The first real crack did not come from money. It came from people.

By this point Ethan and Sophie had fallen into a quiet rhythm. She went to work and class. He traded mornings and tried not to destroy himself in the process. They saw each other twice a week when they could. Sometimes they’d walk in the city and split cheap takeout on a bench. Sometimes they’d just sit in his apartment with the screens off and music playing low while she pretended to study and he pretended not to stare at her.

It felt good. It felt steady. It felt almost safe.

Then the rumor started.

It was small at first. A whisper in one corner of trader chat. Then it grew in a forum. Then it reached phones. Money moves fast. Gossip moves faster.

The rumor said that Ethan’s last two good trades were not skill. The rumor said he had access to insider information. The rumor said he was getting tips before announcements. The rumor said he was not a genius. The rumor said he was cheating.

At first, Ethan laughed when he heard it. He thought it was just envy talking. Traders talk trash about anyone who wins. That is normal. People hate losing and they hate seeing someone else win more than them. He had seen it all before.

But this rumor was different.

This rumor had detail. It said he had a direct line inside Harrington Brokerage. It said a girl working there fed him private order flow and advanced notice of news. It said her name was Sophie.

That was when Ethan stopped laughing.

He was at his desk when he first saw her name mentioned in a message. The second he read it, his chest went tight and cold. His hands curled into fists.

He did not care what they said about him. He could take it. He could swallow anything they threw at him.

But dragging her into it

That he could not take

He called her right away

She answered on the second ring “Hey Ethan I was just about to text you I am on break what’s up”

Her voice sounded normal. Warm. Calm. Like nothing was wrong. He almost did not want to tell her. He wanted to keep that calm in her voice forever. He wanted to protect it

“Where are you right now” he asked

“Office break room” she said “Why Do you need me to move an order”

He swallowed “No Listen Do not panic Okay”

She got quiet “Ethan What happened”

“Someone is talking” he said “About me About you About us They are saying you give me information You know Stuff you are not supposed to share”

There was silence on the line

Then he heard her let out one slow breath

“Who is saying that” she asked in a low voice

“Traders Mostly online” he said “Chat rooms A couple people who know me They are saying I have an inside source at Harrington They are saying I am dirty money And they used your name Sophie They actually used your name”

Another pause

Then she said even softer “Does your name show up next to mine”

“Yes”

“Do they think I am helping you cheat”

“Yes”

“Are they going to tell my manager”

His jaw clenched “I do not know yet but I am trying to shut it down before it spreads more I am talking to people I am deleting threads I am doing what I can”

There was a tiny shake in her voice now “Ethan If this hits HR I can lose my job I can lose my internship for school They will mark me as unethical and no bank will touch me after that I have worked so hard to be clean Do you understand I cannot have something like this on my record I cannot”

Her words came faster and faster like she was trying to keep her voice from cracking by outrunning it

He felt sick

“I know” he said “I know I am going to fix it”

“How are you going to fix it” she said “Because from where I am sitting it sounds bad and it sounds loud”

“I will take the hit” he said “I will say I made up the story to make myself look big I will say I lied about having a source I will make myself the clown and make you look like you did nothing I can do that”

“No” she said fast

He blinked “What”

“No” she said again “If you tell them you lied then it sounds like there was something to lie about They will think there was something between us they will think there is a secret there and they will start looking even harder Do you understand I work for a regulated firm Everything we do is recorded I cannot have them looking deeper into my calls with you If they pull recordings and hear me being personal with you I am done Ethan I am done I could get flagged I could get written up I could get kicked out of the program”

He went quiet

In the background he could hear the low hum of office voices where she was He pictured her standing in a stale break room with thin walls cheap coffee and a buzzing light overhead He pictured her alone in that moment while everyone else kept moving around her like nothing was happening

“I am sorry” he said quietly

Her voice softened but it did not relax “It is not your fault that people talk But it becomes your fault if you do not stop it right now”

He breathed in slow “I will stop it”

“How”

“I will talk to Mark”

Sophie paused “Who is Mark”

“He is one of the guys from my old circle” Ethan said “He is the one who started repeating the rumor He thinks he is doing me a favor by making me look like some shadow level player He thinks making me sound illegal makes me sound powerful I will make him kill it and I will make him make everyone else kill it”

“Can you actually do that” she asked

“Yes” he said “Because he owes me He still owes me from last winter I got him out of a position that could have buried him He has not forgotten”

Sophie was quiet again. Then she said

“Okay Do that Call me when it is done”

He nodded “I will”

“You promise”

He swallowed “Yes I promise”

“Good” she said “Because Ethan I need you to understand something I like you I trust you I am opening parts of myself for you and I am not the kind of person who does that with anyone But if this ruins my life I cannot keep seeing you I cannot let something sweet turn into something that hurts me for years You get that right”

His throat felt tight. He hated that she had to say that out loud. He hated that this world could touch her at all

“I get it” he said “And I will not let that happen to you”

After they hung up he sat there for a moment without moving. His jaw felt locked. His hands felt like they could punch through a wall.

