The Shadow Billionaire

CHAPTER 5: EMBERS ON FLOOR FORTY

Incoming transfer notifications chimed on Baskoro's phone screen exactly at one in the afternoon.

A loan shark enjoying wrapped Padang rice for lunch inside his underground office stopped chewing. He wiped grease off his fingers using tissues, then grabbed a phone resting beside stacks of cash.

His screen displayed a highly satisfying string of numbers: Thirteen billion rupiah. Transferred from an untraceable offshore escrow account. Exactly as Kaelen had promised.

Baskoro laughed softly, vibrating his bulging stomach. He looked at Leon standing stiffly in front of his desk. Kaelen did not come down to an ice factory this time a man with crutches remained in a van's backseat, planning his next move with one hundred and thirty-seven billion rupiah of pure profit from selling land to NexaCorp.

"Your boss does not just have guts; he possesses a machine brain," Baskoro praised with an amused tone while tossing his phone back onto his desk. "Tell him our debt ledger is clear. But remind him one thing. Tricking a foolish boy at an auction house is easy. Facing a furious Herman Suryanegara is a completely different story."

Leon merely gave a brief, expressionless nod, then turned around to leave a cold storage room.

Baskoro lit his clove cigarette. He knew, starting this afternoon, a real storm had just begun blowing across their capital.

***

Up on Floor Forty of Suryanegara Tower, air felt freezing cold.

Herman Suryanegara's office was designed like a modern throne room. Glass walls offered 360-degree views across an entire business district. Floors were coated in pitch-black ebony wood. In a corner, a giant aquarium framed a wall, holding a billion-rupiah super red arowana fish swimming slowly to display its scales.

Herman stood with his back facing a door, sprinkling fish food pellets into water. A sixty-year-old man wore a white shirt without a jacket, sleeves neatly rolled up to his elbows. His graying hair was slicked back cleanly.

Mahogany double doors opened. Bastian walked inside with quick steps, followed closely by Sanjaya who kept wiping sweat off his forehead using a handkerchief.

"Did you call me, Father?" Bastian asked with a forced confident tone while desperately maintaining a fake smile. "Our auction went smoothly. We successfully secured Sector Six according to instructions."

Herman did not turn around. He kept staring at his arowana snatching pellets on water surfaces. Splashing sounds echoed loudly inside a soundproof room.

"Five hundred billion rupiah," Herman stated with a low, raspy tone while sending chills down Sanjaya's spine. "Our board of directors' maximum approved budget for that land was three hundred and fifty billion. You exceeded it by one hundred and fifty billion without calling me."

Bastian swallowed hard.

"That... that was because competitors tried to pressure us, Sir," Bastian defended himself with a trembling voice while trying to sound brave. "I had to take swift action to display Suryanegara's dominance. Our Data Center will be Southeast Asia's largest. One hundred and fifty billion is nothing compared to this project's future valuation."

Herman finally placed a fish food jar onto a shelf. An old man slowly turned his body around. His sharp eyes glared straight at his biological son.

Herman walked toward his solid marble desk, picked up an electronic tablet, then threw it onto ebony floors right at Bastian's shoes.

CRACK!

A tablet screen shattered, yet remained lit, displaying a geological investigation report from an independent firm.

"Read that," Herman ordered with a freezing tone while pointing at a cracked tablet on the floor.

Bastian looked down, but his body was too stiff to pick it up. Sanjaya finally squatted with trembling knees, picked it up, and read its core findings aloud.

"Based on sonic scans... Sector Six's lower layers consist of level-three solid andesite rock formations, possessing zero groundwater reserves. Our closest aquifer point... lies in Sector Four," Sanjaya read aloud with a hoarse voice while letting his words trail off fearfully.

Blood seemingly drained from Bastian's face entirely.

Herman stepped forward, closing a gap between himself and Bastian.

"Sanjaya told me Kaelen entered that room using black-market loans. That adopted stray bid on Sector Four, and you let him win at thirty-five billion," Herman hissed with a deadly tone while stepping closer to Bastian.

