"Let's start now, shall we?" Dominic said, his voice smooth and sharp, as two guards pulled out a chair for him to sit on.
The chair scraped softly against the lacquered floor, the sound swallowed immediately by the suffocating silence in the room. Dominic moved with the measured calm of a man who understood the power of stillness, lowering himself onto the chair as though he had all the time in the world.
Grigor stood just behind him, with his hands clasped loosely, his face unreadable but his eyes restless, tracking every twitch of movement from the sixty men seated across them.
The men were predators. Even the moguls, warlords in suits, silk merchants turned billionaires, smugglers turned chairmen were all the same. Some leaned back with amused smirks, others sat forward with predatory stillness.
At the far end of the table sat the Chairman. His wiry frame and carved-stone face held the room in check. He did not move, nor did he need to.
