiling that devastating smile.

'Animals sense their own,' Elena replied, and let herself cry just a little before she could stop herself.