"S-Sir... that land is a toxic swamp," Bastian pleaded with a shaking voice while trying to defend himself. "Nobody wants to touch it. I thought he was just throwing money away..."

SLAP!

A vicious slap landed on Bastian's left cheek. It sounded like a whip striking skin.

Bastian's head jerked sideways. He stumbled backward until his back hit a wooden bookshelf. The corner of his lip tore instantly, dripping fresh blood onto his expensive blue shirt collar.

"You thought?!" Herman roared with blazing fury while neck veins bulged wildly. "I did not send you to Europe to 'think' like an absolute moron, Bastian! You just bought a half-trillion-rupiah rock oven! NexaCorp Singapore backed out of this project because Kaelen sold those groundwater rights to them half an hour ago! That adopted stray whose leg I broke last night just robbed one hundred billion right under your nose!"

Bastian touched his bleeding lip. His eyes radiated a combination of fear and suppressed anger. For years he felt jealous of Kaelen always receiving praise from board members. He returned to reclaim what was his by blood right. Yet on his very first day leading, he was utterly humiliated.

"Kaelen trapped me..." Bastian hissed with suppressed anger while wiping blood off his face.

"Kaelen did not trap you! You walked right off a cliff yourself because your ego was too massive to read basic geological reports!" Herman barked with a furious tone while pointing right at his son's face. "I removed him from his director seat to clear your path. I took legal risks manipulating audits so you could sit here. And this is your repayment?!"

Bastian lowered his gaze. Filthy curses remained trapped at the tip of his tongue.

"Get out of my office," Herman dismissed with absolute disgust while turning his back on Bastian. "And do not dare sign a single paper without my approval."

Bastian did not dare argue. He turned around, half-running out of an executive office with a tightly clenched jaw. Sanjaya bowed awkwardly in respect before hurriedly following behind him.

Outside, Bastian walked swiftly down an exclusive corridor toward a private lounge at a floor's end. His breathing was heavy. His fist punched wood-paneled hallway walls to vent his emotions.

Lounge doors opened. Valerie sat on a burgundy leather sofa, sipping a glass of sparkling water. She had just arrived ten minutes ago from an auction house.

Seeing Bastian's reddened face and swollen bleeding lip, Valerie set her glass down elegantly. No surprised expression appeared on her face. A woman raised in conglomerate environments since childhood understood perfectly well how Herman Suryanegara's wrath worked.

Bastian walked toward a small bar table in a corner. He poured whiskey into a glass without bothering to add ice cubes, then downed it in one gulp.

"Damn that Kaelen," Bastian cursed with a venomous tone while slamming his glass down hard. "He thinks he is smart? He just got lucky possessing classified information. I will handle him."

Valerie crossed her legs. Her eyes stared at Bastian intently.

"Handle him how, Bastian? NexaCorp already holds that land's utility rights," Valerie questioned with a sharp tone while staring intently at him. "If you touch their property, you will face Singapore's embassy. This is no longer just a family matter."

Bastian spun around, glaring at Valerie with wild eyes. Alcohol started going to his head, melting away any remaining rationality he possessed.

"To hell with Singapore," Bastian sneered with a wild look in his eyes while leaning against a sofa armrest. "I know some 'outside players' from our East District. Port union thugs. If I pay them to dump illegal medical waste onto Sector Four tonight, our environment ministry will seal that land tomorrow morning. NexaCorp will cancel their transaction, and Kaelen will be accused of destroying a conservation area."

Valerie's eyes narrowed. Her heart skipped a beat, not out of admiration, but out of sheer shock hearing absolute stupidity spewing from her new fiancé's mouth.

Hiring thugs to sabotage land owned by a foreign corporation? That was not a business strategy. That was an amateur criminal act where payment trails could be tracked by lowest-ranking police officers. If that leaked, media would not only destroy Bastian's name, but Sterling family—Valerie's family—would be dragged into an international sabotage scandal.

