Inside the Room

Ethan closed his eyes. The signal did not give him an answer. It gave him a bruise where the answer should be. At five, the Margrave video call began. Twelve squares. Three lawyers. Two procurement officers. One chief risk officer. And a quiet man labeled Daniel Ross, Strategic Consultant. Ethan watched Ross while Priya handled the opening. Ross looked bored in the practiced way of a man waiting for someone else to step on the mine. Margrave's lawyer said, "The audit provision is non-negotiable." "Then the product changes," Ethan said. Priya's head turned slightly. "Atlas will not provide raw decision logs," Ethan continued. "We will provide external escrow with Hannah Cho's firm, model cards for each alert category, and a customer-facing