The Pyramid Scheme

The fox had been leaving voicemails for three days. Eleanor ignored them, staring at the spinach stuck between her teeth in the office restroom mirror. Her phone buzzed again—Marcus, probably, wondering why she hadn't come home after finding the messages.

She adjusted her hat, the wide-brimmed one she'd bought to hide the purge's aftermath, and walked back to her desk. The pyramid diagram on her whiteboard had seemed brilliant at 3 AM when she'd traced the money laundering scheme through seven shell companies. Now it just looked like her career's gravestone.

Her iphone pinged with a notification: another encrypted message from the Fox. They'd called him that in the firm—sleek, cunning, always one step ahead. He'd been her mentor for six years, their affair lasting almost as long. The affair that had ended when Eleanor discovered he'd been grooming her to take the fall for his pyramid scheme.

The spinach was still there, mocking her. She'd been eating lunch at her desk when the forensic accountant walked in, ready to blow her entire world apart. Some corporate spy. She couldn't even clean her teeth properly.

"You're still here," the Fox said, appearing in her doorway like he owned the place. Which, technically, he did. His hand brushed her arm—familiar, possessive. "We need to talk about the audit."

Eleanor's fingers found the delete button on her phone. Marcus deserved better than being collateral damage in her war with the Fox. She straightened her hat, met her lover's betrayer's gaze, and smiled.

"The audit's fine," she said. "But you should check your encrypted messages."

His iphone chimed.

The FBI arrived twelve minutes later.