As I handed over the bag, I felt a strange sense of irony, almost like a director in a poorly-scripted movie. It was a plain leather duffel, the kind you’d see in any action film where the protagonist is making a quick getaway. Inside, however, was something far more mundane than ten million dollars—it was filled with bundles of fake bills, a common industry practice for symbolic celebrations of deals. The actual transaction had been completed electronically, and the real money was safely secured in the company’s accounts. I thought the whole thing was rather amusing, but I played along for the sake of tradition.

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