"The State Commerce Bureau just set up a new Investment Review Board, and they sent a team down to Riverside City today. My father pulled some strings to personally invite the team leader to this banquet."
"We're talking about someone with real power. Cross them, and you won't walk out of here in one piece."
Barret's eyes lit up at that. His spine straightened instantly.
"You hear that? The team leader of the Review Board."
He looked at me, dripping with smugness.
"Fox Technologies is a key enterprise backed by the city government. You want to cause a scene here? I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life behind bars."
I looked at the guards circling me, then at Barret and Sara standing there like they'd already won. I couldn't help it. I laughed.
"Oh? The team leader of the Review Board?"
I glanced at him, unhurried.
"Well, since you're both so eager for this team leader to arrive, I think I'll stay after all."
"Let's see who ends up not walking out of here in one piece."
My composure clearly rattled Sara. She scoffed, the contempt in her eyes deepening.
"Keep pretending! Go ahead!"
"Looking the way you do, I bet you don't even know what the Review Board is. And you're putting on airs?"