From Campus Trash To Tycoon

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

It didn’t feel real. The number sat on the screen like a mistake that refused to correct itself. He thought it might be the bank that made a wrong transaction.

One billion dollars.

He refreshed the page again.

The balance loaded. The digits remained.

Adrian chest felt tight, not with excitement, but with disbelief sharp enough to make his hands tremble around the phone. His mind kept reaching for logic but found none. He had grown up understanding scarcity. Numbers like this did not belong to people like him. They belonged to headlines on television screen, to families whose names appeared on buildings, to men who never asked how much something cost before purchasing it.

The phone rang in his hand. Startling him back to the moment. He thought the bank have finally discovered the wrong transaction that is why they’re calling him to reverse the money and apologize for inconvenience that if is they thought he’s worthy of one,

Adrian answered before the second ring finished, the voice he heard was from someone familiar.

“Did you see it,” he heard his sister’s voice spilling through the speaker, fast and unsteady. He couldn’t believe it was his sister, Emily, he pulled the phone from his ear skimming the screen one more time.

“Adrian did you receive the money?”

He swallowed. “Emily. Is this some prank you’re trying to pull, Where did you get a huge amount of money from? Emily, don't tell me you’re into fraud…”

There was a pause on the other end. A breath. Then a soft curse.

“I was not supposed to send it,” Emily said. “Not yet.”

Adrian pushed himself to his feet and began pacing the small room. “You sent one billion dollars to my account,” he said, disbelief thick in his voice. “What is happening?” His body was trembling beyond control.

“I know,” she said quickly. “I know how that sounds.”

“How that sounds,” he repeated incredulously. “Do you hear yourself.”

“I did not mean for it to happen this way,” she said. “It was supposed to be your graduation gift.”

The word stayed between them longer than it should have.

He stopped pacing. “What do you mean graduation gift.”

“It was meant to be a surprise,” she said.

Adrian closed his eyes. “Why send it now.”

Her voice softened. “Because I saw what they were doing to you. I saw the video of when they threw dollar bills at you, when I saw you were the circus at Green High school and bullied at the school I have no choice but to reveal the truth to you.”

His jaw tightened. Adrian couldn’t believe his ears if not for the fact that Emily sent a whopping sum of money he wouldn’t have thought she was pulling his legs.

she said quietly. “You are being bullied. Used. Turned into entertainment. And you are pretending it does not hurt.”

Adrian did not respond. There was no denial left in him.

“You should use the money,” she continued. “For yourself. Do not stand there letting people strip you down when you do not have to.”

Adrian opened his eyes. “Where did it come from.”

Silence stretched.

“You know,” she said. “Our family is rich.”

“No,” he replied. “How come I didn’t know.”

“It is what Dad left,” she said. “Part of your share.”

The room felt smaller.

“All of it?” Adrian asked.

Adrian knew their father was an elite before he died but he couldn’t believe he was this loaded.

“Yes. Mother had her reasons, I was mad when I found out about the money. I couldn’t touch mine fully till now, she said it will lead…” the line cracked killing the call abruptly.

Shortly after Adrian stood there long after the line went dead, phone still pressed to his ear, as if answers might leak back through.

He dialed his mother’s number and pressed the phone to his ear again.

“Calm down, Adrian. She was not supposed to tell you yet,” his mother said softly.

“Tell me what,” Adrian asked, though he already knew.

“That the money was there,” she replied. “It was meant to be your graduation gift.”

His throat tightened. “You knew this whole time.”

“Yes,” she said. “We wanted you to finish school without the world changing around you. Emily is always ahead of herself. Now you need to know the truth. We did it to protect you, Adrian. We wanted you to have a normal life, a real education, and a future that wasn't painted with a target on your back. Your father’s death wasn't an accident he had enemies. The Vale family is beyond wealthy, Adrian. We own several companies worth billions. I believe you have heard of Cruisers Tech. The company is ours.”

“What,” Adrian exclaimed.

His heart slammed violently in his chest. If not for the massive balance still glowing on his phone, he would have thought they were bluffing. He let out a quiet, humorless breath.

His mother sighed and continued. “Your sister panicked. She could not watch you be humiliated.”

“She did not ruin anything,” Adrian said. “She just removed the blindfold.”

After the call, Adrian sat back down.

He stared at the wall until the sun began to rise. The weight of it all pressed down on him. The bullying. The hunger. The humiliating jobs he had taken just to survive.

