Chapter 65: Line of Battle.
They watched Dough saunter out of the office, the door slamming shut behind him with a hollow thud that seemed to reverberate through the entire room. An uneasy silence descended over Alex and Liam in the wake of the other man's audacious remarks and thinly veiled threats.
Finally, Alex broke the tense quiet, unable to contain himself any longer. "You can't just sit there saying nothing, Liam! Can't you see that everything is truly on the line here?" He threw his hands up in an animated gesture of dismay. "The company, our homes, our entire livelihoods, and legacies - that vulture Dough will try to snatch it all away from us without a shred of hesitation or remorse!"
Liam remained rooted in place, his body rigid as a statue aside from the slight twitching of the muscle in his clenched jaw. For several beats, he simply stared off vacantly, seemingly oblivious to his friend's frantic words as his mind raced.