Chapter 2 The Weight of the Gilded Cage

The Estadio de la Luna smelled of stale beer and expensive cleaning solution, an odd bouquet that Nafisa had come to associate with progress. Six days a week, her shift started precisely at 4:30 AM, after the night's revelry had cooled and before the morning traffic choked Madrid's arteries. This hour was her church.

Nafisa moved through the VIP section with an almost mechanical precision. Every sweep of her mop, every polished centimeter of chrome, felt like a direct investment into the Kaduna Business Foundation, the imaginary legal entity that existed only in her accounting ledgers and her fierce imagination.

Her current focus was the main corporate box, a sterile glass enclosure that cost more to rent for one night than she would earn in a year. The floor was still sticky from spilled champagne.

Ninety-five euros, she calculated, scrubbing at a dark wine stain. That is two weeks of textbook access.

Her phone, taped to the cleaning cart, was quietly playing a recorded lecture on global supply chain logistics. She studied while she worked. Sleep was a luxury she couldn't afford; failure was a debt she refused to incur.

Nafisa was from a large, loving family, but she knew her destiny was not secured by their prayers alone. It was secured by the thousands of euros she needed to save to transition from a student with a dream to a CEO with capital. She would not come home from Spain empty-handed. She would come home as an anchor.

"Morning, Lalita," came a cheerful, tired voice.

It was Javier, the kitchen supervisor who had been at the staff party the night before. He was holding a tray of lukewarm coffees, his face pale beneath his thick beard.

"It is Nafisa, Javier," she corrected automatically, not unkindly. "And I did not see you at the party late. Did you leave early?"

Javier handed her a cup. "You left early, Nafisa. Very early. I was just checking the inventory." He paused, his gaze sweeping the box. "It was a wild night, eh? I barely remember walking home."

Nafisa forced a small smile. "I remember very little after the third glass of that red wine. I am built for water, not Spanish temperaments."

She felt a flicker of heat on her neck, an uncomfortable residue from the memory of the night. Her discipline had lapsed, spectacularly. She did not dwell on it. What happened in a drunken haze was a mistake, not a chapter.

"The managers were pleased you came," Javier said, lowering his voice. "It is good they see the staff, not just the surfaces we clean."

Nafisa nodded, grateful for the distraction. She moved to the enormous window overlooking the pitch. The stadium was vast and silent, the pitch a perfect, luminous emerald under the pre-dawn glow.

It was an empty stage, ready for its star.

And there he was.

Walking out of the tunnel and heading straight across the center circle, a figure in a club tracksuit was Diego Herrera. He was early. Too early, even for him. He walked slowly, not like a star, but like a man dragging a heavy weight. He didn't look up at the empty stands or the corporate box where Nafisa stood. He just looked down at the grass, rubbing the back of his neck as if in pain.

Nafisa watched him for a beat too long. Even from this distance, he was breathtaking, a silhouette carved from sheer talent and fame. She remembered their conversation, his whispered confession that his world was empty. She remembered the reckless urgency of his kiss.

He is nothing to you, she told herself firmly, her fingers tightening around the coffee cup. He is a distraction. The entire stadium is a shell of glass and steel, Diego Herrera is merely the most expensive exhibit in it. He is a risk. You are an anchor.

Suddenly, Diego stopped near the penalty spot. He looked up, not toward the stands, but directly at the corporate box. He squinted slightly, then raised his hand, tentatively rubbing his forehead as if trying to recall something important.

Nafisa quickly retreated behind a thick velvet curtain, her heart hammering not with attraction, but with sudden, freezing fear. Had he seen her? Did he remember the cleaning staff were permitted access to the club last night?

It did not matter. She was invisible. She was a cleaner, one of fifty, with a pen name on her visa and a different life waiting across the sea. He had been drunk. He had been hurt. He would never look for a face he was paid millions to forget existed.

She waited until he turned his back, then emerged, her hands shaking slightly. She had a life to build, a future to purchase. She could not afford this distraction. She retrieved her lecture notes and her mop, resuming her work with renewed, frantic energy.

A business is a fortress, she thought. And you must build it before the enemy even knows you exist.