Sign the Papers Mr. Langford novel Chapter 191

The morning meeting at Stellaris Medical began at ten.

By the time Wren Whitaker arrived, the conference room was already packed. Phoebe Price leaned against the window, clutching an untouched coffee. Maya Merritt was crouched in front of the projector, adjusting cables, her hair pulled back with a black tie and a pen clamped between her teeth.

Seeing Wren walk in, Maya pulled the pen from her mouth.

"You look terrible."

Wren dropped her bag on a chair. "I didn't sleep much."

Phoebe cast her a knowing glance but didn't press it.

Everyone knew about the incident at the school yesterday. Leo had hidden in the basement storage, and Lawrence's lawyers had immediately weaponized the concept of a 'child's stable environment' against her. Wren had barely closed her eyes all night.

But no one mentioned the boy today.

There was another battle laid out on the table.

The Xander Medical Fund cooperation draft, the third iteration of The Patient Advisory Board mechanism, data retrieval protocols, and the communication logs with the pilot hospitals.

Maya finished connecting the projector, and the screen flickered to life.

The first slide read: Third-Party Patient Advocacy Support Plan.

She tapped her pen against the table. "The Xander Fund just finalized their revised terms. The money won't touch the Stellaris accounts; it's going straight through third-party legal oversight. The advisory fees, consent disclosures, and follow-up records can all be itemized separately."

Phoebe flipped through the documents. "Sounds incredibly clean."

"It is clean," Maya said, tucking the pen behind her ear. "The problem is, it's too clean. It looks like a man who just scrubbed himself raw before walking into the execution chamber."

No one in the room laughed.

Wren took her seat. "What time is the reply from The Institutional Review Board coming in?"

"Ten-thirty."

Phoebe checked her watch. "Twelve minutes."

Those twelve minutes were agonizing.

Maya kept her head down, furiously clicking her mouse as she tweaked the system prototype. Phoebe put down her coffee and flipped through the same page of the file three times. Wren opened her laptop, intending to review the mediation materials, but after staring at the screen for a few seconds, she closed it again.

At exactly ten twenty-nine, an email notification chimed.

Existing recovery data may not be utilized for public exhibition or model optimization.

The final line was the most gut-wrenching.

Please submit all original procedural documents within five business days.

Maya stared at the screen, silent for a long time.

After a moment, she snatched the pen from behind her ear and slammed it onto the table.

"Are they just forcing us to shut down?"

Nobody replied.

Wren read the email from top to bottom.

Every single word reeked of procedure, reason, and flawlessness. There wasn't a single mistake in their logic, and that was exactly what made it so lethal.

Phoebe leaned back in her chair and let out a dry laugh. "Perfect. Harrison's money hasn't even hit our accounts yet, and it's already bought us a four-to-six-week delay."