The pen remained suspended a mere fraction of a millimeter above the pristine white paper. Bek's onyx eyes greedily devoured the dense clauses of the federation's official legal document, but the printed words seemed to scatter across his consciousness like fragments of crushed ice. Venka's voice, raw and echoing through the speaker of Taishi's phone, still vibrated in the room—a contagious burst of adrenaline celebrating Jake's frantic escape with the damaged titanium screw. Yet, deep within Bek's chest, the brief spark of initial relief was already being systematically consumed by a rising tide of freezing reality.
"If you sign this, Zinov will be slapped with an immediate suspension, and a formal criminal investigation will be launched against him," Taishi had explicitly stated.
