The Vitamin Leak

Elena had been taking the same vitamin supplements every morning for seven years. A routine, like the coffee she brewed at 6:47 AM, like the way she arranged her earrings on the dresser, like the trust she'd placed in Marcus since they met at that doomed startup in 2018.

But today, the bottle was empty. And in its place, wedged between the supplement containers on their bathroom counter, was a small device she recognized from her years in corporate intelligence—a cable with a modified connector that looked innocent enough to the untrained eye.

Her hands trembled. Not the supplements. Someone had been listening.

The dog Barnaby whined at her ankles, sensing her distress. She'd rescued him three years ago from a shelter, the same year Marcus had "accidentally" run into her at a tech conference. He'd been charming, successful in mergers and acquisitions. She'd been lonely, still recovering from the spy scandal that had ended her career at the agency.

Now she knelt on the bathroom floor, Barnaby's warm weight pressing against her side, and turned the device over in her hands. It was a surveillance bug, high-end, expensive. Not something a jealous partner bought on Amazon. This was professional.

Marcus was due home in twenty minutes. They were supposed to play padel at the club—his new obsession, a way to network with potential clients. She'd pretended to enjoy it, the back-and-forth motion hypnotic, the sweat and competition familiar even if she'd never admit she missed the adrenaline of real stakes.

She placed the bug back exactly where she'd found it. Her hands stopped shaking.

Marcus walked through the door at 7:03 PM, exactly as expected. "Ready for our match, love?" he called, already unbuttoning his shirt.

"Let me grab my vitamins first," she said, her voice steady. "Then we can talk."

She saw it—the flicker in his eyes, the microexpression she'd been trained to spot.

The game was just beginning. And this time, she knew all the rules.