“The fifty million dollars is sitting in an escrow hold at the Bank of New York, ready to be released immediately.”

I drew the fifty-million-dollar agreement toward me and turned straight to the signature block on page fourteen.

Spencer reached into his breast pocket and brought out his heavy silver fountain pen.

He laid the pen next to my right hand and sat back in his chair, his broad shoulders tense as he braced for an argument.

Rosalind stopped tapping her fingernail and watched me with her lips pressed into a thin line.

I unscrewed the cap of Spencer’s silver fountain pen, put the cap down beside the blue folder, and signed my full legal name across the first line.