Golden Eye Tycoon: Rise of the Billionaire Trader-Chapter 82: Building a Fortress (Bonus - )

Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Building a Fortress (Bonus Chapter)

Thanks to ’dave_brown’ for the Massage Chair🫂. Enjoy the bonus Chapters.

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The Apex Plaza stood like a monolith of steel and tinted glass in the center of the financial district. It was the kind of building where the air felt thinner and the hushed tones of the lobby whispered of old money and new power.

Alice was waiting for Jake by the elevators, her tablet tucked under her arm. She didn’t say a word as they ascended to the 42nd floor, but there was a faint, satisfied curve to her lips. When the doors slid open, Jake stepped out into a space that took his breath away.

The office was a sprawling, open-plan masterpiece. The floors were polished charcoal concrete, and the ceiling exposed the industrial-chic skeletal structure, painted a matte black. Floor-to-ceiling windows offered a 270-degree view of the Gaborone skyline, the city stretching out like a circuit board beneath them.

"I took the liberty of prioritizing the infrastructure," Alice said, gesturing toward a glass-walled room in the center. "That’s the core. Dedicated server racks, redundant fiber-optic lines, and a backup power system that can keep you trading for seventy-two hours even if the city goes dark."

Jake walked toward the private office in the corner. It featured a massive desk made of a single slab of reclaimed oak and a wall of monitors that were already flickering with global market data. There were no decorative plants or fluff. It was lean, aggressive, and functional.

"You didn’t give me a brief," Alice noted, watching him run a hand over the cool oak. "I just went with what I thought a man in your position would need."

"You have good instincts, Alice," Jake said, looking out at the horizon. "It’s perfect." He turned to her, his expression softening slightly but remaining professional. "Drop by tomorrow morning. I’ll have your formal employment contract ready for signing. You’ve earned your place at the head of this table."

"Thank you Sir." Alice replied, trying to look professional.

"Being professional is ok and all but don’t over do it," Jake said with a smile. "Ideally I’d have you start next week but there’s a huge project right now and it’s just you and me here and I’ll be needing the help. Don’t worry, I’ll give you a generous bonus once it’s all done."

"I’m more than happy to start anytime you need me." Alice said, clearly overjoyed at the thought of the ’huge’ bonus.

"Right now, I need you to go to my house and grab an envelope I placed on my office table. It’s the only one there so it shouldn’t be hard to spot. I want you to scan and email them to Samuel Carter from Blackwell & Carter, they are our lawyers from now on. Ask him to clarify which parts are ok to send to my business partners to prove my ownership then send it to Aurelia Capitals, they will be helping us. Plus I own 20% of the company. I’ll send you the contact details."

Alice, like an employee ready to perform, was taking notes on the tasks. "Is that all?" She asked as she looked up from her tablet.

"Oh, have Samuel draft up your employment contract. Tell him the specifics we discussed. Bring it with you tomorrow and I’ll sign it." Jake glanced one last time at the office then turned to leave. "I’ll inform the security to let you in."

--

While Jake was claiming his new territory and making plans, the atmosphere at Johnson & Associates had turned toxic.

Catharine sat at her desk, her eyes fixed on a complex amortization schedule, but she could feel the weight of a dozen gazes on her back. The morning’s drop-off in the Audi R8 had acted like a match dropped into a pool of gasoline.

In the breakroom, the whispers were barely hushed.

"Did you see that car?" a junior analyst named Rebecca sneered, stirring her coffee with unnecessary force. "An R8. That’s at least three million. And look at her—Associate Stone suddenly has a different air about her, doesn’t she?"

"It’s obvious, isn’t it?" another voice chimed in, a man from the auditing department. "Fresh graduate, no family name, but she’s being chauffeured by a guy who looks like he owns the exchange. You don’t get that kind of ’sponsorship’ by being good at Excel. She’s clearly sleeping her way into the first tier."

"Sad, really," Rebecca added, her voice dripping with mock pity. "I thought she had brains after she called out Henderson yesterday. Turns out her real talent is just finding the right bed to climb into. I guess the ’casting couch’ is still the fastest way to the top."

Catharine heard it all. The thin walls of the kitchenette offered no protection. She gripped her pen, her heart stinging from the unfairness of it, but she didn’t stand up. She didn’t confront them. She remembered Jake’s voice from the night before: ’The numbers always tell the truth eventually.’ She stayed in her chair, let the poison swirl around her, and went back to work. If they wanted to think she was a trophy, she would let them—until she dismantled their models piece by piece.

