2:00 PM. The exact same conference room.
This time, I wasn't sweating. The doors opened and every head turned. The chatter died instantly. I walked in wearing a $3,000 suit the hotel stylist picked for me; dark blue, tailored perfectly. My shoes were Italian leather. On my wrist was a watch I didn't even know the price of because the system just gave it to me as a bonus reward. And holding my hands were four kids. Lily in her new Gucci dress, holding a Dior shopping bag bigger than her. Grace with her new pink backpack, swinging it like a weapon. Tom pushing a mini Mercedes toy car that cost more than Davis's monthly salary. And little Ben, asleep on my shoulder again, wearing a tiny suit that matched mine. Mr. Davis's jaw literally dropped. Mark's smile froze. Sarah... Sarah stood up so fast her chair fell. "What... what is this?" Davis stammered. "You were fired! And you can't bring children to a corporate meeting!" "Oh, I'm not here for the meeting," I said calmly. I pulled out the big chair at the head of the table (His chair), and sat down. Lily sat on my lap like a little queen. "I'm here because my children wanted to see where Daddy used to work before he bought the building." Silence. Then Mark laughed, trying to recover. "Bought the building? Buddy, what did you do, rob a bank? Those clothes are rented, right?" He walked over to me, trying to be the alpha. He tapped my watch. "Nice fake. How much? Fifty bucks?" Before I could answer, the conference room doors burst open again. The General Manager of The Grand Palace Hotel and three men in even more expensive suits walked in, looking panicked. "Mr. Smith! Sir! We finally found you! We've been calling!" The GM was sweating. "The ownership transfer documents for the hotel and this business plaza need your signature urgently! The lawyers are waiting downstairs!" He placed a thick black folder in front of me. On the cover, in gold letters: TRANSFER OF 100% OWNERSHIP - GRAND BUSINESS PLAZA & TOWER This entire building. The one where we were sitting. My company only rented two floors in it. Davis made a weird choking noise. I didn't even open the folder. "Not now, John. I'm in a meeting with my old boss. He's explaining how to be successful." John, the GM, looked at Davis like he was looking at a cockroach. "This... person... was your boss? Sir, with all due respect, this man couldn't manage a lemonade stand." I patted Lily's head. Lily looked right at Sarah. "Are you the lady who said my Daddy is a loser?" Lily said, loud and clear. Her voice was shaking but she was angry. "My Daddy is not a loser. My Daddy bought us a hotel. And a toy store. What did you ever buy us?" Grace added, "Yeah! And Daddy bought me 10 dolls! You only ever bought us nothing!" Sarah's face went from white to red. "Kids, you don't understand..." "I understand," I said, standing up. Ben woke up and hugged my neck. I looked at Davis. "You said to bring something impressive. I brought my kids. And I brought your eviction notice. This building has new rules. No losers allowed." I turned to Mark. "And you. You said my watch is fake." I took off the watch and handed it to John. "John, how much is this?" John held it like it was holy. "Sir, this is a Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime. $2.2 million. There are only 7 in the world." Mark stumbled back into a chair. I picked up Tom's little toy Mercedes. "Oh, and one more thing," I said, looking at Davis one last time. "You fired me this morning. I accept. I don't work here anymore." I walked to the door, my four kids following me like little ducklings. At the door, I stopped. "But you all still work for me. The rent for this floor is due next week. It's going up by 200%." Then we left. Behind us, I could hear Sarah crying, Davis shouting "NO NO NO," and the whole office erupting. In the elevator, Lily hugged me. "Daddy, were we good?" "You were perfect, baby. You were perfect." My phone buzzed. [DING! FACE-SLAP MISSION: PERFECT EXECUTION!] [REWARD: $500,000 CASHBACK + "CRUSH" SKILL UNLOCKED] [NEW MISSION: Your children want a pet. A big one. Spend $1,000,000 in 3 days.] $1,000,000 in 3 days? On my kids? I looked at my four angels pressing all the elevator buttons at once. "Who wants a lion?" I whispered. "ME!" they all screamed. The elevator doors opened to the lobby, where my new lawyers were waiting. Billionaire life had just started. TO BE CONTINUED...Latest Chapter
The Mother Who Never Baked
Grace's birthday cake was still warm.Pink frosting was sliding off the side. Seven candles were half-melted. Gold had a pink nose because he tried to boop it. Leo was sitting like a good boy but his tail was wagging so hard it was knocking over chairs.And downstairs, Sarah wanted to come up."Mommy?" Grace whispered, holding my hand tight. She was 7, but she remembered. She remembered Sarah leaving before she blew her candles last year.Victoria, who still had flour on her black shirt, stood up. Her ice queen face was back, but it was different now. It was a mom face."No," she said quietly. "Not today. Not on her birthday."But Grace shook her head. "It's okay, Mommy Victoria. I want to see if she brings a cake."That broke me. My 7 year old daughter was measuring love in cakes.I called John. "Let them up. But only Sarah. No lawyers. No Mark. And the police stays in lobby."Two minutes later, the elevator dinged.Sarah came out. She looked... small. No designer bag today. No new h
