The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 59: Documents Over Steak
“Come to my office.”
Jorgreman returned straight to his office without even eating lunch. Compared with the documents in his hand, a thirty-nine-dollar steak had no chance of holding his attention.
Two minutes later, a middle-aged man with a lawyer’s badge pinned to his chest walked in.
Any student of law who successfully graduated from the academy and obtained a lawyer’s license could receive such an Initiate Badge.
It was only an Initiate Badge, but even the Federation’s most distinguished lawyers wore theirs every day. It was a symbol of their profession, and in its own way, a kind of nobility.
“Naf, take a look at these documents.”
When Jorgreman left, William had not only voluntarily given him two pledge agreements, but had also prepared copies of the other documents. That alone raised William in Jorgreman’s estimation.
There was an old saying that everyone had opportunities, but not everyone could seize them, and not everyone was prepared to face them.
Most people understood the part about failing to seize opportunity. Ninety-five percent of people remained ordinary. In their ordinary lives, there were always a few chances to change their fate, but they could not see them and could not grasp them.
People understood that middle sentence, but not the last half.
Sometimes, when you seize an opportunity, you think your life is about to change. And of course, it is.
But only if you are prepared.
If you are prepared, opportunity will give you wealth, standing, and reputation equal to the full measure of your ability. In such hands, opportunity is like a woman soft as water.
But if you are not prepared, opportunity is a train smashing straight into your skull.
There was no shortage of stories in this world about people who “seized an opportunity” and ended up destroying themselves and their families.
Opportunity always changed a person’s fate, but not always for the better.
William had prepared. More than that, he could create opportunities.
Jorgreman had met people like that before. With his position, he had enough access to local and regional socialites. In William, he saw their shadow.
Ambitious. Like a hunter hidden in the dark, ready to strike at any moment.
It was hard for such a person not to succeed.
That was also why Jorgreman was willing to give William a chance.
No one ever complained about having too many valuable connections. As long as a person lived in society, there was no avoiding them.
The man he called Naf was a member of the Sabine City Golden Exchange Bank legal team. The bank had lawsuits to fight every year. Hiring outside counsel every time would be far too extravagant, so they had trained their own legal team to cut costs.
Naf read the documents carefully. He did not skip a single symbol. He also took out a sheet of paper to record his thoughts and the numbers of certain clauses.
After roughly half an hour, he let out a breath, arranged the documents in the order he had read them, placed them on the desk, and looked at Jorgreman.
“Are there any problems with these documents?”
Jorgreman took out two cigars, real cigars, and handed one to Naf. Naf thanked him and accepted it.
As he clipped the end, he answered, “No problems at all. This pledge agreement was formed by adding several supplementary clauses to the loan agreement we currently use.”
“Two clauses are very interesting. The first states that within a very short period after the agreement is signed, if the borrower cannot repay the money, he must not only surrender the pledged asset, but also continue repaying the principal and interest.”
A faint, hard-to-read smile appeared on his face.
“This should be a new agreement used by outside finance companies. They never used this sort of thing before.”
Naf’s expression carried a trace of mockery.
He looked down on those outside finance companies.
So did Jorgreman.
In the past, when Mr. Fox issued aid, he usually just had people write an IOU. If the borrower was a neighborhood resident, sometimes he did not even require that. All of this had changed because of William’s arrival.
Jorgreman nodded.
Naf continued with the next clause.
“I noticed a line in their supplementary terms...”
As he spoke, he pointed it out for Jorgreman.
The language roughly stated that the agreement had been signed in the presence of a third-party witness, without coercion, voluntarily, and with the third party’s name listed alongside all three signatures.
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