DAMIEN . . I walked into the room. The energy shifted. A ripple went through the air, a sudden hush falling over the low murmur of conversation. It was deliberated and calculated. My entrance. I moved from the doorway into the conference room, a figure in a dark suit, radiating a controlled, formidable power that silenced the space. My footsteps on the floor were measured and steady. I felt every eye in the room turn towards me. My gaze went around the room at first, scanning and assessing, taking in the layout, the people seated around the long, polished table. The investors, of course my team. The Veridian team, clustered near the front and then my gaze swept across the front of the room. The podium. The screen behind it, displaying a complex graph and her. My gaze th

