The red numbers on the device continued counting down.
00:29
No one inside the boardroom moved.
Seraphina Vale felt the air grow heavy in her lungs while every person at the table stared at the blinking light beneath the chair.
Lucien Ashford remained standing at the head of the table. His expression looked calm, but Seraphina could see the tension in the slight tightening of his jaw.
"Everyone remain exactly where you are," Lucien said.
His voice carried steady authority.
The board members froze.
Seraphina leaned slightly forward while she tried to see the device more clearly. The bomb sat beneath the chair of Harold Whitmore, one of the senior investors in Ashford Group.
Whitmore looked pale. "Is that… a bomb?" he asked quietly.
Lucien answered without hesitation. "Yes."
The timer continued.
00:23
Marcus Delaney moved toward the table quickly. "Sir, I can attempt to disarm it," he said.
Lucien raised a hand. "Do not touch it yet."
Marcus stopped.
