The revelation hit me like a freight train, leaving me reeling in its wake. For a moment, time seemed to stand still, my mind unable to process the magnitude of what Preston had just unleashed. He had played his cards masterfully, dropping his bombshell with calculated precision.

As the shock of Preston's revelation still hung heavy in the air, he didn't miss a beat. With a self-assured smoothness that irked me, he addressed the board. "In light of this... development," he began, his ...