The Shadow Billionaire

CHAPTER 6: INK ON WORTHLESS PAPER

Freshly brewed arabica coffee aromas filled a VVIP meeting room on Floor Twenty of Four Seasons Hotel. Raindrops tapped gently against giant glass windows presenting capital landscapes heavily obscured by gray clouds.

Kaelen sat on a high-backed genuine leather chair. His aluminum crutches leaned against a marble table edge. Beneath that table, his left leg wrapped in a white cast throbbed violently. Dr. Surya's painkillers were slowly wearing off, letting agonizing aches from a titanium plate and six surgical screws gnaw at his nerves once more.

Yet, not a single facial muscle twitched. His posture remained as calm as a placid lake surface.

Across a table, Richard Chen—CEO of NexaCorp—sat flanked by two corporate lawyers. Five-centimeter-thick document stacks containing Sector Four's usage rights transfer clauses and groundwater utility permits lay neatly in the center.

"Our legal team's due diligence is complete, Mister Kaelen," Richard's lawyer announced with a professional tone while tidying up document edges. "Your shell company's land-use certificate is verified as legitimate. No banking disputes tie down Sector Four."

Richard Chen smiled faintly, pulling a Montblanc gold pen from his inner suit pocket.

"One hundred and fifty billion rupiah. Full payment with no installments," Richard Chen stated with a faint smile while clicking his Montblanc gold pen open. "Right after this ink dries on paper, those funds will transfer to your offshore escrow account. NexaCorp gets a water source for our Data Center, and you get a very elegant victory."

Beside Kaelen, Leon exhaled a long silent breath. Tension locking Obsidian's head of operations' shoulders since last night finally loosened. With such massive funds, Kaelen could not only pay off Baskoro's debt but also possess more than enough ammunition to launch a guerrilla war against Suryanegara dynasty.

Kaelen leaned his body forward, reaching for a pen offered by NexaCorp.

A metal pen tip barely touched stamped paper surfaces when meeting room double doors were forcefully pushed open from outside.

BANG!

Rushed leather shoe footsteps shattered a room's tranquility.

Bastian Suryanegara walked inside without knocking, followed by two heavily built men wearing safari suits. Behind them, Valerie trailed with much calmer steps, wearing thin-framed sunglasses covering half her face.

"I highly suggest you do not sign those documents, Mister Chen," Bastian shouted with a booming voice while forcefully pushing double doors open.

A young heir's lip corner remained slightly swollen from Herman's slap a few hours ago, with scars poorly hidden by concealer. However, panic and embarrassment vanished from his face. An arrogant sneer plastered on his lips was far wider than before.

Richard Chen halted his hand movements. Singapore's CEO stared at Bastian with a frowning forehead, clearly disliking unethical interruptions during a business transaction.

"Mister Bastian," Richard Chen reprimanded with a freezing tone while frowning at this unethical interruption. "This is a private meeting. I believe Suryanegara Capital has no business in this room."

Bastian strolled casually toward a marble table, ignoring murderous glares from Leon who was ready to stand up. He stopped directly across from Kaelen.

"Oh, we have very important business here, Mister Chen," Bastian mocked with an exaggerated tone while strolling closer to a marble table. "As hosts in this city, we feel obligated to protect foreign investors from blatant fraud."

Kaelen did not put down his pen. His eyes stared straight at Bastian, reading every micro-expression on his opponent's face. Bastian lacked the intellect to design counterattacks in less than two hours. Such radiating confidence was a direct result of someone else's protection. Herman had made his move.

Bastian reached into his suit pocket, pulling out an electronic tablet, then placed it right on top of Kaelen's contract documents.

"Check our Ministry of Spatial Planning's official portal from ten minutes ago," Bastian instructed an opposing lawyer with a triumphant sneer while tossing a tablet onto Kaelen's contract.

A lawyer beside Richard Chen immediately opened his laptop. His fingers typed rapidly. Within seconds, a lawyer's face turned pale. He turned his laptop screen around so Richard Chen could see it directly.

Kaelen glanced at a tablet screen Bastian threw down.

There, an Emergency Ministerial Decree blinked in digital red ink. Its contents were brief yet possessed lethal destructive power.

Ministerial Decree No. 44/TR/Emergency: Western Region Zoning Status Alteration.

Considering groundwater conservation interests and seawater intrusion prevention, Sector Four land and surrounding areas are designated as PROTECTED GREEN ZONES. All forms of commercial transactions, construction permits, and utility extractions are permanently frozen effective upon issuance of this letter.

Air inside that room seemingly got sucked out.

Leon held back curses. A hard-faced man ground his teeth violently.

Richard Chen remained silent for quite a while staring at his lawyer's laptop screen. Singapore's CEO's jawline hardened. A man who had eaten salt and vinegar in Southeast Asian corporate worlds slowly pulled contract documents back away from Kaelen.

"Protected Green Zone," Richard Chen muttered softly with a grim tone while capping his gold pen. "That means absolutely nothing can be built on that land. Forbidden for factories, forbidden for data centers, and most importantly... forbidden to extract groundwater."

"Spot on, Mister Chen," Bastian agreed with a sadistic tone while resting both hands on a table edge. "This crippled man in front of you just tried to sell a plot with zero commercial value. Legally, that land is merely a swamp for breeding frogs and mosquitoes."

