Episode 3
1124 Words
Elena waited in the corner booth. The lights in the café were dim, moody, trying too hard. Her coffee had gone cold, but she hadn’t touched it.
Outside, the rain started again. Light, steady. The kind that blurred everything just enough.
She adjusted the hood of her coat and kept her eyes on the door.
Elena sat there, looking at David , walk to get a cup of coffee for himself,
Her thoughts kept racing.
She didn’t expect him to show at all.
He walked towards her and moving like someone who didn’t want to be seen. Baseball cap, dark hoodie, neutral face. He scanned the room once again and headed to her seat instantly.
Of course he still looked good.
Elena didn’t move. She let him come to her.
He slid into the booth without a word, removed the cap, and looked at her like he was trying to solve a puzzle he thought he’d already buried.
“Elena.”
“David.”
There was a long pause. Not awkward—just... stretched. Like something about to break.
“You look different,” he said finally.
“I was locked away for four years. That’ll do it.”
She didn’t smile. He didn’t either.
****
He studied her face a moment longer. Like he was still catching up to the fact that she was real. Alive. Free.
“I wasn’t sure if this was a trap,” he said.
“It still might be,” she said.
Another silence. Then he exhaled and leaned back against the booth.
“I’m not here to fight you.”
“Good. You’d lose.”
A corner of his mouth lifted. It didn’t last.
“I thought you were gone for good,” he said quietly.
“You helped put me there.”
His jaw tightened. “I didn’t know. Cruz didn’t tell me what really happened. He said you broke. Said you were seeing things. Paranoid.”
She blinked slowly. “And you believed him.”
“I didn’t want to. But I didn’t know what else to do.”
That sat between them for a beat.
Then Elena leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table.
“Why’d you come?”
David hesitated. “You sent a message. You asked for me.”
“That’s not why,” she said. “You could’ve ignored it. Blocked the number. Reported me to Cruz.”
“I didn’t.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer right away. Looked down at the table, picked at the paper napkin in front of him. When he spoke, it was low.
“Because I never believed you were crazy. And because I’ve been having doubts. For a long time.”
****
Elena studied him. Not just his face, but the weight in his posture. He looked older than four years ago. Not in a physical way. In the way people look when they stop pretending.
“You’ve seen it too,” she said.
He didn’t nod. Didn’t move.
“I started noticing inconsistencies two years ago,” he said quietly. “Money being funneled into shell companies. Internal reports that never made it past the legal team. Cruz kept brushing it off, said I was getting paranoid. That I needed a break.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Sound familiar?”
He looked up. Their eyes met.
“You knew,” she said, softer now.
“Not all of it. But enough.”
“And you stayed.”
“For a while.”
****
The waitress stopped by.
'Do you need anything else?' she asked
They both ordered coffee, even though Elena’s first cup sat untouched. David rubbed his hands together like he was trying to warm them, though it wasn’t cold inside.
We'll need sausage rolls,thank you. David answered dismissively
“You said you had proof,” he said, keeping his voice low.
“I do. Enough to ruin Cruz.”
David didn’t flinch. “You think he doesn’t already know you’re out?”
“He suspects.”
“And you reached out to me anyway?”
“I needed to know where you stood.”
He looked at her again. A longer look. Something searching.
“I don’t stand with Cruz,” he said.
“But you’re still part of the family.”
He shook his head. “That word hasn’t meant anything in years.”
She slid a small flash drive across the table. Didn’t push it. Just let it sit between them.
He didn’t touch it.
“What’s on it?” he asked.
“Not everything. Just enough.”
He stared at it like it might bite him.
“I want to believe you,” he said.
“Then believe me.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Yes, it is,” she said. “It’s always been. You either look away, or you don’t.”
Another pause. He leaned forward now.
“You really think you can take him down?”
“I don’t think,” she said. “I know.”
***
The sausage rolls came. Neither touched it.
David finally reached for the drive and slipped it into his pocket.
He looked at her, then, like something clicked.
“You’re not just trying to expose him.”
“No.”
“You want to destroy him.”
“Yes.”
“And then what?”
She looked out the window. The rain had slowed. The city looked damp and tired.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe I disappear again. Or maybe I live.”
His voice softened. “You don’t have to do it alone.”
She turned back to him. “Why now?”
“Because I should’ve done something then. And because this time, I won’t stay quiet.”
---
They sat in silence a long time.
Not tense. Not easy either.
History sat between them. Unfinished conversations, looks exchanged behind Cruz’s back, the way David had once paused too long when Elena smiled.
She remembered that.
She remembered everything.
***
Finally, she stood.
“I’ll be in touch,” she said.
David looked up. “Where are you staying?”
She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Elena—”
“I need to keep moving.”
He stood too. Reached into his pocket, pulled out a card.
“My private line. Doesn’t go through Cruz. Not even the company.”
She took it. Tucked it into her coat without looking.
David didn’t reach for a hug. Didn’t try to make it sentimental.
But his voice was quiet when he said, “I’m glad you’re alive.”
She held his gaze.
“I’m glad I'm alive too,” she said.
And then she was gone.
- Writer
