Private Room

Ethan kept his breathing even. "What is the offer?" Priya's stare cut toward him. Marcus slid a folder across the table. "Five million dollars guaranteed over two years. Carry in the fund. Access to every founder, banker, lobbyist, and allocator I know. You stop making small trades like a man stealing bread and start moving capital like someone who understands power." For one second Ethan saw it whole: debt gone, parents safe, Maya irrelevant, Nora writing profiles instead of investigations, every man who had dismissed him forced to take the meeting. Five million was not a number. It was a door out of gravity. Then he saw the hook. "And in return?" "Loyalty." "Define it." Marcus's smile thinned. "Smart."