The Trap is Sprung

A wave of annoyance washed over Ryan, but he tried to maintain an air of diplomacy, even raising one hand to placate the other, and perhaps, also himself.

“Baron Illus, let’s—”

“One.”

Ryan’s gaze wordlessly shifted to Tom, checking the young man’s current mental state to see if there was anything on his mind.

His aide wore a guilty expression on his face. At his current state where he's mulling too much about his mistake, incapable of noticing anything else, Ryan knew that it was going to be difficult to communicate anything with him.

Baron Illus’s gaze glinted with intensity as he spouted the next number, a wave of power rolling off in his tongue as he dictated life and death over one defenseless man.

“Two.”