The Shadow Billionaire

CHAPTER 2: TITANIUM AND SHATTERED BONES

A violent rainstorm greeted Kaelen exactly as his hands clawed onto wet asphalt near an underground exit ramp.

His breathing came in ragged gasps, resembling air leaking from punctured lungs. Sharp gravel dug into his scraped palms, but he kept dragging his body out of Suryanegara Building's security camera range. Blood flowing from his crushed left leg left a crimson trail instantly washed away by heavy rain pouring into storm drains.

A matte black Toyota HiAce van pierced through curtains of rain with its headlights switched off. It braked abruptly, stopping mere inches from Kaelen's head.

Sliding doors yanked open roughly as two men wearing tactical jackets jumped out. One of them—a buzz-cut man sporting a severe burn scar on his neck—immediately grabbed Kaelen's collar, lifting him up as if he weighed absolutely nothing.

He was Leon, Kaelen's right-hand man and Obsidian's head of operations.

"His left tibia is completely shattered, so lift him by his thigh and do not touch that calf!" Leon barked with an urgent tone while directing his partner.

They hauled Kaelen onto a van floor already lined with thick plastic tarps. Doors slammed shut, allowing their vehicle to speed off and blend seamlessly into chaotic night traffic.

Inside a dim cabin, Leon used medical shears to slice open Kaelen's ruined trousers. A gruesome sight hidden underneath made a fellow Obsidian operator gulp hard, as Kaelen's fractured tibia bone protruded outward, nearly tearing through skin. Surrounding areas swelled massively, covered in dark purple bruises.

"Bastian really made sure you could not walk to any airport," Leon muttered with a grim tone while popping open a morphine ampoule using his thumb. "Hold your breath, Boss."

A needle pierced his thigh, sending cold sensations rushing through his bloodstream and slightly dulling agonizing pain tearing at his sanity. Kaelen rested his head against cold metal walls, staring blankly at a vibrating ceiling.

"Where are we heading?" Kaelen asked with a raspy voice while enduring dull throbs in his leg.

"Doctor Surya's clinic in our North District, because public hospitals are completely off-limits," Leon answered with a professional tone while wrapping a temporary pressure bandage around Kaelen's wound. "Three minutes after you called, Suryanegara's legal department issued an internal memo ordering all affiliated hospitals to report you if you seek medical attention. Herman completely blocked your medical access."

Kaelen closed his eyes, realizing Herman's calculation was incredibly ruthless. That old man wanted a wounded stray dog to bleed out on city streets without dirtying his own hands.

"They did not even give me time to leave this city," Kaelen muttered with a low voice while keeping his eyes closed.

"They are terrified you took something highly valuable," Leon noted with an analytical tone while looking at him through a cabin divider.

Kaelen opened his eyes instantly.

"What exactly do you mean?" Kaelen questioned with a sharp tone while looking back at Leon.

"A man who managed corporate secrets for seven years does not get thrown away randomly without reason," Leon elaborated with a serious tone while checking Kaelen's vitals.

Kaelen fell silent, knowing Leon was absolutely right. Herman never acted based on pure emotions. If Suryanegara sent Bastian to break his leg and block medical access, they feared whatever leverage he still possessed.

And Kaelen knew exactly what that leverage was.

It was never money or status.

It was raw evidence.

Forty minutes later, their black van parked inside a narrow alley located behind an abandoned flea market.

Leon and his partner carried Kaelen down concrete stairs into a dilapidated shophouse basement. Harsh stenches of cheap bleach, rust, and anesthetics instantly assaulted their noses. This was no sterile medical facility; it was a makeshift slaughterhouse converted into a secret operating room serving people possessing no legal identities.

In the center, an old man wearing thick glasses sterilized a battery-powered orthopedic bone drill. He was Doctor Surya.

"Lay him on that table and stop talking, because I am paid to cut, not listen to sob stories," Surya interrupted with a grumpy tone before Leon could even explain their situation.

