The Unspoken Accord
I am convinced.
The tension broke that evening, not through conversation, but through external chaos. As William and Mimi returned to their respective suites after a late celebratory dinner, an urgent call came through the hotel line, Thorne had retaliated.
Thorne, having lost the regulatory battle, was now attempting a desperate, last-minute market play: a highly sophisticated, algorithmic "spoofing" attack designed to artificially depress the stock price of Aetheron just hours before the signing, thus collapsing the deal by making it appear overvalued.