He opened his chat app and messaged Mark

We need to talk now

Mark answered fast for once

Yo young legend what is up You see the way people are finally giving respect to your channel I been out here working PR for you man

Ethan felt anger move through his chest like heat

You are not helping me he typed You are about to wreck someone who matters to me Shut it down

Mark sent back a laughing emoji

Bro relax This is how people build image You know how it is Half these guys are liars anyway You might as well be the smart one who actually has someone feeding him flow You look like a boss You look like the guy with real connections You get it

Ethan typed slow

Listen to me You will stop talking about Sophie now You will tell everyone you made that up You will say you were drunk You will say you were trying to impress people and you lied You will say you have never met her You will say you do not even know if she is real You will delete every message with her name and you will tell them to do the same

Mark replied with another joke

Whoa Whoa This girl must be special

Ethan stared at the screen His vision narrowed He felt something deep in him that was not numbers and not calm and not patient something closer to rage

He typed

Mark I am not asking

Silence this time

Then

Damn Okay Chill You serious huh

Yes Ethan wrote

Mark replied

Fine I will clean it I will fix it I will post that none of it was real and that I exaggerated You owe me something for this though

Ethan felt his jaw clench harder

I owe you nothing he typed You already owe me And you will keep owing me if you ever breathe her name again

Mark did not answer

Good Ethan thought Stay quiet

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He tried to breathe slow. He tried to push down the anger because anger never helped him trade and right now he needed a clear head for what came next.

He called Sophie back

She answered right away “Please tell me you fixed it”

“I fixed it” he said “It is getting killed right now He is walking it back He is saying he made it up after drinking Too much ego Not enough brain His words not mine”

He heard her exhale like she had been holding air in her chest for too long “Okay Okay That helps That helps a lot Thank you”

“I am sorry that you even had to feel scared” he said “I hate that you got pulled into this You are the last person who should get hit”

“It is not just that I am scared” Sophie said quietly “It is that I am embarrassed”

He frowned “Embarrassed why You did nothing wrong”

“Yes I did” she said “From a firm point of view I did Ethan I got personal with you on company calls I did not keep professional space I should have I knew better I just did not care because talking to you never felt like work I forgot that we were being recorded I forgot what room we were in That is on me”

He swallowed “Do you regret it”

He did not mean to ask that. The words slipped out before he could stop them. He hated how small his voice sounded when he said it.

There was a soft silence. For a second he was scared she would say yes.

Then she said “No I do not regret you I just regret the part of the world we live in”

Something in his chest loosened

“Okay” he said softly

“But” she added “I need to do something that you might not like”

His heartbeat picked up “What is it”

“I think we should cool down a little” she said “Not stop Not break Not walk away Just cool down We should not see each other in person for a bit We should not talk on recorded lines at all We should barely text during work hours I need the noise to die and I need things to look normal again So if someone ever checks they will see distance They will see clean lines I need that Ethan I need to protect myself I hope you understand”

He felt like someone had opened his chest and pushed their hand inside. He understood it in his mind. He hated it in his body.

“How long” he asked

“I do not know” she said “A little while Maybe a couple weeks Maybe less Maybe more I just know I cannot have this heat on me right now”

He did not answer right away. He stared at the dim reflection of himself in his black monitor. He saw the tired eyes. The jaw that never really relaxed. The kid who swore he would control everything. The kid who was now learning he could not control anything that actually mattered.

Finally he said “Okay I will give you that space”

Her voice softened “Thank you”

“I will keep you safe” he said

“You already are” she said

He closed his eyes “Will you still want me when this is calm again”

There was a long pause

Then in a voice so quiet it felt like a secret she said

“Yes Ethan I will still want you”

After they hung up he sat alone in his apartment for a long time with no screens on no music no charts just silence

He thought about money and power and image and risk. He thought about how fast the market could turn against you. He thought about how trust was a different kind of trade and how you could not hedge it.

He had always believed the worst thing in his world was losing cash

Now he knew there was something worse

Losing her

And for the first time since he started trading he felt scared in a way that had nothing to do with numbers.