They placed Kaelen onto a stainless-steel operating table while blinding surgical lights angled directly at his face.

"This is a comminuted fracture, meaning your bone shattered into multiple fragments," Surya analyzed with a clinical tone while inspecting wounds using latex-gloved hands. "I must insert a titanium plate alongside six screws to fuse it back together. I lack general anesthesia, so you will remain wide awake while this drill bites into your bones."

He shoved a leather-wrapped wooden block toward Kaelen's mouth.

"Bite down hard on this, because if you thrash around causing my drill to sever an artery, you will bleed out in two minutes," Surya warned with a deadly serious tone while preparing his equipment.

Kaelen opened his mouth, biting down on that wooden guard before giving Leon a single confirming nod.

Surya triggered his drill, unleashing a deafening high-pitched whine. A second later, spinning metal tore through flesh, grinding violently against Kaelen's bone.

Kaelen clenched his jaw so forcefully his neck veins bulged outward. He stared wide-eyed at glaring surgical lights, swallowing agonizing screams threatening to rip his throat apart. This pain transcended human limits, as every screw twisting into his marrow felt like raw electricity burning his nerves. Sweat flooded the steel table.

He focused his mind entirely on one single thought to prevent his sanity from snapping.

He pictured Bastian's mocking sneer and Valerie's icy glare down in that basement.

However, this time Kaelen did not simply dwell on their humiliation.

He remembered seven years of endless sacrifices, fixing problems Suryanegara could never touch legally, plugging market leaks, and destroying his own reputation to keep theirs spotless.

None of it was ever considered enough.

This physical torture was a price he paid for foolishly believing corporate loyalty held any value. Starting tonight, that naive illusion shattered alongside his leg.

Two hours feeling like an agonizing century finally concluded.

Surya rapidly stitched his skin, wrapping a heavy cast from knee to ankle. He peeled off blood-soaked gloves, tossing them into a trash bin.

Kaelen spat his wooden block out, gasping heavily for air while his body trembled from traumatic shock, yet his eyes remained wide open.

Leon stepped forward, offering a glass of water alongside two high-dose painkillers.

"You survived," Leon stated with a flat tone while pulling up a folding chair and placing an electronic tablet onto Kaelen's chest. "But your reputation definitely did not."

Kaelen swallowed those pills dry before picking up the tablet resting on his chest.

Its screen displayed a front page from this country's largest business news portal—a media outlet coincidentally owned by Valerie's family. A bold headline dominated the screen:

TRILLION-RUPIAH SCANDAL: FORMER SURYANEGARA DIRECTOR FLEES OVER MARKET MANIPULATION CHARGES.

"They released this story at midnight," Leon reported with an emotionless tone while monitoring news feeds. "Herman manipulated audit evidence flawlessly. Prosecutors froze your personal bank accounts an hour ago, and your stock portfolios are officially seized. Financially speaking, you are now a destitute fugitive within legal markets."

Kaelen set his tablet aside without showing any surprise on his pale face. He had anticipated all this since that blue folder hit his face.

"How long until they start hunting for Obsidian?" Kaelen asked with a calm tone while adjusting his posture.

"We are completely secure because our server network is fully encrypted and entirely disconnected from Suryanegara infrastructure," Leon answered with a confident tone while checking his own tablet. "They do not even know I exist, let alone this intelligence web. But we face another problem, Boss. Obsidian's emergency funds are tied up in crypto assets and offshore accounts. If we liquidate massive amounts tonight, central bank anti-money laundering systems will flag it and track our coordinates."

Kaelen shifted his sitting position, suppressing a wince as his cast moved slightly.

"How much untraceable cash do we currently possess?" Kaelen asked with a calculating tone while staring at Leon.

"Eight hundred million rupiah," Leon answered with a precise tone while checking their balances. "It is enough to charter an illegal cargo ship to smuggle you into Singapore."

"I am not going anywhere," Kaelen rejected with a freezing tone while locking eyes with Leon.

