She looked down at the floor mat.

Wedged deep into the metal track of the driver's seat, barely visible in the gloom, was a tiny flash of red. A Lego brick.

Her breath hitched. She glanced at the rearview mirror. Julian was merging into traffic, his eyes scanning the side mirrors. Serena was scrolling on her phone, muttering about reservations.

Elara slowly, carefully, reached down. She pretended to adjust her boot. Her fingers scraped against the grease of the seat track as she pried the sharp plastic loose. She shoved it into her coat pocket.

"What are you doing back there?" Julian asked.

Elara froze. "Nothing. Just... my shoelace."

Serena turned around, peering over the headrest. "You're so fidgety, Elara. It's making me nervous."

Elara gripped the Lego in her pocket until it hurt. "Sorry."

The radio was on low. A news anchor's voice cut through the tension. "...Nebula Systems announced a surprise angel investment today, stabilizing their stock after rumors of..."

Julian reached out and turned the radio off.

Elara bit her lip. Nebula. Her company. Or rather, the company she had built from the ground up in the shadows, hiding behind shell corporations and NDAs.

"Nebula," Serena mused. "That's the AI firm, right? I heard they have a chaotic management structure. But good tech."

"It's a solid investment," Julian said flatly.

"You invested?" Serena asked, surprised.

"Diversification," he said.

Elara looked out the window to hide her expression. He had invested? Julian was the angel investor?

"So, Elara," Julian said, his eyes finding hers in the mirror again. "Are you still wasting your time at that library in Queens?"

The lie tasted like ash in her mouth. "Yes. The public branch. It's... quiet."

Julian's jaw tightened. A muscle feathered in his cheek. "A quiet place for a mind like yours to rot," he murmured, almost to himself. "I thought you had more ambition than stamping due dates."

Elara flushed. He didn't know. He couldn't know that she was the lead architect behind the very system he had just invested in. "It pays the bills," she said softly.

"That sounds quaint," Serena said, her tone dripping with condescension.

They pulled up to the curb of the Four Seasons. Serena's hotel.

Julian put the car in park. He got out and walked around to open Serena's door.

"Thank you, Julian," Serena purred. She stood up, smoothing her skirt. Then, she leaned in. She kissed his cheek, lingering just a second too long. Her hand rested on his chest.

Elara looked away. She focused on a stain on the back of the driver's seat.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the office?" Serena asked.

"7 AM," Julian said.

Serena walked into the hotel, hips swaying.

Julian got back into the car. The silence returned, heavier than before. He didn't put the car in gear. He turned in his seat, draping his arm over the steering wheel to look at Elara in the back.

"Get in the front," he said.

"I'm fine here."

"I am not your chauffeur, Elara. Get in the front."

"It's a ten-minute drive to-"

"Now."

Elara opened the door. The cold air hit her face again. She walked to the passenger side and sat down. The seat was still warm from Serena's body. The smell of sandalwood was suffocating.

Julian put the car in drive. He didn't head toward the Queensboro Bridge immediately. He turned north.

"This isn't the way to my apartment," Elara said.

"We need to talk," Julian said.

"About what?"

"About why my wife is living in a walk-up in Queens when I own three empty penthouses in Manhattan."

---

"It's an embarrassment," Julian said. "The press is already sniffing around. 'The Sterling Estrangement'. Do you know what it does to the stock when they think I've abandoned you?"

"You did abandon me," Elara said quietly.

Julian slammed on the brakes. He pulled the car over to the curb, the tires crunching against the snow. He shifted into park and turned to her. The dashboard lights cast deep shadows over his eyes.

"I went to Zurich to save the company. To save us."

"You went to Zurich with her," Elara shot back. "For seven years."

"Serena is a business partner."

"Is that what you call it?" Elara laughed, a bitter, jagged sound. "She kissed you. Just now."

"She's affectionate. We grew up together. You know that."

"I know she hates me. And I know you let her."

Julian ran a hand through his hair, frustrating messing up the perfect style. "I am trying to protect you, Elara. You don't understand the wolves in this city."

"I'm not a child, Julian. I don't need protection. I needed a husband."

"Is there someone else?"

The question hung in the air like smoke.

Elara's heart stopped. "What?"

"In Queens. Is that why you won't move? Are you hiding someone?"

