Sergio paused for a beat, clearly thrown off by my words. But it didn't take long before he grasped exactly what I meant.
His phone suddenly buzzed violently in his pocket. Instinctively, he pulled it out and answered. The next second, a panicked voice exploded through the line.
"Mr. Pagano, bad news! Customs has carried out a sudden inspection of all the Middle Sea shipping ports. Every single shipment is seized. All offshore routes are forcibly suspended!"
Sergio's face turned cold in an instant. "What is going on? Why wasn't Customs giving any prior notice?"
The voice on the other end stammered in panic, "W-We don't know. It came out of nowhere! We only know that three consortiums under Aureopea suddenly issued termination notices, cutting all cooperation without conditions, and the
