Adrian
The lumbar puncture was scheduled for ten in the morning, the same time I was supposed to be closing a deal that had taken four months to negotiate, a partnership with a European logistics firm that would have opened markets we'd been trying to break into for years. My executive team had scheduled the final signing call weeks ago, back before any of this had happened, back when my calendar still belonged entirely to Blackwood Dynamics instead of being carved up between board meetings and hospital appointments.
I canceled it that morning without a second thought.
My assistant called twice trying to talk me out of it, her voice climbing toward panic by the second attempt. "Adrian, they've been waiting on this call for a week. If we push again, they might walk. You know how these Eu
