The next phase required elimination, and Elena understood that before she even opened the notebook that morning. The structure she had built over the past days was stable, but stability depended not only on what she included, but also on what she removed. Any variable capable of introducing unpredictability had to be identified and controlled before it had the chance to develop into a problem.
Alexander belonged to that category.
Until now, she had not needed to think about him beyond the context of the agreement. The transaction had been completed, the terms fulfilled, and there had been no expectation of further interaction. That had been part of the design from the beginning, something she had insisted on as much as he had.
Now, however, the situation had shifted. Not in a way that r