During three years of engagement to Kaelen, Valerie was used to seeing him solve corporate crises. Kaelen moved like a shadow; bribing officials through seven-layered shell companies, manipulating tax regulations, or pressuring competitors through banking debt channels. Everything was elegant, clean, and lethal without ever touching lowly street thuggery.

Last night, Valerie threw Kaelen away thinking Bastian was a new lion destined to rule this concrete jungle. Now, reality slapped her hard. A man standing before her was no lion. Bastian was merely a spoiled brat using his father's money to cover up his inability to think strategically.

Valerie inhaled slowly, hiding regrets slowly creeping into the bottom of her heart.

"Do whatever you think is right, Bastian," Valerie replied with a deadpan tone while standing up and grabbing her handbag. "I have to return to my editorial office. Let me know once this mess is resolved."

She stepped out of a lounge, leaving Bastian pouring more whiskey into his glass, completely blinded by his own ego.

***

Back inside Floor Forty's main office.

Herman Suryanegara stood before his giant glass wall. His eyes stared at a sea of capital skyscrapers lying far below his feet. Out there, people viewed Suryanegara's logo as an impenetrable symbol of power. However, Herman knew this building's foundation was currently being chewed by a starving rat.

A child he adopted twenty-five years ago had evolved into an apex predator.

Kaelen could not be allowed to possess one hundred billion in capital. Such money in an ordinary person's hands might only buy a few luxury homes. But in Kaelen's hands, it was pure ammunition capable of collapsing stock markets.

Herman walked back to his desk. He did not summon Sanjaya, nor did he contact his legal department. Certain problems could not be solved by contract papers.

An old man opened his private desk drawer, pulling out a dark red satellite phone bearing no recorded call histories on any telecommunications server. Herman dialed a number he had memorized by heart.

Connections linked after a fourth ring.

"Suryanegara. You rarely contact me during working hours," a Minister greeted with a deep voice while answering a secure satellite line.

"I need your assistance, Minister," Herman requested with a leveled tone while treating the man as an equal.

"Assistance? I heard your son just purchased half-a-trillion-rupiah land this morning," a Minister chuckled softly with an amused tone while evaluating the situation. "You should be partying. How can I help?"

"A plot of land next to Sector Six. Sector Four," Herman explained with a sharpening gaze while getting straight to the point. "There is a land-use rights transfer transaction from an individual to NexaCorp this afternoon. I need the state to freeze that transaction."

"NexaCorp? You are asking me to disrupt a foreign investor? That is a politically risky move, Herman," a Minister questioned with a cautious tone while weighing political risks. "What is my excuse to freeze it?"

"Change Sector Four's zoning status on city spatial planning maps," Herman suggested lightly with a casual tone while sounding as if he were simply rearranging furniture. "Turn that former chemical plant into a 'Protected Green Zone' for groundwater conservation purposes. Article seventeen of our spatial planning law forbids commercial transactions or construction on protected green zones. NexaCorp will back out automatically."

Silence briefly filled a phone line as a Minister calculated political consequences.

"Changing spatial maps within twenty-four hours requires an extremely strong hand in our approval committee," a Minister replied slowly with a calculating tone while considering his options. "Its 'operational' fees are not cheap."

"One million US dollars. Cash. Delivered to your wife's car trunk at her golf club tomorrow morning," Herman offered without blinking with a cold tone while finalizing the deal.

"Sector Four's status will change into a protected green zone effective midnight tonight. Good afternoon, Herman," a Minister concluded with a much more relaxed chuckle while hanging up.

Connections severed.

Herman placed a satellite phone back into his drawer and locked it. An old man stared at his own reflection on an arowana aquarium glass.

Bastian might have lost at an auction table. Kaelen might feel victorious due to his intelligence. Yet these young men forgot; in this country, business intelligence will always be choked to death bene

ath the boots of bureaucratic power.

Tonight, Kaelen would learn that a man who creates rules can never be defeated by a man who merely plays them.