The phone vibrated once, then again.Adrian lowered it from his ear without saying anything. He did not look around the table and he did not rush. He unlocked the phone, opened the app Hale had just sent him access to, and navigated to the account overview in a straightforward sequence of taps. There was no hesitation in his movements and no pause that suggested calculation or second thoughts. Once the screen loaded, he placed the phone flat on the table, face up, where everyone could see it clearly.The number sat there in plain text.$802,417,936.28For a brief moment, nobody spoke.Not because they had missed it, but because their minds needed time to adjust to what they were seeing.Letty was the first to truly register it.Her expression did not change dramatically, but her focus sharpened as her eyes traced the number again, slower this time. Eight hundred million. Not valuation. Not projected net worth. It was literal cash sitting in an account.“…One of my accounts,” she thou

“Adrian.”The moment he heard his name, he snapped out of it instantly.Adrian took a step back, the movement sharp and reflexive, as if he had pulled his hand away from something hot. His head turned toward the direction the voice had come from, his expression resetting into something neutral and controlled.The space between them returned all at once.Sofia stayed where she was.Her chest felt tight.“…Timing,” she thought bitterly. “It’s always the timing.”Disappointment settled first, followed closely by a quieter, heavier sadness that she didn’t quite know what to do with. She lowered her gaze for a moment, then forced herself to look up again.Letty stepped into view a second later.She looked between them briefly, but there was no suspicion in her eyes, no sharpness or tension. If she noticed anything unusual, she didn’t show it.“I’ve got a limousine arranged,” she said casually. “We can drop you off first, Sofia, then Adrian and I will head back.”Sofia nodded automatically.

Victor noticed Adrian move and instantly turned to look at him, only to see that playful smirk on his face.“I’ve been staying with Letty for the past few days,” Adrian said casually, his tone light, almost conversational, as if he were sharing something random rather than dropping a grenade into the room.Victor froze, his body stiffening as he slowly blinked and digested the information. Letty froze too.“Oh?” Victor said, eyes narrowing slightly, interest flickering to life despite himself.Adrian continued without missing a beat. “She’s really loud at night.”Victor’s expression shifted instantly, his brain filling in gaps that were never meant to exist. His eyebrows rose, his lips parting just slightly as the implication settled in the most inappropriate way possible.“…Loud,” Victor repeated, clearly pleased with the conclusion he had jumped to.Letty lying in bed, doing whatever with Adrian while she moaned loudly. Letty’s face flushed immediately.“What?” she blurted out, her

Adrian pressed the button on the key fob as they stepped outside. A soft beep echoed across the parking area, followed by a brief flash of lights from one of the cars parked nearby. He walked toward it without comment, unlocked the door, and got in. Letty followed, closing the door behind her as Adrian started the engine and pulled out smoothly.The drive was quiet.The city was just beginning to wake up, traffic still light, streets stretching ahead with long gaps between cars. Adrian kept his eyes on the road, his hands steady on the wheel. Letty sat beside him, staring forward at first, then shifting slightly in her seat as if weighing something.She turned her head toward him, opened her mouth, then closed it again.Adrian noticed.He glanced at her briefly, then back to the road, waiting without prompting her. He could tell when someone was trying to decide whether to speak, and he had learned long ago that silence was often the fastest way to force a decision.Letty took a breat

Both Adrian and Ethan turned toward her.“What?” Ethan asked, stopping mid-step.“There’s a guy I know,” Aira continued slowly. “Well, not know personally, but I remember him clearly. Third year. Commerce department.”Adrian stayed silent, listening.“He used to be really smart,” she said. “Top grades. But he was a pushover. People bullied him all the time. Took his notes, made him run errands, talked over him like he wasn’t even there.”She paused.“About a year ago, he disappeared for almost a month.”Ethan frowned. “Disappeared how?”“Just… gone,” Aira replied. “No classes. No sightings. People said he got beaten up badly and had to be hospitalized, but no one knew for sure.”Adrian’s posture shifted subtly, his attention sharpening.“When he came back,” Aira said, her voice tightening slightly, “he was completely different.”She looked down at her hands for a moment, then back up.“He used to wear glasses. Thick ones. After that month, he didn’t need them anymore. His body changed