My mother left me hungry and lonely at 16. When my…

I almost laughed.

The idea of Paula running a defense contractor was absurd. She couldn’t even manage a household budget. But Grant wasn’t looking at me.

He was looking at the folder as if it were a winning lottery ticket. Marvin did not touch the folder. He did not even look at it.

He simply stopped reading. The silence in the room stretched thin, transforming from awkward to suffocating. Marvin reached into his briefcase and produced a second envelope.

It was not a standard legal document. It was a heavy cream-colored envelope sealed with red wax. On the front, typed in bold aggressive font, were the words:

Conditional Addendum.

Read only if Paula Sawyer appears. The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly. It was as if the oxygen had been sucked out by a sudden depressurization.