Strike Back Of The Secret Billionaire

002

Brent stood in his private elevator, watching the city through the glass walls. His phone wouldn't stop buzzing.

Sarah had called forty-seven times in the last hour. At first, he'd checked each message, more out of habit than anything else. Now he just let them pile up.

The first few were exactly what he'd expected from her:

"How dare you embarrass me like this!"

"You'll never work in this city again!"

"Do you know who I am?"

Then they changed:

"Brent, please pick up."

"We can talk about this."

"Baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean those things."

He almost laughed at that last one. Two years of watching her true colors come out, and now she was sorry?

The elevator dinged, opening up to the top floor of Walker International. His real office. Not the tiny cubicle Sarah had stuck him in, the one she'd always walk past with that little smirk on her face. This was his actual workplace – all glass and steel and power, stretching out across the entire top floor of the city's most expensive building.

James met him at the door. James was his real assistant, not the fake one he'd been playing at Chen Industries. "Sir, it's getting crazy out there."

"Tell me."

"Chen Industries stock is in free fall. Down 43% and still dropping. The big clients are jumping ship – already got calls from fifteen of them wanting to move their business over to us." James fell into step beside him as they walked through the office. "And Sarah? She's losing it. Security called. She's been sitting outside your old apartment for almost half an hour."

Brent sank into his chair – a real one, not that cheap thing Sarah had given him "as a favor." He'd spent two years pretending that crappy IKEA chair was the best he could afford. Meanwhile, this one probably cost more than her car.

"Let her sit there," he said. "That apartment was just for show anyway."

"Want me to have security remove her?"

"Nah." Brent loosened his tie. "Let her waste her time. Maybe she'll finally learn what it feels like to be the one waiting around for someone who doesn't care."

His phone lit up again. This time it was Thomas Liu – the guy whose contract Sarah hadn't even bothered to read. She'd been too busy bragging about landing the deal to notice all the tricks Brent had hidden in the fine print.

"You know what's funny, James?" Brent spun his chair to face the windows. "I really did try to give her a chance. When I first met her, I thought maybe everyone was wrong about her. Maybe she wasn't just another rich kid playing CEO with daddy's money."

He pulled up the security feed on his laptop. Sarah was in the Chen Industries lobby, makeup running, screaming at some poor security guard who probably made minimum wage. Just like she used to scream at him.

"I could've told her who I was any time. Could've walked into that building on day one and bought it right out from under her. But I wanted to see who she really was. Would she ever look past someone's bank account? Would she ever treat people like... people?"

James nodded. "And she failed."

"Big time." Brent pulled up another screen – spreadsheets showing exactly how much of Chen Industries he actually owned. He'd been buying it piece by piece for two years, using different names, different companies. Right under her nose. "She was so busy looking down on everyone, she never bothered looking up to see who was really pulling the strings."

His phone buzzed again. Sarah's latest message was different:

'I'll give you anything. Money. Power. A real position in the company. Please just tell me what you want. I can fix this. We can fix this.'

"Too late," he muttered. Then, louder: "James, set up a press conference for tomorrow morning. Time to show everyone who Brent Walker really is."

"What about Chen Industries?"

"Let them sweat." Brent stood up, straightening his suit. Not the cheap ones Sarah had mocked. This one was Tom Ford, hand-tailored. One of hundreds in his real closet. "By the time I'm done, Sarah won't just lose her company. She'll lose everything that made her feel special."

He walked to the window. The city stretched out below him, lights starting to come on as the sun set. Somewhere down there, Sarah was probably still throwing tantrums, still thinking she could fix this with money or threats or fake apologies.

She had no idea what was coming.

His phone buzzed one more time. This message just said: 'Please.'

Brent smiled. Not the fake smile he'd worn for two years. This was real. This was him.

"You know what the best part is, James?" He turned back to his desk, where a stack of folders laid out his plans for the next few months. "I'm not doing anything she wouldn't have done. I'm just better at it."

He picked up the velvet box from earlier. Under the USB drive was a hidden compartment with an old photo. It showed Sarah at their first meeting, looking at him like something stuck to her shoe. She'd looked at him that same way every day since.

"Set up meetings with all of Chen Industries' major clients for next week. And get me everything you can find on their overseas operations. Sarah's not the only one who's about to learn who I really am."

As night fell over the city, offices started going dark. But in one building, a CEO's office stayed lit. Sarah Chen was pulling an all-nighter, trying to save her company.

But she couldn't save anything anymore. Because the nobody she'd looked down on? He'd been somebody all along.

And he was just getting started.