We invest in things that actually build, not algorithms that cannibalize the working class. If you want maximum extraction, sell your 49%. " Reed laughed, a deep, rumbling sound. "Relax, kid. I've made more money shorting the firms trying to attack us than I ever did trying to compete with Victoria. You're a terrible capitalist, Aiden, but you're a hell of a strategist. " Reed stood up, stretching.
"By the way, security downstairs called me. They have a visitor for you. They didn't want to buzz your line. " Aiden frowned. "Who? " "Your predecessor. She's sitting in the lobby.
Been there for 2 hours. Refuses to leave. " Aiden felt a strange tightening in his chest. He hadn't seen or heard from Victoria since the day he threw her out. The legal transition had been handled entirely by proxies. "Send her up," Aiden said quietly.
10 minutes later, the door opened. Aiden barely recognized her. The Victoria Cross who had sneered at him 3 months ago was a creature of sharp angles, polished gold, and lethal confidence. The woman standing in his doorway looked entirely human. She wore a simple gray trench coat over dark jeans and a plain sweater.
Her hair was pulled back in a loose tie. She looked exhausted. She walked in slowly looking around the stripped-down office. "You ruined the aesthetic. " She said. Her voice was quiet, lacking its old metallic bite.
"I removed the distractions. " Aiden replied. He didn't offer her a seat. Victoria stood in the center of the room. She looked at him, really looked at him for a long time. "I spent the last 3 months trying to find a lawyer who would sue you.
I talked to 40 firms. None of them would take it. They all said the same thing. The algorithm was legally sound. The trap I fell into was built by my own greed.
You just opened the door. " "Why are you here, Victoria? " Aiden asked. His tone wasn't cruel, but it wasn't warm, either. "I wanted to see the monster who beat me. " She said, wrapping her arms around herself. "But you're not a monster, are you? You're just a father. " "I am a man who protected his family. " "You destroyed my life to do it. " Aiden leaned forward, resting his hands on the oak table.
"Let's get something very clear. I didn't destroy your life. I dismantled your machinery. Your life, your friends, your identity, your worth, was entirely dependent on the money you extracted from people like me. If losing your title destroyed you, it means there was nothing real underneath it to begin with. " Victoria flinched.
The words hit her like physical blows because she knew they were true. The silence in the room stretched, heavy and suffocating. "I have nothing. " She whispered. The admission cost her everything. "The freeze on my assets is permanent.
The SEC is barring me from trading. I can't get a job in finance. I'm 32 and my life is over. " Aiden watched her. Three months ago, he would have relished this. He would have drank her despair like fine wine.
But looking at her now, he just felt tired. Revenge was a meal that stopped filling you the moment you swallowed it. He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a manila envelope. He slid it across the table. Victoria frowned, stepping forward to pick it up.
She opened the flap and pulled out a legal document. She read the first page, her brow furrowing in confusion. "What is this? " "It's a severance package. " Aiden said flatly. "And the title deed to the townhouse you bought for your mother in Brooklyn. The board wanted to seize it in the liquidation.
I bought it out of the company portfolio personally and I'm transferring it to you. The severance is a lump sum. $200,000. " Victoria stared at him, bewildered. To a billionaire, 200,000 was a bar tab. To a woman who currently had nothing, it was oxygen. "Why? " She asked, her voice shaking.
"After everything I did to you, after what I said to you, why are you giving me anything? " "Because I know what it feels like to stand in the dark and wonder how you're going to feed your family tomorrow. " Aiden said. "I don't want anyone to feel that way, not even you. He sat back in his chair. It's enough money to live on while you figure out your next steps. Go back to school.
Get a job that actually builds something. Figure out who Victoria is without a billion dollars behind her name. But this is it. This is the last time you will ever step foot in this building. And it is the last time we will ever speak.
Victoria held the envelope against her chest. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. She didn't say thank you. The pride wouldn't let her go that far. But she gave him a slow, jerky nod.
She turned and walked out the door. Aiden watched her go. The ghost of his past had finally been exorcised. That evening, Aiden didn't work late. At 5:00 p.m., he shut his laptop, walked to the elevator, and went home.
Home wasn't a penthouse. It was a comfortable four-bedroom house in a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood in Queens. There were no marble floors, just warm oak. When he unlocked the front door, the smell of garlic and roasting chicken filled the air. Dad!
Lily came sprinting down the hallway. Her cheeks were pink, her eyes bright, and the terrible hollow cough was entirely gone. She crashed into his legs, and Aiden hoisted her up, spinning her around until she shrieked with laughter. "How was school, bug? " he asked, burying his face in her shoulder. "I got a gold star in math," she said proudly.
"And the radiator in my room is too hot. I had to open the window. Aiden smiled. A real deep smile that reached all the way to his chest. I'll go fix it, he promised.
He set her down and watched her run back toward the kitchen. Her bare feet patting softly against the warm floorboards. He walked over to the entryway table. There was a framed picture of Sarah there surrounded by fresh yellow carnations. Aiden touched the frame gently.
He couldn't fix the past. He couldn't buy back the time they had lost. But as he stood in the warm house listening to his daughter laugh, he knew he had won. He looked down at his feet.
He was wearing expensive shoes now, but he kicked them off anyway. He preferred the feeling of the solid ground beneath his feet. He had climbed to the top of the world, tore down the throne, and walked away. And for the first time in five years, Aiden Caldwell felt rich.