The Tycoon's Odyssey

The room plunged into a prolonged, suffocating silence, the air thick with unease.

Fabiano had been thrown out like garbage, but the atmosphere he left behind was anything but calm. The family heads sat frozen in their chairs, their faces pale, drawn and hollow. It was as though they had witnessed something otherworldly—something that was far beyond their comprehension.

Evan sat motionless in his chair, his elbows resting on the armrests, his forehead pressed against his interlaced fingers. His posture seemed composed, almost statuesque, but Suri, who stood beside him clutching one of his arms, sensed otherwise. She could feel the faint tremor in his muscles, the raw anger simmering just beneath the surface, ready to erupt.

Behind him, Claire stood silently, her gaze sharp and vigilant, as if ready to act at a moment's notice.

The suffocating silence lingered until it was broken by a sharp inhale. Uday Kotak darted his sharp eyes toward Evan as he leaned forward, his voice cutting through the oppressive stillness.

"Let me get this straight," Uday began, his tone dripping with disbelief. "Fabiano came here… demanded $500 billion—and just that—and you refused? That's all?"

His words hung in the air, met by the confused murmurs of the others. Gukesh, his face etched with a complicated mix of fear and frustration, added cautiously, "If you didn't want to pay $500 billion, Evan, you could've simply asked us to pool the amount. Between all of us, it isn't much of a burden."

"Why did you refuse him? No, I get why you refused him, but what about all this destruction? You dragged him out and threw him away like… like a criminal."

Uday nodded in agreement, his voice skeptical. "I am even surprised that you have a superhuman and use him to toss him away."

Prakash, sitting rigidly with his arms crossed, nodded in agreement. His voice carried a faint hint of reprimand, "Why go to such lengths over something as insignificant as a child?"

At those words, Evan's head lifted slowly. His face, once shrouded in shadow, was now illuminated by a chillingly cold expression. His eyes were void of any warmth, his lips curling slightly into something far more unsettling than a smile—a mix of disdain and fury. The deadly lifelessness of his gaze seemed to pierce through their very souls.

"Are you joking with me right now?" His words, calm yet venomous, sliced through the air like a blade.

The three family heads stiffened, visibly startled by the tone of his voice.

Roy began to rise from his seat to say something, but Evan silenced him with a glance and raised a hand.

Rising to his feet with deliberate slowness, Evan's movements were measured, and calculated, like a predator circling its prey. His icy stare bore into Uday, Gukesh, and Prakash as he spoke, his voice colder than ice.

"Are you trying to play innocent, or do you truly not understand?"

Uday bristled at the accusation, his tone defensive. "What are you implying by that?"

Evan's lips twisted into a bitter smirk. "I mean exactly what I said. Are you oblivious to the pacts? The ones that bind us to hand over every advancement, every piece of innovation, to those vultures who would pray and steal what's ours?"

The three men fell silent and exchanged uneasy glances. They knew. But their silence only stroked Evan's fury.

The faint tremor in the ground beneath their feet returned, a subtle warning of the storm brewing within Evan.

Evan's voice, which had been calm a moment ago, carried an edge sharp enough to cut through steel as he saw them standing motionless.

"You don't know?" he repeated mockingly, his voice rising.

"What is it you are speaking about?"

"Do you really don't know anything? You, the big heads and masters of such powerful families, claim to be unaware of such things?"

"You're telling me you don't know about the thousands of facilities where they experiment on and butcher young children in the name of 'progress'? Where do they rip apart lives and discard their bodies like trash?"

His hands clenched into fists as he stepped forward while the air around him crackled with restrained raw energy. "You're unaware of how they suppress scientific developments, hoard discoveries for their own gain and stifle progress to keep their grip on the world? They shape the world as if this is their fiefdom, doing nothing while reaping all the rewards!"

Evan's voice thundered in the room, and the tremors only continued growing stronger, rattling the glasses and plates on the table. The family heads exchanged panicked glances, struggling to find words.

Finally, Prakash muttered weekly, "We… we know."

Evan's restraint finally snapped. He slammed a hand onto the table, shattering it with a deafening crack.

"Then why the hell did you sign the damn pact?" he roared, his voice reverberating like thunder.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The three men flinched, their expressions a mix of shame and fear. The oppressive force of Evan's telekinetic energy pushed the air from their lungs, leaving them gasping. Evan's piercing gaze bore down on them, his rage palpable.

"You knew what they were. You knew what they'd done. And yet, you bowed to them like obedient dogs." He took another step forward, the floor beneath him groaning as if it was straining to bear his weight.

"You signed away your freedom, and with it, the future of countless innocents. For what? Comfort? Protection? Or was it just your greed?"

None of them dared to respond. The suffocating silence returned, broken only by the sound of Evan's heavy breathing as he struggled to hold his power. Behind him, Suri tightened her grip on his arm, her calm presence grounding him ever so slightly, while Claire's watchful eyes darted between the others, ready to act if the need arose.

"It's not as if it's entirely their fault," Claire said gently, trying to diffuse the tension. "They didn't sign it, rather it was their ancestors and the Rajputs were the ones who took the lead in all this."

Evan straightened at last, his voice dropping to a deadly calm yet laced with an icy undertone. "I won't let this stand. Not anymore."