Chapter 238

• Third person pov
• The chandeliers in the private dining room glistened above them, scattering fractured light across the long mahogany table. The atmosphere was quiet but sharp, as though the silence itself had been sculpted and placed between the men who had gathered here tonight.
• Alan sat at the head of the table, his posture controlled, his eyes unreadable. He tapped the tip of his pen against a slim folder of documents laid in front of him. Ivan, lounging in his chair with an air of carelessness that belied his sharp mind, was watching him closely. To Alan’s left sat Mr. Yoshida, a man who gave nothing away, his expression smooth as porcelain, his small dark eyes betraying no flicker of what he truly thought.