Eric stared at the letter on his desk, at the familiar, elegant handwriting of his brother, and the imposing wax seal of his family. With a steady hand, he broke the seal and unfolded the thick, cream-colored parchment. The words were formal, cold, and devastating.
It was a letter of termination. A formal dissolution of the alliance between his own burgeoning dye industry and his family's powerful textile establishment. It was a project they had worked on for over a year, a partnership that Eric had seen as a bridge, a way to connect his new world with his old one. Philip had agreed to it, had even praised the initial results. But now, with a single stroke of a pen, he was tearing it all down.
