Mr. Longman gave Charles a toothy grin, and Charles could feel his blood boiling. At that moment, he felt deep loathing for Mr. Longman. He had James, but had to take Amelia too? "You're going to kill two innocent people just for something as trivial as a business partnership?" Charles asked, sounding like he couldn't believe Mr. Longman. "Maybe it's trivial to you,but it's not to me. No, Charles, you shouldn't see half of the picture, you should always try your best to see the big picture. That is what I always do, and it is why I am partnering with you." Mr. Longman replied, and Charles scoffed, dipping his hands into his pockets. "Let's say I sign the contract with you..." "Oh, a contract's not ready yet. I didn't think that far, but you can count on it happening soon." He replied. "A contract's not ready? Reckless. What if I refuse to sign it when it is ready? Or let's say I sign it, only to break it and pay the severance fee later on?" Charles asked, but instead, Mr. Longman laughed in delight. "Oh come on. You won't." "I won't?" Charles asked, with a raised brow. "No, you won't." Mr. Longman said confidently, then rose to his feet. "Would you like to see your man? I'm sure you'll be worried. Maybe after, we can discuss?" He suggested, moving past Charles to get to the door. Charles had an odd feeling that he wouldn't like what would happen next, but he had no choice but to follow Mr. Longman. They went through a series of hidden doors, and finally approached a room with bare walls, and ground. There was no window, and James sat, with his back against the wall. He was sweating profusely, and his hand was also wrapped in a bandage. That wasn't the infuriating part. The infuriating part was that the bandage was covered in blood. Charles' anger flared up within him like a wave, and he turned to Mr. Longman, who had a satisfied smile on his face, as he watched James. "What did you do to him? Don't you know hostages are never hurt, until the target refuses to comply? Why would you hurt him? What did you do to him?" He bellowed, and Mr. Longman tried to fix an innocent look on his face. "My bad, but it was necessary." "Necessary? Necessary to hurt him? Why would hurting him be necessary?" Charles asked, furiously, getting more angry, as Mr. Longman annoyingly tried to look innocent. "You don't get me. It was necessary, so we could plant the bomb in his arm." He said, casually, and Charles stopped. It seemed like someone had frozen his nerves, joints, facial expressions and everything. It was only when Mr. Longman had a very satisfied smile on his face that he was able to form words. "B… bomb?" He asked, in a voice close to a whisper. "Yes. Bomb." "What? You have to be kidding me." Charles said, going to James. "It is why you will not be going back on your word. The bomb in his arm is very delicate. One little touch, and it blows up. You see, it can only be deactivated by me." Mr. Longman continued. Charles thought he was insane. How could he go that far just to attain a business relationship with him? Charles wiped the sweat off James' brow, and James' eyelid flitted open slowly. When he saw Charles, he gave a tiny smile and closed his eyes once more. "Are you ready now? If you go back on your promise of partnering with me, I will blow him up. Surely you cannot be so defiant to let your right-hand man go just like that?" Mr. Longman teased, and Charles gritted his teeth. "Fine. If it is partnering you want, then partnering you shall get." He said, and lifted James, with much effort into his arms. "Since we're partners, you can as well have your goons take the woman with me to my car." He added, leaving the room with James. Mr. Longman chuckled, and turned to follow Charles. "Maxwell! Take the lady to his car." He ordered. Charles was dismayed. How could such have happened to James? He looked at the bandaged arm, which seemed to bleed more, and worried he might have a serious infection. He placed James in the driver's seat, strapping his seatbelt over him carefully. Then Amelia was placed in the backseat, and Charles shot the men a scathing look, before starting the ignition. He drove both Charles and Amelia to his home, and Martha took care of Amelia, while he took James into one of his rooms, and began to phone a doctor. The doctor arrived shortly, after being told it was an emergency, and checked James' arm. "What do you think about the bomb?" Charles asked, as they located the tiny device lodged expertly into James injured arm. "It's going to be dangerous to remove it, without deactivating it first. We could end up setting it off. It could explode." The doctor said, and Charles sighed. Mr. Longman. How had he managed to come across such a tyrant in business clothes? The doctor treated James, as best as he could, treading carefully around the tiny bomb. James' arm was bandaged carefully, and he was left to rest. After half an hour, Charles went to check on James once more, and saw he was awake. He looked sorry, and Charles wondered why. None of it was his fault. "What do we do?" He asked, Charles. "This… this is such a huge setback. There's no way we can think of fighting back. I'm sorry. I wasn't careful enough." James lamented. "How is any of this your fault? You were on leave. Don't you worry about any of it. I have a plan." Charles said, with determination burning in his eyes. He wasn't going to let things slide just like that. He'd make sure he did something about it. Something effective.