The Birthday Cake With No Money
I stared at the new Mission. [MISSION: Tomorrow is Grace's real birthday. She has never had a birthday cake from her mother. Make her one.]We didn't sleep that night we saved the kids on the old road. No one could sleep. Not even Ben. He kept waking up shouting "ROAR! GOLD BARK!" and then falling back asleep on Leo, who was now too big to be a lap dog but still tried. Lily wouldn't let go of my shirt. Grace kept checking if Gold was still breathing because he ate too much cake at the birthday party. Tom was counting the street dogs that followed us home - there were 12 now, sleeping in the hotel parking lot because Gold told them to stay. Victoria was in the living room with Emma, both under one blanket, looking at the live footage from her car. 8 cameras, 4K, night vision, Johnson Sr. bleeding, his sons surrounding my kids. She looked up when I came in. "I sent it to the police commissioner. And to my lawyers. Johnson Sr. will be in interrogation by morning. But..." "But he w
The Street Without Cameras
My knuckles turned white as I read the letter. The handwriting looked familiar. Shaky and like an Old man's.Johnson sr. "You took my mall. You took my 100x. But you forgot I still own the street your school is on. And the street has no cameras. 50x or 200x, a street is still a street at night."Victoria read it over my shoulder and went pale."That's the old road. The one with no lights. Where they took my husband."We ran.The old road to Star Academy was a 2-kilometer stretch that the city forgot.No lights. No cameras. The Johnson family owned it and never fixed it because they liked that it was forgotten. It was where deals happened.And my four kids, Emma, a dog, and a baby lion were walking down it at 2:17 AM to show a bully their castle.Victoria and I didn't take the Rolls-Royce. We took her armored SUV and drove 140 km/h through red lights. Victoria was driving with one hand, calling every guard she had with the other."My husband died on that road," she said, voice flat,
The Gold Membership Card
The $30 billion birthday party lasted until 2 AM. The castle was half-destroyed by Leo who discovered he could climb it. Gold had eaten 7 cakes and was sleeping inside Tom's mini Rolls-Royce with his belly up. Ben had declared himself King of the Ballroom and made everyone call him "Your Majesty Ben-Ben." Emma and Lily had built a fort out of $2 million worth of dolls and were whispering secrets inside. Victoria was asleep on a pile of toy boxes, holding Emma's hand, frosting still on her cheek. For the first time in 2 years, her phone wasn't buzzing with system errors. Her 100x was back, warm and quiet. And I was standing on the balcony, looking down at the street, where Davis was still sitting on the curb. He hadn't moved in 5 hours. His suit was ruined. His briefcase was empty. The Johnsons left him there when his 100x broke. At 2:13 AM, my system buzzed. It was a notification. [250x BONUS SENSE: A former 100x host nearby is about to lose everything. Including his famil
The $10 Billion Birthday
I was a billionaire for exactly 14 minutes before the system ruined it.We were still in the lobby. Sarah's perfume was still in the air. Lily was showing Emma how Leo liked his belly rubbed. Gold was trying to steal everyone's shoes and pile them in a corner like treasure.Victoria was about to say something... something soft, which was rare for her, when all our phones screamed at once.It was an emergency alert. Like a tsunami warning.[EMERGENCY: JOHNSON FAMILY ACTIVATES 100x FAMILY COMBINE][3 GENERATIONS OF 100x USERS HAVE COMBINED TO 300x FOR 24 HOURS][TARGET: YOUR $10B EMPIRE + YOUR CHILDREN'S TRUST FUNDS][THEY WILL SPEND $100M IN 24 HOURS TO STEAL YOUR CASHBACK]Victoria's phone also buzzed. She went white."My system... it says 'Family Combine Detected - Hostile Takeover In Progress.' Johnson Sr. called his sons and his brothers. There are seven of them. Seven 100x users. If they all spend $100M today, their combine will hit $30 BILLION. They will outspend us and the bank
The Ex Returns
The school owned us. By 10 AM, the news was everywhere: "Ice Queen Victoria Sterling and Mysterious Single Dad Buy Elite Academy With a Dog and a Lion."By 11 AM, Lily sent me a video: Leo sleeping on her desk during math, Gold sitting next to Emma as the class guard dog, and Jake Johnson sitting in the BACK row where he put Lily yesterday. The teacher was asking Lily if the temperature was okay for Leo.By 12 PM, my bank balance was $234 million and climbing from the school's tuition fees cashback.And by 1 PM, Sarah showed up.I was in the Presidential Suite, trying to build a proper lion-proof crib for Ben, when John the GM knocked, terrified."Sir... your... your wife is downstairs. With... lawyers. And Mark."My ex-wife. The woman who told my kids "Daddy is a loser, we need to find a new daddy."I told Lily and the others to stay in the bedroom with Gold and Leo. Victoria had left a female bodyguard who nodded and closed the door.I went down alone.Sarah looked different. She h
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