Valerie stood behind Bastian, crossing her arms over her chest. Her eyes stared at Kaelen from behind dark lenses.

This morning, Valerie briefly questioned her decision to throw Kaelen away. She thought Kaelen had successfully outsmarted Suryanegara dynasty. Yet now, seeing a ministerial decree issued within mere hours, reality slapped her back to her senses.

Brainpower meant absolutely nothing when facing absolute power. Kaelen might read geological reports, but Herman Suryanegara could alter those geological boundaries themselves using just one phone call. Kaelen was merely a smart worker, while Herman owned a chessboard. Valerie smiled faintly, feeling relieved she chose a side controlling their state.

Richard Chen turned to Kaelen. A conglomerate boss's gaze radiated no anger for almost being scammed, but rather genuine pity.

"I warned you at the auction lobby this morning, Kaelen," Richard Chen reminded him with a genuinely apologetic tone while looking at him with pity. "You are holding an old tiger's tail. Our capital will never dare fight a sovereign state's regulations."

Richard Chen stood up from his chair. His lawyers hurriedly packed up their documents.

"This transaction is legally void," Richard decided with a firm tone while standing up from his chair. "A regulatory force majeure status. I hope you can find a way out of your troubles, Kaelen. Good afternoon."

Without further pleasantries, NexaCorp's entourage walked out of a meeting room, leaving Kaelen sitting motionless in his chair. A one-hundred-and-fifty-billion-rupiah contract was now nothing more than worthless trash paper.

Bastian burst into loud laughter. Echoing laughter filled a void left by Richard Chen.

"How does it feel, Kael?" Bastian taunted with a loud, echoing laugh while leaning close to his former director's ear. "Did you really think you could piss on my father with cheap auction tactics? Thirty-five billion rupiah... whose money did you use to buy that conservation land, Kaelen? Which bank was stupid enough to give you unsecured credit?"

Kaelen did not turn his head. He stared straight ahead, gazing at glass windows washed by pouring rain.

"Oh, wait," Bastian added with a theatrical gasp while lightly slapping his own forehead. "Your accounts are frozen. You must have borrowed money from a black market. Loan sharks? How much interest do you have to pay today?"

Valerie stepped forward, standing beside Bastian.

"That is enough, Bastian. There is nothing left to see here," Valerie ordered with an icy tone while stepping forward. "You challenged a system that built you, Kael. This is a result of your arrogance. Just die quietly, and never drag our names down again."

Bastian straightened his suit, turned around, and walked toward an exit alongside Valerie.

Before completely disappearing behind double doors, Bastian glanced backward. 

"Enjoy the rest of your life on one leg, Kaelen," Bastian threw a final insult with a venomous tone while turning toward the exit. "That is if your debt collectors are kind enough not to chop off your other one."

Double doors closed shut.

A VVIP meeting room returned to silence. Only sounds of increasingly heavy rain battering against glass windows remained.

Leon stood beside Kaelen. His hands trembled, not from fear, but from holding back explosive anger inside his chest. A perfectly designed plan got completely annihilated by one dirty bureaucratic manipulation.

"Herman bribed our Ministry of Spatial Planning," Leon growled with a furious tone while clenching his jaw tightly. "He altered national zoning maps in two hours just to kill our transaction."

Kaelen remained silent. He closed his eyes. Pain in his leg, previously forgotten due to adrenaline, now attacked brutally. His heart beat slowly, calculating a reality that just struck him.

His auction house victory this morning was an illusion. Herman had let him feel victorious, only to cut his support ropes precisely when he reached his highest peak.

A phone inside Leon's jacket pocket suddenly vibrated long and hard.

Leon reached into his pocket, checked his screen, then swallowed hard. A hard-faced man turned pale. He stared at Kaelen with desperate eyes.

"Boss..." Leon called out with a hoarse voice while staring desperately at Kaelen.

Kaelen slowly opened his eyes. 

"Say it," Kaelen commanded with a calm tone while slowly opening his eyes.

"A message from our surveillance team in the downstairs lobby," Leon reported with a pale face while keeping his eyes glued to his phone screen. "Baskoro knows our transaction failed. An insider at NexaCorp must have leaked it. Baskoro's men... ten of them, just blocked this hotel's entrance and exit doors."

Leon glanced at his wristwatch. Time showed 13:45.

"Our debt repayment deadline is two in the afternoon. Fifteen minutes from now," Leon continued with a panicking tone while checking his wristwatch. "Thirteen billion rupiah. If we go down to the lobby without any transferred funds..."

Leon did not finish his sentence. A loan shark's chainsaw threat was no longer a mere metaphor.

Kaelen sat in silence. On paper, he was finished. He had no money, no corporate allies, no physical strength, and was trapped on floor twenty with black-market executioners waiting at exit doors.

Logically, this was endgame.

However, Kaelen slowly raised his right hand. He grabbed his aluminum crutch, then leaned his body weight on it to stand up. Cold sweat drenched his temples due to severe pain from his cast-bound left leg, yet his eyes opened wide. A look of despair Bastian sought was nowhere to be found.

All that existed in Kaelen's eyes was a black flame refusing to die out.

"If that is the case, we will not leave through the lobby," Kaelen declared with a terrifyingly calm tone while struggling to stand up using his crutches. "Gather every internal scandal data of Suryanegara's subsidiaries from Obsidian servers. We are going to pay Baskoro with other people's blood."