Golden Eye Tycoon: Rise of the Billionaire Trader-Chapter 70: Business meeting

The sunlight cutting through the blinds felt less like a greeting and more like an accusation. Jake sat up, his back emitting a series of pops that sounded like dry kindling. As he swung his legs over the side of the bed, he caught his reflection in the full-length mirror—and stopped.

He stood up, turning to the side. There it was. A subtle, soft curve where there used to be a flat plane.

’Huh? When did that happen?" he wondered, prodding the slight accumulation of "success" around his waist. ’I’m building a fortune, but I’m doing it in a body that’s starting to look like a soft-boiled egg. Nah, let’sdo something about this.’

He dropped to the floor, the carpet rough against his palms. ’Twenty-five,’ he told himself. ’Just a quick set of twenty-five to wake up.’

By the tenth push-up, his shoulders were already screaming. By fifteen, his breath was coming in short, ragged burst ’Thirteen... fourteen...’ His arms trembled. He hit 22 and his chest stayed on the floor. He lay there for a second, cheek pressed against the carpet, listening to his heart hammer against his ribs. ’Pathetic. Six months ago, I would’ve done fifty while reading the news.’

He hauled himself up, moving to the pull-up bar wedged into the closet frame. He gripped the cold metal, his mind already making excuses. ’Your grip is just sweaty,’ he thought. He pulled. One. Two. Ten. At fifteen, his lats felt like they were being shredded. He squeezed out 34 through sheer stubbornness, his face turning a dark shade of purple before he dropped, his legs feeling like lead.

’Ok lets try squats, ’ he thought, almost dreading it. ’Just to keep the blood moving.’

He managed 26 before his lungs began to burn with a dull, dry heat. He stopped, hands on his knees, staring at the floor. The "Zenith" didn’t just need a waterfall; it needed a temple. He needed a dedicated gym room—somewhere he could reclaim the version of himself that didn’t wheeze after two minutes of exertion. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

---

By 08:00, the physical fatigue had been replaced by the familiar, sharp focus of the market. Jake sat before his monitors, his eyes tracking the aggressive volatility of the Gold market. A massive institutional liquidity sweep was happening—a "Dragon" move that was incinerating retail accounts by the thousands.

Jake watched the candles flicker. He waited for the "Shift." When the red bar hit a specific Fibonacci extension, he saw the exhaustion. He scaled in with 50 lots, high-leverage positions that felt like balancing a skyscraper on a needle.

Profit = 4,710,500.00 VM

He closed the trade as the reversal hit its peak. His dashboard updated: his total liquid capital now stood at 28,350,500.00 VM. He was millions ahead of where he’d been just a week ago, yet as he stood to get ready for the meeting, he couldn’t help but think that the numbers on the screen were far easier to move than the weight on his own chest.

---

Jake pushed open the heavy oak doors at 09:50. The room was already occupied. Marcus sat at the head of the table, flanked by Adrian and Leon, while Noah was busy reviewing a digital contract.

"The final piece of the puzzle arrives," Leon joked, checking his watch. "Ten minutes to spare, Jake. You’re getting faster."

"Or maybe you’re all just getting older and showing up earlier," Jake countered, taking his seat.

Marcus cleared his throat, pulling a thick leather folder toward the center of the table. "Alright, let’s get into it. The primary order of business: The Meridian Group. The seller has agreed to the terms for their shares. The total buy-in is 320 million VM. We pay 250 million upfront, with the remainder due within thirty days."

Leon frowned, glancing at his notes. "Wait, did I misread the brief? I thought we were buying the 32% stake in the Meridian *Hotel*, not the entire Group."

Jake leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. That was the exact question on the tip of his tongue.

"Adrian mentioned the hotel specifically last week," Jake added, looking toward Adrian.

Adrian sighed, adjusting his glasses with a look of genuine frustration. "My apologies, everyone. I misunderstood the initial communication. The shares aren’t for the single property—they’re for 19% of the parent company, the Meridian Group."

"Nineteen percent?" Jake’s voice was sharp. "Marcus, how is 19% of a mid-tier group worth 320 million? That valuation is insane unless they’ve discovered gold under their lobby."

Noah leaned back, his eyes narrowing. "Nineteen percent of the entire Group? Marcus, the Meridian Group is a sinking ship. Their stock has been in freefall for weeks because of that offshore labor scandal. Why would we want to tie ourselves to their debt and their headlines?"

"Yes, he Group has taken a massive hit recently," Marcus clarified, his expression grim. "The stocks plummeted after the ’incident’ with the offshore labor backlash. One of the major shareholders is desperate to cash out while there’s still a shred of profit left. He wants liquidity, and he wants it now."

Jake hadn’t seen the headlines—he’d been too busy looking at gold charts and waterfalls—but he didn’t need the news to see the trap.

"Why are we boarding a sinking ship?" Jake asked, his voice echoing in the quiet room. "If the Group is failing due to a public relations nightmare, 19% is just a front-row seat to a funeral. Why don’t we pivot? Approach them to buy the hotel instead, or acquire enough shares to become the majority holders of the property alone and split from the Group entirely. We’re a new company. We don’t have the cushion to absorb the losses of a dying parent group just to say we own a piece of it."

Adrian nodded slowly, tapping his pen against the table. "Jake is right. I’ll own the mistake on the initial data, but the conclusion holds. If we buy into the Group, we’re tied to their debt and their scandals. Even if it’s a ’killing’ if they recover, it won’t be anytime soon. We’d be running in the red for months, maybe years."

Marcus looked around the table, seeing the consensus shift. He nodded curtly. "Point taken. I’ll reach back out to the Meridian legal team. We’ll re-approach with a focus on the hotel acquisition only. Let’s move on."

He pulled out a second prospectus. "A lucrative opportunity from the States. A company called GuardianEye—they specialize in smart door-ring cameras. They’re looking to expand into our domestic market and want a local partner to handle the infrastructure and distribution."

"What’s the ask?" Noah asked, leaning in.

"They want a 15 million VM initial investment for setup and marketing, with more to follow accordingly. " Marcus explained. "In exchange, we get 30% of the local equity and a 25% cut of all subscription services sold in the region. Their US performance is staggering—80% year-over-year growth."

"The security sector here is booming," Jake mused, his mind already calculating the ROI. "People are moving into gated communities and looking for tech-based safety. If we control the distribution, we control the market."

The five of them discussed the logistics for another twenty minutes before all reaching a unanimous *yes*. As the meeting wound down, Noah looked around the room.

"Since we’re expanding, shouldn’t we be looking for a bigger space?" Noah asked. "We’re going to need staff soon—analysts, secretaries, a legal team."

"Not yet," Adrian said, standing up and smoothing his suit. "Let’s finish the current order of business—the Meridian pivot and the GuardianEye contract. Once the ink is dry, we find the palace. For now, this room is enough."

---

The meeting adjourned, and Jake walked out into the crisp morning air. His pulse was still elevated from the debate, but there was one more deal he needed to close today—a personal one.

He got into his Audi and drove toward the Vantage Point Realty offices. He wasn’t going to the lobby this time. He was going straight to the back.

As he pulled up, he saw Alice through the glass, already waiting with a leather-bound folder. The Zenith Estate was waiting. The waterfall, the office in the clouds, the throne—it was time to make it official.

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