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At 1:00 PM, Jake walked into The Gilded Leaf, a private dining club known for its iron-clad NDAs and exceptionally expensive wine list. Samuel Carter was already seated at a secluded corner table, looking every bit the high-powered litigator in a charcoal pinstripe suit.

"Jake," Samuel said, standing to shake his hand. "You sounded like a man with a heavy secret on the phone."

"It’s not a secret anymore, Samuel. It’s a liability," Jake replied as they sat.

Over a meal of seared wagyu and mineral water, Jake laid it all out. He told Samuel about the Meridian Group’s collapse, his father’s long-hidden role, and the activation of the private trust. As the numbers left Jake’s mouth, Samuel’s fork stopped halfway to his face.

"Wait... repeat that," Samuel whispered, leaning in so close his glasses nearly fogged.

"Around three billion marks in accumulated dividends," Jake said calmly, "and over five billion marks in physical assets, including the Meridian Hotel flagship. All hidden in a dormant trust."

Samuel’s expression shifted from professional interest to genuine, wide-eyed shock. He sank back into his chair, breathless. "Eight billion marks... hidden in a dormant trust? Jake, you’re describing a sleeping giant. If the creditors or the board of the Meridian Group find out about the liquidity in that trust, they will move heaven and earth to pierce the corporate veil and claim it as company property to pay off the Group’s debts."

"That’s why I called you," Jake said, leaning in. "What’s the loophole? How do they get to me?"

Samuel tapped his fountain pen against the linen tablecloth, his legal mind finally catching up to the staggering figures. "The main risk is ’alter ego’ liability’. If they can prove the trust and the Group were effectively the same entity, they can seize your inheritance to satisfy the Group’s criminal and civil penalties. We need to create a legal fortress."

Jake nodded. "You know that I’ve already created my own investment firm, Golden Investments. I want Blackwell & Carter to represent the firm. I want a complete, airtight transfer of every asset in that trust—the Hotel, the Restaurant, the Brewers—under the umbrella of Golden Investments."

Samuel let out a low whistle. "You’re moving them from a personal inheritance to a corporate entity. It’s a bold move. It changes the legal standing from ’gifted wealth’ to ’corporate holdings.’ It will take weeks of paperwork and some very creative tax structuring."

"I don’t have weeks, Samuel. I have Sterling and a pack of vultures circling the Meridian Group right now. They think they’re buying a carcass. I want them to realize they’re walking into a cage."

Samuel smiled—a sharp, predatory look that mirrored Jake’s own. "If we move the assets into Golden Investments, you aren’t just a kid with a trust fund anymore. You’re a CEO with a multi-billion mark portfolio. We can set up the transfer so that the moment the Meridian Group tries to liquidate, they find out the assets they thought they owned have already been legally absorbed by a ’third-party’ investor—you."

As they finalized the details—discussing subsidiary shielding, non-disclosure agreements for the trust’s executors, and the rapid-file timeline for the asset deeds—Samuel paused, looking at the young man across from him.

"One more thing, Jake," Samuel said, his eyes inquisitive. "With a portfolio this aggressive... do you intend for Golden Investments to go public? An IPO of this magnitude would shatter records."

Jake took a slow sip of his water, his gaze cool and unreadable. "I’ll consider it when the time comes, Samuel. For now, I prefer to be the ghost in the machine. Let the world see the assets; they don’t need to see the owner."

---

As Jake stepped out of the restaurant, he felt a surge of cold satisfaction. He was no longer just protecting his father’s secrets; he was building an empire. He pulled out his phone and hit a speed dial.

"Sterling National Bank, Private Wealth Division," a voice answered instantly.

"This is Jake Rivers," he said, his voice dropping into that authoritative register. "I need to speak with my personal assistant, Silas Thorne."

"Mr Rivers, how my I be of service to you?" Silas replied as the assistant transferred the call.

"I’m going to be moving large amounts of capital soon. Prepare the necessary liquidity clearances and notify me of any international wire protocols I need to trigger. I want zero delays."

"Understood, Mr. Rivers. We’ll begin the preparations immediately. Please inform me whenyou make the transfer."

Jake hung up the call as he thought of how fast his life was changing. He had thought he would have to grind to be able to make something of himself but now this inheritance has changed his trajectory.

While the people at Catharine’s office whispered about how she got into his car, they had no idea that the man behind the wheel was currently rewriting the financial map for billions. The war hadn’t officially started, but Jake had just moved his heaviest pieces onto the board.

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