Darien did not speak for several seconds.
The two employees watched him from their desks. They could not hear Walter's voice, but they could see Darien's face changing. That alone made them sit straighter.
"You understand what you are saying, right?" Darien asked. "If I put money into these companies and the fall continues, your money burns. My company burns before it even opens properly."
"It will not fall all the way," Walter said.
"You sound very sure."
"Because I caused it."
Darien's fingers tightened around the phone.
The room around him felt smaller.
He had guessed that the shortage was not clean. The timing was too strange. Several companies were hit in the same direction, and the market was reacting faster than the news could explain. Still, guessing and hearing the man admit it were not the same thing.
"You caused it," Darien said slowly.
