When the heavy doors swung open and Jake walked back into the boardroom alongside Sylvia Sheele, the atmosphere inside tightened to a suffocating pitch.
The Newmans looked up like condemned men watching the executioner return with the axe.
Jake walked smoothly to the head of the long table and pulled out the Chairman's leather chair, taking his seat with absolute calmness. Sylvia took her position to his left, her expression completely smooth, devoid of the cold anger she had displayed earlier.
Silence stretched across the room, heavy and agonizing.
Jake leaned forward, resting his steepled fingers on the polished mahogany, looking directly at Richard Newman.
"It seems," Jake spoke softly, his low voice carrying into every corner of the silent room, "that the gods must be watching over the Newman family today. Because against my better judgment... it appears you won't be wiped out entirely after all."
A collective, sharp gasp echoed across the Newman side of the table.