He was so close to the truth it made her dizzy. She was hiding someone. A six-year-old boy with Julian's eyes and Julian's stubborn chin.

"That's none of your business," she said.

Julian's face hardened. He looked like she had slapped him. "I see."

"It's not what you think," she tried to say, but the words stuck.

"I'm taking you home," Julian said, his voice dropping to absolute zero. He threw the car into gear, the tires spinning on the ice before catching.

"You don't have to-"

"I said I'm taking you home. I want to see this place you prefer over your own husband."

Panic clawed at Elara's throat. "No. You can't come up."

"Try and stop me."

The drive to Queens was a blur of terrified silence. When Julian pulled up in front of her dilapidated building, he stared at the graffiti on the door, his expression unreadable.

"This is it?" he asked.

"Yes," Elara said, unclipping her belt. "Goodbye, Julian."

"I'm walking you to the door."

"No!" She shouted it too loud. "I mean... the neighbors. They talk. Please, Julian. Just go."

He looked at her, his eyes searching her face for a long, agonizing moment. Finally, he unlocked the doors.

"Go," he said. "Before I change my mind and drag you back to the Tower myself."

Elara grabbed her purse. Tears burned her eyes, hot and fast. She wasn't going to let him see her cry. Not again.

She shoved the door open and scrambled out. The wind hit her instantly. She slammed the door with all her strength.

She didn't look back until she was safely inside the lobby door. Through the cracked glass, she saw the Toyota sitting there, idling. Julian didn't leave until the light in the fourth-floor hallway flickered on.

Inside the car, Julian gripped the steering wheel until the leather groaned. He picked up his phone and dialed a number.

"I want eyes on that building," he commanded. "24/7. Find out who goes in and out. Especially who she's meeting."

---

Warmth.

That was the first thing that hit her. The smell of vanilla and warm milk.

"Mommy?"

A small voice came from the living room.

Elara dropped her bag and kicked off her boots. "I'm here, Leo."

Leo was sitting at the small kitchen table. He was six, but he had the focus of a sixty-year-old. He was hunched over a laptop that was covered in dinosaur stickers.

He slammed the laptop shut as soon as he saw her.

"You're late," he said. He sounded exactly like Julian. The inflection, the tilt of the head. It broke her heart every time.

"I know, baby. Work was... long."

Mrs. Higgins, the elderly neighbor who watched him, poked her head out of the kitchen. "He ate his lasagna. He's been on that computer all night, Elara. I don't know what he does on there."

"Just games," Leo said quickly.

Elara paid Mrs. Higgins and walked her to the door. When she turned back, Leo was watching her. His grey-blue eyes were too perceptive.

"You were crying," he stated.

"It's just the wind," Elara lied. She walked over and kissed the top of his head. His hair was soft, dark like his father's. "What were you really doing on the computer?"

Leo hesitated. Then he opened the lid.

On the screen wasn't a game, but a complex string of code running in a terminal window. A video feed popped up.

"I accessed the municipal traffic grid," he said nonchalantly. "I wanted to make sure you were safe." He pointed at the screen. "That man. The tall one. He stood in front of you."

Elara looked at the grainy footage of Julian shielding her from the angry driver.

"Who is he?" Leo asked.

Elara swallowed. "He's... just someone I used to know."

"He looks like me," Leo said.

Elara's blood ran cold. "Lots of people have dark hair, Leo."

"Not the hair. The standing." Leo stood up and mimicked Julian's posture-hands in pockets, shoulders back. It was uncanny.

"Time for bed," Elara said, her voice sharp.

Later, after Leo was tucked in, Elara sat on the edge of his bed. He was asleep, clutching a stuffed bear.

Her phone buzzed. A text from the bank.

Alert: Deposit of $50,000 received from Anonymous Source.

Elara stared at the screen. Her stomach churned. She hadn't given her account number to anyone. Was this Julian? Or...

She ran to the living room and opened Leo's laptop. It was password protected, but she knew it. Nebula123.

She checked his history. He had been on a dark web forum for white-hat hackers. He had completed a bounty for a crypto vulnerability.

"Oh, Leo," she whispered.

He was trying to save them. Just like his father tried to save his company. But she couldn't touch this money. It was untraceable, dangerous. If she used it, the IRS-or worse, Julian's forensic accountants-would flag her instantly.

---