I signed.
For a long moment after the pen left the page, I could not move. The contract lay open in front of me, my signature dark against the heavy cream paper, the ink still drying. I did not go after him.
Instead I pulled the document closer and read what I had agreed to. Relocation. Exclusivity. Fiduciary oversight. Public alignment. Termination penalties. A year of my life in sterile legal architecture.
The door to the study opened behind me. Adrian stood in the doorway, his face expressionless. His eyes moved to my signature and then to me.
He walked to the counter and slid the contract from under my hands. He uncapped the pen and I watched him read nothing. He had already read it. He knew every clause. He signed his name beside mine in one clean stroke. His handwriting was stead
