FAZER LOGINELARAI sat in the car in the drive and read Silas's letter twice before I went inside.It was short, the way everything he gave me was short, and it answered a question I had written but not yet sent, which meant one of two things.Either he had anticipated exactly what I would ask, because he knew me that well, or someone had told him what was in a letter still sealed on my bedside table.I made myself read the words rather than the mystery around them.Elara. By now you have found the device in your home. I know you have, because I know how that family works, and I know they would have placed one the moment you became a threat. You are wondering if I placed it. I did not. But I am not going to ask you to believe me, because belief is not something a person can be argued into, and you have been lied to by enough people to know that.Instead I am going to tell you how to find out for yourself. The devices that family uses are made by one supplier. Each one carries a serial mark, sma
ELARAI sat in the car in the drive and read Silas's letter twice before I went inside.It was short, the way everything he gave me was short, and it answered a question I had written but not yet sent, which meant one of two things.Either he had anticipated exactly what I would ask, because he knew me that well, or someone had told him what was in a letter still sealed on my bedside table.I made myself read the words rather than the mystery around them.Elara. By now you have found the device in your home. I know you have, because I know how that family works, and I know they would have placed one the moment you became a threat. You are wondering if I placed it. I did not. But I am not going to ask you to believe me, because belief is not something a person can be argued into, and you have been lied to by enough people to know that.Instead I am going to tell you how to find out for yourself. The devices that family uses are made by one supplier. Each one carries a serial mark, sm
ELARAMy first instinct was to destroy the device.My second instinct, the one I had learned from watching Victoria, was better."We do not remove it," I said, closing my hand around it gently and setting it back exactly where we found it.Julian looked at me. "You want to leave it there.""She does not know we found it," I replied. "That is the only advantage we have left, and it is a large one. The moment we destroy it, she knows we know, and she goes quiet, and we lose the one channel where we can put information directly into her ear."Understanding moved across Julian's face. "You want to feed it," he said."She listened to us build a trap," I said. "Now we build a different one, out loud, at this table, knowing she is listening. Everything we say here from now on is a message to Victoria. We just have to make certain she never realises it is a message."It was a cold and patient kind of move, and I saw Julian recognise it as his mother's kind, and I saw him decide not to say so.
ELARAI called Greer before I called anyone else.She answered on the second ring and I could hear the fear in the single word she used to greet me."Listen carefully," I said. "Victoria knows we met. I do not know how, but she does. You may be in danger. Where are you right now.""I am home," she said. "I came straight home. Elara, how could she know. No one followed me, I checked, I always check.""I believe you," I replied. "Which is exactly the problem. If no one followed you, then the leak is not at the garden. It is somewhere closer."I told her to lock her doors and to call me if anything felt wrong and to trust no one from the company until I told her otherwise.Then I sat in my car outside the church and thought about how Victoria had known.I had told Lydia about the meeting. I had told Julian. I had spoken to Greer directly, and Greer swore she had not been followed.Four people knew about that meeting. Greer, Lydia, Julian, and me.I did not believe Greer had told Victoria
ELARAGreer chose a small church garden on the east side of the city, which told me something before she said a word.It was a place with no connection to money or business, the kind of place a frightened person chooses when they have run out of safe rooms.She was already there when I arrived, sitting on a stone bench with her hands folded, smaller than I remembered from the meeting."Thank you for coming," she said. "And for not telling your father.""You asked me not to," I replied. "I would like to know why."She looked at me for a long moment, and I read her the way I read everyone now, watching for the thing that did not fit."Because your father trusts me," she said. "And what I have to tell you would break that trust if it came out the wrong way."I sat down beside her and waited."Forty years ago I worked for your father when Hale Tech was new," she said. "I loved that company. I loved what he built. And when Victoria took it, I lost my place along with everyone else, and I s
ELARAI started with a list of the eight names that same night.Lydia came to the house, and Julian made coffee none of us drank, and we sat at the table with the eight shareholders written out in front of us."One of them met with Victoria, or took her money, or owed her something," Lydia said. "People do not betray for no reason. Find the reason and you find the person.""Tell me about all eight," I said. "Everything you have."Lydia had done her work. She always had."Harlan Voss first," she said. "No relation to me, before you ask. He speaks for the cautious shareholders. Old money, careful, the kind of man who fears loss more than he wants gain.""A man who fears loss is a man who can be frightened into selling," I said. "Note him.""Second, Priya Anand," Lydia continued. "Engineer. She holds her shares because she helped rebuild the company's systems and your father gave her equity instead of a salary she could not be paid yet. She has the least money of the eight and the most l
ELARAI waited for Silas to say something more and he did not look away from me while he gathered the words carefully.“Her name was Mara Voss,” he said finally. “She was twenty-two years old when Julian proposed to her and she said yes for the same reason you did, because she needed something and
ELARA’S POV The next morning, I tried to act like everything was normal. I tied my apron and picked up my tray. I told myself I would not think about the note in my pocket and i would not think about the man who gave it to me, or the other man who should not have noticed me but did. The bell abo
ELARA’S POV The night after the gala, everything felt wrong. I went back to work like nothing had changed. It was as if I had not seen a world that was never meant for me, as if I had not stood in front of a man who looked at me like I truly mattered. But nothing felt the same. The diner smelle
ELARA’ S POV The next place I stood felt nothing like home. The Grand Meridian Hotel glowed with wealth and power, and when I stepped inside, I felt like I had crossed into a different world where people like me only existed to serve and disappear. I kept my head down and held my tray steady as I







