Bitcoin Billionaire: I Regressed to Invest in the First Bitcoin!-Chapter 334: Public Displays of Affection

As Darren approached the secluded corner booth that had been stylishly tucked beneath cascading purple wisteria, Ava pulled her oversized Chanel sunglasses down the bridge of her nose.

Her striking blue eyes sparkled, giving him this playful, amused gleam that made him smile.

"I assume this fashion choice is to hide from the press," Darren said, sliding into the plush, curved booth opposite her, "but you only exactly like a movie star trying to hide from the press." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Ava laughed, a bright, melodic sound that instantly drew the subtle attention of a few nearby tables. She slipped the sunglasses off completely and placed them next to her wide-brimmed sun hat.

"Is that a compliment, Darren?" she asked.

"Ah. Me? Make compliments?" he shook his head. "Never."

Ava giggled. "Well, it’s a fashion style, that much is true. You have to look just inconspicuous enough that people think they’ve discovered a secret, but glamorous enough that the photos still look good when they inevitably sell them to TMZ."

"Spoken like a true veteran," Darren smirked, loosening his suit jacket. "I’ll have to take notes."

A waiter materialized almost instantly, offering them leather-bound menus.

Darren led the order. He asked for a bottle of crisp Sancerre, a light Niçoise salad for Ava, and a dry-aged steak tartare for himself. Ava was impressed.

Once the waiter poured the wine and discreetly vanished, the air between them shifted from casual greeting to a more charged, intimate frequency.

Ava picked up her glass by the stem, swirling the pale gold liquid. She looked at him over the rim. "So. I presented a rather unorthodox business proposal last night. Have you thought about it?"

Darren looked at her. He thought about the monthly quest ’Hollywood Gambit’ his system had given him just an hour ago.

The rewards were a Trendteller upgrade and an ’Ironclad’ PR Aura. He’d decided that they were too massive to ignore. But more than that, this seemed like something fun to try. So, with all those reasons combined, his decision was made.

"I have," Darren replied, taking a slow sip of his wine. "And I’m in."

Ava’s eyes widened slightly, a genuine wave of relief washing over her features. The tight tension she had been carrying around her shoulders seemed to melt away. "Really? Just like that?"

"Just like that," Darren confirmed, setting his glass down. "The optics are mutually beneficial. You get a shield against Gary—"

"Daniel," she corrected playfully.

"Right, Daniel Storm. You get a shield that makes your ex look like a desperate footnote, and I get a layer of pop-culture armor while I dismantle a few rival conglomerates." Darren leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "Plus, I think I could use the distraction. My life has been entirely spreadsheets and lawsuits lately."

Ava smiled warmly. He noticed how different her smile looked and felt from what he saw in movies. "Well, I can certainly promise you a distraction," she said. "But we have to do this right, Darren. The public is cynical. If it looks like a PR stunt, Daniel will spin it to make me look even more pathetic."

"Oh. I have to earn though, I’m new to the fake relationship industry," Darren admitted, his lips curling into a teasing half-smile. "How do we start? Is there a contract? Do we have a rehearsal schedule?"

"No contracts," she chuckled, reaching across the table to lightly tap his hand. Her touch was brief but electric. "This isn’t a telenovela."

Darren chuckled. "Well thanks for straightening that out. I was of the assumption that it was."

She chuckled again. "It’s all about the rollout. We start with ’sightings.’ A dinner here, a shared car ride there. We let the rumors build. But to truly cement it, to make it undeniable so my PR team can officially confirm it..."

She paused, her gaze dropping to his lips for a fraction of a second before meeting his eyes again. "We’ll have to kiss publicly pretty soon."

Darren stared at her, slightly stunned. He looked around the terrace. The tables were spaced out, but there were definitely eyes on them.

A prominent venture capitalist was sitting three tables down, and a woman who looked suspiciously like a society blogger was actively pretending not to look at them from the bar.

Darren slowly turned his attention back to Ava, a big scheme on his handsome face. "Here is pretty public," he suggested softly.

Ava’s breath hitched. She hadn’t expected him to be quite so smooth, or quite so bold. The banter was one thing, but the intense, unapologetic way he was looking at her made her heart execute a very real, unscripted flutter.

She leaned in closer over the table, the scent of vanilla and jasmine enveloping him. Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "Are you always this impatient, Mr. Steele?"

"Only when I see a good investment," Darren murmured, tempted to close the distance further.

They were going to do it. They were going to kiss. However, just then, bzzzzzt, bzzzzzt.

The aggressive vibration of Darren’s phone against his pocket shattered the moment like a pane of glass.

Darren closed his eyes for a brief second, releasing a quiet, exasperated sigh. The real world was demanding its toll.

Ava smiled. "Do you have to take that?"

Darren gave her an apologetic look. "I do. Give me a moment."

Ava leaned back into her booth, her smile now slightly flushed as she picked up her wine glass. "Duty calls, billionaire. I’ll just sit here and look pretty."

Darren pulled the phone from his pocket and answered. "Vance?"

"The injunctions are filed, sir," Jonathan Vance’s voice came through the receiver, uncharacteristically grim. "But we have a massive complication."

"She’s back."

Darren’s brow furrowed. "Who?"

"Lilian Greaves."

Darren’s grip on the phone tightened. That was indeed an unexpected name. After what happened with her, he had assumed that the bureaucratic fallout would keep her buried in Washington for years.

"She’s the new Deputy Director of the DFI," Vance continued with urgency in his tone. "She ambushed Daisy and me at the courthouse. She knows about the injunctions. She’s claiming ’systemic risk potential’ to force the DFI into our orbit again. She seemed really focused this time. Like she finally has what she needs to go full force on you."

Darren listened silently, forming his thoughts.

"If the DFI is going to be breathing down our necks, we might want to halt the filings against Hargrove, Lin, and Patel. We don’t want to draw massive federal attention while she’s looking for an excuse to audit us again."

"No," Darren said.

"Mhm? Darren, if she starts digging—"

"I said no, Vance. Do not stop the lawsuits. Go ahead with scorched earth on the sponsors. Let her watch if she wants."

Darren’s mind raced, his regression-honed intellect already mapping out the chessboard.

Lilian was brilliant, and she was fueled by a personal vendetta against him, but she was still constrained by the rigid laws of her department.

If she had enough evidence to indict him, she would have already. In fact, she would have shown up with a federal raid team. All she was doing now was rattling the cage to see what shook loose.

"She’s trying to panic us into making a mistake," Darren explained coldly. "If we pull back the lawsuits now, we show weakness. We show guilt. Proceed exactly as planned. I have an idea of what she’s planning, and I know exactly how to stop it."

"You’re playing a dangerous game with her, Darren. She isn’t the same agent she was last year. She has real power now."

"So do I," Darren replied flatly. "I’ll handle Greaves. File the papers, Jonathan."

He ended the call, slipping the phone back into his pocket. He took a slow, deep breath, burying the ruthless CEO back beneath the polished exterior, and looked back across the table.

Ava was watching him closely, her chin resting on her hand. She had seen the shift: the way his eyes had gone dead and dark, the way the air around him had suddenly felt heavy and dangerous.

It was thrilling, in a terrifying sort of way.

"Everything alright?" she asked softly.

Darren looked at her, his charming, magnetic smile returning seamlessly to his face. He picked up his wine glass, raising it slightly toward her.

"Just the same demands of the job," Darren said smoothly. "Now... where were we on the topic of public displays of affection?"