"Tomorrow morning at ten, there is a closed auction for Sector Six land development rights," Kaelen stated with a steadily strengthening voice while formulating his plan. "Bastian desperately wants that property to build a massive data center. He needs a flagship project to prove he deserves a CEO seat over me, making this auction his golden ticket."

"That auction requires a ten-billion rupiah upfront deposit, but we cannot move that kind of Obsidian money without alerting Herman's bloodhounds," Leon argued with a frowning face while pointing out logistical flaws.

"Then we source cash from somewhere those hounds cannot sniff," Kaelen countered with a confident smirk while leaning his body forward. "Call Baskoro."

Hearing that exact name, Leon's face tightened as his professional demeanor faltered slightly.

"Baskoro the Leech? Boss, that man is no banker," Leon warned with a highly tense voice while shaking his head. "He is a black-market loan shark funding smuggling cartels. He charges thirty percent interest a month, and if you are late by a single day, he does not foreclose on your house—he chops off your fingers."

"I know his rules perfectly well," Kaelen replied with an unbothered tone while staring blankly ahead.

"You need ten billion rupiah, Kaelen!" Leon argued with a desperate tone while raising his voice slightly. "How will you pay back such high-risk money if you fail to win this auction?"

"Who said I plan on winning any auction to build a data center?" Kaelen asked with a ruthless tone while leaning his back against the wall, his eyes gleaming with deadly calculation. "Sector Six sits directly above highly classified military fiber-optic utility lines. Whoever buys that dirt will never receive Ministry of Defense clearance to dig a foundation deeper than two meters."

Leon fell completely silent as his brain finally caught up with his boss's train of thought.

"Bastian only sees acreage and potential on paper, but he lacks access to high-level military zoning data we possess at Obsidian," Kaelen continued with a sinister tone while analyzing his trap. "I will borrow Baskoro's money, enter that auction, and bait Bastian's fragile ego. I will force him to bid an absurd price just to beat me."

"And when he inevitably wins..." Leon whispered with an awestruck tone while realizing the master plan.

"He will realize he just burned trillions of Suryanegara Capital funds buying worthless dirt that cannot be developed," Kaelen finished with a victorious tone while crossing his arms.

"Do you want to sabotage his very first project as heir?" Leon asked with a clarifying tone while staring at Kaelen for several seconds.

"No," Kaelen answered with a wicked smirk while lifting a corner of his lips. "I want to make him believe he actually won."

Leon finally understood this brilliant psychological warfare.

Kaelen did not need Suryanegara Capital to go bankrupt tonight; he simply needed Bastian to remain dangerously overconfident. The higher that spoiled heir raised his stakes, the harder he would crash under his own massive losses.

Kaelen pointed at his ruined trousers.

"Grab my spare suit from our van trunk, and get my crutches ready," Kaelen commanded with a firm tone while preparing to stand. "We are meeting Baskoro tonight."

Leon gazed at a man who just endured unanesthetized bone-drilling surgery. Most people broke under betrayal, but Kaelen was entirely different. Betrayal did not break him; it simply burned away his remaining restraint, transforming him into a true apex predator.

"Boss," Leon called out with a cautious tone before turning away.

Kaelen turned his head slightly.

"If Bastian finds out you survived, he will definitely send more men," Leon warned with a serious tone while pausing at the door.

"Let him," Kaelen replied with a fearless tone while grabbing his newly provided crutches.

He slowly lowered his cast-bound leg off the operating table. Pain shot up to his waist again, but this time, absolutely no hesitation lingered in his eyes.

"Tonight, they thought they left me completely powerless," Kaelen stated with an icy tone while balancing his weight.

He stood up firmly using his aluminum crutches.

"Tomorrow morning, let them see exactly how wrong they are," Kaelen promised with a chilling tone while glaring toward the exit.

"Understood perfectly," Leon nodded with a respectful tone before turning toward the clinic exit.