's spectacular failure. Diego tried to focus on the perfect emerald stripes of the pitch, the smell of damp g

that were purely mechanical. His body moved, but

the whisky. And then, he remembered the dark eyes, the sha

was

viction when she spoke of her business, of Kaduna, but he could not picture her face clearly. He had sought auth

ation, as if she were still there. He had squinted into the glass,

eel, cut across the pitch. "Running dri

it that seemed impervious to the humidity. He looked fresh, alert, and entire

his breath hiss out. "C

Eduardo held up a sleek tablet, dismissing the matter with a wave of his hand. "We have a pre-recorded statement scheduled. A s

at the mention of his carefully managed pe

ego. And last night was an expensive indiscretion. You disappeared for n

pers. Security had a breach report, minor, regarding a staff key card. And there

ands, the leather digging into his palms. "I don't know

eeds into the public arena. The narrative of the heartbroken, dedicated star is valuable. The narrative of the star drunkenly sleeping with a sta

rity report. We pinned the missing card on a dismissed night guard. The cleaner who saw you disappear, a man named Javier, has bee

ut Javier's "generous tip"; the agent dealt in threats veiled as transactions. But what if the woman was a staff member? He had seen

nical voice of his fame-crushed self

ing the ash of the whisky and his shame. "It was

t. That's all I needed to hear. Now, go hit the showers. We have a meeting wi

se of inevitability. He was a product, a commodity, and Eduardo was the warehouse manag

fled thud. He hated himself for lying, and he hated Eduardo for making the lie necessary. His desire for authenticity had alr

his headache pounding a rhythm ag

old plaster and strong coffee, Nafisa Musa was methodically preparing for her day. She was n

her marketing final. The words swam slightly. She was running on th

red, like a fault line had opened in her carefully constructed routin

elebrity, she chastised herself, tapping a pen against

een through the star to the scared, damaged man underneath. That was the problem; she had felt empath

t of gray light touched the sky. She had walked for miles, shaking off th

hased an emergency contraceptive pill, paid for with the day's cleaning wages, and

ted, reciting the words like a business

eenager in economics via video conference. It was more money, slower money, but cleaner money. She needed to earn back

t from the floor caught her eye. It was small, sil

tadium doors, but a high-level access card, engraved with a small,

tes, the medical wing, and, most importantly, the private changing room corridor. Diego's private corrid

r a second, then a hot wav

ke. This was evidenc

y would not be difficult to verify. Her visa, her job, her entire, carefully constructed life in Spain could be

card. It was a t

; someone might find it. She couldn't mail it; that would le

into the highest security areas of

ked down at the card, then up at the faded pri

to mitigate the risk? Wha

was pregnant, her two years of careful planning would evaporate. Her dreams of Kaduna would become

of her wallet, the one she reserved for emergency cash. It f

le, drunken moment of recklessness had permanently derailed her life. The nine months ahead were a terrifying fiscal cliff,