Chapter 26
At that moment, the atmosphere in the room thickened with silent tension. Murmurs began to ripple through the group sharp whispers, soft grumbles, and impatient sighs. Their faces were no longer just filled with confusion or frustration there was now growing resentment, and it was pointed in one direction.
James.
One of the men sitting by the far side of the table leaned forward and whispered harshly to the person beside him, "He’s obviously hiding something. You can tell. Look at how he keeps deflecting."
Another voice followed quickly, louder this time. "We’re wasting time. The more we sit here listening to his excuses, the more danger our businesses face."
More heads nodded in agreement, some gritting their teeth, others shaking their heads in disbelief. The consensus was growing quickly, and the pressure was mounting.
"Exactly," one of them snapped. "We all know the Victors don’t just move without reason. Someone messed up and all signs point at him."
"The blacklist wasn’t random," someone else added. "We’ve seen this happen before. You offend someone powerful someone the Victors respect and then this kind of storm follows. We’re not stupid."
One of the elder men, who had been quietly observing from the corner, finally spoke in a deep, slow voice. "The longer we take to fix this, the more we bleed. It won’t stop at this blacklist. This is only the beginning. If we don’t make amends soon, our companies might collapse."
There was a heavy silence again, then someone muttered, "And what if tomorrow, our accounts get frozen? Or our partners pull out?"
At that moment James felt his throat tighten. He stepped forward, his voice louder now, cutting through the noise.
"So, what now?" he said, his eyes darting from face to face. "Are you all accusing me?"