“The fuck you mean I should sit down, huh? Is you fucking stupid?” Mark blurted out angrily, strutting towards her. “Don’t you realize what this could mean? You were fucking there when he took the machine back from us –you saw what the fucker is capable of! My dad could lose everything he ever worked hard for.. I could lose everything I have to that fucking peasant. Don’t you see it?” Amanda didn't say anything, because honestly there was nothing useful to say. She just looked at the untouched plate of food on the kitchen counter and thought about a boy in a cramped basement who had bought her cheap french fries at two in the morning and told her she was the only person who believed in him. She had made so many choices. She had made all of them very deliberately and now they were stacked up around her like furniture in a room that was slowly getting smaller.Now standing in front of Mark, one thing was clear –she had taken a good guy for granted. This realization wasn’t new, but the

The Braxton College campus looked exactly the same as it always had.This bothered Nathan more than he expected. He had been gone for less than twenty-four hours and the trees were still the same trees, the cobblestones were still the same cobblestones, and the group of sophomore girls near the library were still doing whatever it is sophomore girls near libraries do, which seemed to mostly involve standing close together and looking at phones or probably gossiping other sophomore girls.Nathan pushed through the main gate at seven-fifty AM carrying his worn-out canvas backpack and a coffee he had bought from a street cart for two dollars, because the penthouse had a machine that made perfect coffee automatically and he had walked past it specifically to buy a two-dollar coffee from the street, which was a deeply irrational decision that made complete sense to him.He needed to feel the ground under his feet. He needed to remember what this place felt like before the Summit changed eve

Nathan placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder, his grip firm but not unkind. “Same thing I always do. Let them dig their own graves a little deeper.” He paused, then added with a faint, dark smile, “Tell me—did they mention exactly how they plan on getting to the machine? Because last I checked, the Walters security doesn’t exactly leave the front door open with a welcome mat.”The kid opened his mouth to answer when footsteps echoed down the main hallway. Multiple sets. Coming fast.“Shit, someone’s coming,” the kid whispered, eyes wide. “I gotta bounce before they see me with you.”Without waiting for a response, the freshman spun around, ducked his head, and scurried out of the dim alcove, blending seamlessly into a group of passing arts students before disappearing around the corner.Nathan watched the kid disappear into the flow of students, broom slung over his shoulder like a bad spy prop. The hallway swallowed him up in seconds, and just like that, it was quiet again. Too quiet.H

Nathan looked at Amanda. For a moment, he didn't feel angry. He just felt an overwhelming sense of pity. She genuinely believed 500 million dollars was a lot of money. She had absolutely no concept of the empire resting under his name, or the absolute titan of industry he was set to become.Nathan laughed. It wasn't a bitter laugh; it was a genuine, tearful chuckle that echoed in the empty room. He shook his head, looking at her with a mix of amusement and finality."If rich attracts rich, Amanda," Nathan said softly, his dark eyes locking onto hers with a devastating, unshakeable confidence, "then watch out. Cause this guy right here... he might just be a 45-tesla hybrid magnet. Cope, love. See you around."He didn't wait for a response. He didn't need to see the confused, frustrated look on her face as her brain desperately tried to process the magnitude of what he had just implied. He just adjusted his backpack and walked out of the classroom, leaving her standing alone with hersel

The door of the silver Hyundai Elantra clicked shut, cutting off the aggressive hum of Braxton College’s afternoon traffic.Nathan leaned his head back against the faux-leather headrest, letting out a long, slow breath. His muscles ached with a deep, systemic fatigue that had nothing to do with physical labor and everything to do with the chess board he had been balancing in his mind for weeks. The courtyard confrontation with Austin, the constant, shifting threats from Principal Epstein, and the quiet, burning questions from Nina—it was a heavy skin to wear.For years, he had lived entirely in the grit. He had worn the faded hoodies, walked the cracked sidewalks of the campus, and breathed the sterile air of the labs. He hadn’t been home in over thirty days. He hadn't seen the one person who truly understood the weight of the Walters name.So, when he pulled out his secondary burner phone, he didn’t call Dwayne. He didn’t summon a midnight-black Maybach or an armored convoy of securi