Reborn to Build a Billion-Dollar Empire

Chapter 006

Victor Hale stood before them in his ill-fitting clothes, looking barely better than he had the day before. His hair was still a tangled mess.

Roxy Delane studied him with little confidence. Yet right now, she had no choice but to trust him.

"What about the other matter?" she asked.

The money problem was solved, but the secret between her and Bruno Kade remained unresolved.

Last night, she had thought that sending Victor to the dark, god-forsaken escort house would ensure her secret with Bruno stayed buried.

Now, Victor had emerged after just one night in that pitch-dark room. This issue still had to be dealt with.

Victor smiled faintly, an inscrutable expression playing across his features.

"That's my ace in the hole. Why would I play it so easily?"

Of course, if he were an idiot, he would have told Tubbs and the others last night at the escort house.

Roxy nodded with satisfaction, grabbed her bag, and stood to leave.

But Bruno had an entirely different idea.

Bruno twisted his thick neck and flexed his wrists, his stance that of a man ready to kill.

"You think you're walking out of here alive?"

That was right. Roxy's problem was solved. Now, if they killed Victor, their secret would be safe forever.

Victor smiled again, leaning back in his chair like the son of some big shot, a trust fund brat who looked down on the world.

"Hey, look at your Roxy."

Bruno instinctively turned his head toward Roxy.

Fury and helplessness were written all over her face.

Bruno grew angry again, snapping at Roxy.

"What's there to worry about? If we don't take him out now, are we waiting for him to run to Mr. Reyes and rat us out?"

His logic was sound. This was the safest option.

But Roxy said only one word.

"Leave."

Bruno could not understand what she meant, but Victor understood exactly what was going on.

It was simple. She needed time to verify whether Victor was lying. If he was, killing him later wouldn't be too late.

If the three stocks Victor recommended could really help her cover the account discrepancy, she could even use him to make more money down the line.

So for now, he had to stay alive.

Shortly after Bruno and the others left, Victor departed as well.

He went first to the lottery office to claim his prize. Then, with three hundred and fifty thousand dollars in his pocket, he flagged down a cab on the roadside.

The taxi driver saw him emerge from the lottery office and eyed him with a cheerful grin.

"Hit the jackpot, did you?"

Victor spread his hands with a shrug.

"Come on, man, are you joking with me? Do I look like someone who just claimed a prize?"

He got out in front of a mobile phone store and asked the driver to wait.

Victor walked straight into the store and approached the sales counter.

"Excuse me, do you have the Halden P908 in stock?"

The saleswoman blinked, as if she'd misheard him. Victor didn't look anything like a businessman.

"We do. Are you looking to buy one?"

The question was a bit awkward. To spare them both embarrassment, Victor nodded with a smile.

"Of course. I wouldn't come in here if I wasn't buying. That would just be causing trouble, wouldn't it?"

He certainly looked like he was there to cause trouble.

The saleswoman retrieved the actual device from the most prominent display case and began her pitch.

"This phone just came out this year. It's a favorite among business professionals. The price isn't cheap, though."

Victor already knew all this. Otherwise, he wouldn't have walked in asking for it by name.

He pulled out his bank card from his pants pocket and handed it to her.

After swiping the card, the saleswoman paused again, scrutinizing Victor more carefully. No matter how she looked at him, he didn't seem like a wealthy man or an office professional.

Phone secured, Victor dashed into the computer store next door, bought a laptop, got a mobile data card, and then rushed off to replace his SIM card.

It was there that Victor finally became aware of his image problem.

Running all over town with his hair a tangled mess and his clothes hanging wrong made him an oddity in everyone's eyes.

The moment he left the mobile service center, he immediately went to get a haircut and buy new clothes.

In just over an hour, the taxi driver witnessed his transformation. When Victor reappeared in a brand-new suit, the driver was stunned.

Having once reached the pinnacle of success, Victor possessed an extraordinary bearing. From disheveled wreck to polished professional, the contrast was staggering.

"Sir, is that really you?"

Victor laughed and gave the address. "Take me to the CBD."

"Huh?"

The driver hadn't caught it. "Where?"

"The Central Business District they planned last year."

Victor added, "There's an apartment building there. Drop me off at that."

At the apartment complex, he rented a place for three months. Before even heading upstairs, he took a cab back to his old rental to collect his things.

After the court had seized his house and car, Elise Mercer had found him a three-bedroom, two-bath unit in a low-rent apartment building. Later, when Elise took the children back to her parents' house, he had moved into a single room on the third floor.

From a distance, Victor spotted Old Man Petrie, his landlord, hauling things from the stairwell to the garbage pile on the curb, cursing under his breath the whole time.

On closer inspection, his filthy mattress and pillow were already lying in the trash heap. His years-unwashed clothes were stuffed into a green garbage bin. Even his suitcase, filled with memories, had been tossed by the roadside.

Victor hurried out of the cab and rushed over, first grabbing the dust-covered suitcase and hastily opening it to check inside.

Apart from items like picture frames that had been damaged, the photos were mostly intact.

"Old Man Petrie! Look at this guy! Isn't he your tenant, that, that Victor Hale?"

Old Man Petrie, still clearing out the junk, glanced at Victor and waved dismissively.

"Nah, that Victor Hale is a lunatic. You could smell the booze on him from ten blocks away!"

The most important things were safe and sound, and the knot in Victor's chest loosened. Everything else could be left behind.

Victor picked up the suitcase and stood, walking toward the landlord.

"Old Man Petrie! Look over here, that's him, that's the drunk!"

Everyone followed the neighbor's words and took a closer look. They were all shocked.

Old Man Petrie was so astonished his jaw dropped, speechless.

Victor approached and bowed apologetically to Old Man Petrie.

"Sir, I'm truly sorry. I owed you rent for so long. I caused you so much trouble."

Old Man Petrie snapped out of it and examined Victor from head to toe. Seeing that he now had money, the old man suddenly changed his tune.

"Pay your rent right now! You're three months behind! I'm telling you, if you don't give me the money, I'm calling the police!"

Faced with the landlord's hostile demeanor, Victor showed no trace of anger.

He pulled out a crocodile leather wallet from his pocket and extracted ten hundred-dollar bills, handing them to Old Man Petrie.

"Sir, is a thousand enough?"

In 2003, a factory worker made only five or six hundred a month. For Victor to hand over a thousand just like that left everyone present stunned.

Old Man Petrie had expected to have to yell for half a day like before to get Victor to pay. He hadn't anticipated such immediate cooperation. Now he felt guilty.

Victor bowed apologetically again, then turned to search through the garbage pile, looking for anything else important to take with him.

Old Man Petrie, whose bluster had deflated entirely, eventually relented. He returned five hundred dollars to Victor and joined him in sorting through the trash.

After they finished with the garbage pile, the old woman who ran the corner store invited him in to sit.

Kind neighbors, seeing him stage a comeback, were all happy for him. They offered earnest advice like they would to their own sons, speaking with patient sincerity.