Tears welled in his eyes.

He wiped them away.

He would never be an underdog again.

“Mira,” he murmured bitterly. “If only you had waited a little longer.”

He laughed quietly at the memory of those who treated him like scrap tossed into a dustbin.

Then Adrian stood and went to the bank.

The bank was everything his dorm was not.

Bright. Cold. Polished. Every surface reflected something back at you, forcing awareness of where you stood and how you looked. The air smelled clean in an expensive way, as if effort had been spent making sure nothing human lingered too long.

Adrian joined the line.

People ahead of him were greeted by name. Smiles were exchanged. Chairs were offered. Laughter was soft and mutual.

When it was his turn, the teller did not smile. Her eyes skimmed him quickly from his damaged shoes to his shabby jacket.

“What do you need,” she asked, already turning back to her screen.

“I need to make a payment,” Adrian said evenly.

“Online services handle basic transactions,” she replied.

“I am not here for a basic transaction.”

Her fingers paused. She looked at him again, slower this time, and her mouth tightened.

“This branch is for premium clients,” she said. “Do you have an appointment?”

“No.”

“Then you should leave.”

The words were sharp. Final.

“I need to make a payment,” Adrian repeated.

Her expression shifted from impatience to irritation. “Do not waste my time. People like you usually misunderstand how this place works.”

The phrase people like you landed with practiced ease.

“I know how banks work,” Adrian said.

She laughed quietly. “Do you?”

A man behind him shifted uncomfortably as he checked his watch and chuckled. "Give it up, kid. Some people are born to sit in the back of the bus. Go back to your dorm and eat your ramen."

“Do you even know the minimum balance required to bank here,” she asked.

“Yes.”

“And you think you qualify,” she pressed, a mocking laugh slipping out.

“I do,” Adrian replied.

Her eyes raked over his jacket with a look of pure disgust. She turned to her colleague at the next window and laughed loudly.

“Hey, Brenda! Look at this. Another teenager who watched a movie and thinks he can open a Millionaire Account with five dollars.”

Her colleague sneered and focused on her work.

Her lips curled slightly irritated by the fact that Adrian is replying to everything she said. “This is not a charity branch. We do not offer financial fantasies.”

"If you don't leave, I'll call security," the teller sneered, her voice loud enough for the wealthy clients behind him to snicker.

Adrian didn't move. He simply slid the card across the marble.

The moment the teller swiped it, the computer didn't just process it—it turned gold. A high-priority alert flashed on every screen in the bank. The manager ran out, nearly tripping over his own expensive loafers.

"Mr. Vale!" the manager gasped, ignoring the teller entirely. "Why are you standing in line with the common accounts? Please, my office—now!"

Adrian glanced at the teller. Her face wasn't just pale; she looked like she was about to faint. "She said this branch doesn't offer financial fantasies," Adrian said coolly.

“You... you brainless, low-class trash!” Mr. Sterling shrieked. “Do you have any idea who this is? His daily interest alone could buy this entire building and turn it into a public toilet! You’re not just fired. I’m calling the police. You are charged with harassment of a VIP, and I’ll see you blacklisted from even working at a grocery store!”

The teller collapsed against her desk, her expensive makeup smeared by tears of terror. She reached out a trembling hand toward Adrian, begging for mercy, but the manager shoved her aside.

“Don’t you dare breathe near him!” Sterling hissed, kicking her. He then turned to Adrian, his face instantly shifting into a submissive, sweating mask of obedience. “Mr. Vale... please. Allow me to escort you to my office. This lobby is no place for a king.”

Inside the office, the door closed softly.

“I am the branch manager,” the man said. “We have been expecting you.”

He placed a small black case on the desk and opened it.

A black card rested inside.

“The Sovereign Centurion,” the manager whispered, his voice thick with awe.

“No spending limit. Global diplomatic immunity. Private jet access on a ten-minute notice. Mr. Vale... you are now one of the three people in this hemisphere who holds this power.”

Adrian reached out, his fingers brushing the cool metal. He felt the weight of every insult he had ever swallowed, every meal he had skipped, and every laugh Mira had shared at his expense.

Adrian stared at it. He had only heard of a black card, now he owned one.

“Mr. Sterling,” Adrian said, his voice dropping to a dangerous chill. “I want to know exactly how much it costs to own the ground Lukas Leonardo walks on. I want to own his world before the week is over.”