The Spy Who Ate Alone

The fluorescents buzzed overhead like dying insects as Elena picked at her spinach salad, alone in the breakroom of the massive glass pyramid that housed Apex Corporate Solutions. Thirty-seven years old, and she'd finally become the thing she once despised: a corporate spy.

Her phone buzzed. *Meeting at 3. Conference Room B. Bring the drive.*

Elena wiped a fleck of spinach from her lip, her heart rate not even spiking anymore. This was her life now—extracting secrets from one department to feed another, all to climb a pyramid scheme of corporate advancement that promised everything and delivered nothing but exhaustion and compromised morals.

The door opened. Sarah walked in, her best friend of fifteen years, the woman who'd recruited her into this division. Sarah's smile didn't reach her eyes.

"They know," Sarah said quietly, sliding into the chair across from her. "About the drive. About everything."

Elena's chest tightened. "You told them?"

"I had to choose." Sarah's voice broke. "My career or... this."

"And you chose this pyramid," Elena said bitterly. "This glass monument to nothing."

"We're not kids anymore, El. We have mortgages. Families. Ideals don't pay the bills."

Elena looked at her friend—really looked at her—and saw the stranger she'd become. The spinach suddenly tasted like ash in her mouth. Somewhere along the way, they'd both forgotten that loyalty wasn't supposed to be transactional.

"I turned in my resignation this morning," Elena said, standing up. "Before your meeting."

Sarah's face fell. "You'll never work in this industry again."

Elena walked toward the door, toward whatever came next. "Good."

The pyramid loomed outside the window, but for the first time in years, she could see past it.