"Yes, Dave, I have talked to Tom. And yes, Kosinski too," I said as I lay on the lounge chair near the pool at my home.
The pool area was one of my favorite spots on the property. Trees surrounded it on all sides, creating a natural canopy that ensured complete privacy from any potential prying eyes. The pool itself was massive, with an infinity edge that seemed to blend into the horizon. Around it were custom Italian loungers that Margot insisted we buy, a built-in bar, an outdoor sound system, and strategically placed heat lamps for cooler evenings.
The sun was shining today, bright and warm. It was a perfect day to spend outside.
I was lying on one of the loungers with my laptop balanced on my legs. On the screen was the third-to-last chapter of The Lost Hero. I had been writing it a lot recently—practically non-stop—and was almost done. I just needed to do some rewrites in a few chapters. The entire book had major changes from what I remembered from the original in my old life. Different character arcs, altered plot points, and new mythological elements.
On the phone near me was Dave, who had called about twenty minutes ago.
I was supposed to step away from DC for a year starting next month, with only some press work for Man of Tomorrow and Justice League being the DC stuff I planned to do during that time.
But a small crisis had hit.
And let's just say, I was involved in it.
The crisis was the 2020 slate for DC, which I had come up with months ago. It was, let's just say, facing some resistance within the studio.
Justice League was tracking to make a lot of money. A looooot of money. It was being hyped up like crazy, and everyone at Stardust and DC Studios were seeing these projected numbers and now wanted to have Justice League 2 in 2020.
I had wanted it in 2021, my plans for 2020 being very different. I even had World's Finest 2 planned. But it seemed like I was the only person still holding that position. Even Dave was now pushing for Justice League 2 in 2020.
Well, World's Finest 2 was basically a Justice League 2 anyway.
The other issue was Green Lantern 2, which was supposed to have a 2019 release, but that might not be possible. Joseph Kosinski would be too busy finishing up Top Gun 2 by then.
And since I was involved in Top Gun 2—as a producer and co-writer—the issue kind of involved me as well.
Dave's voice came through the phone again. "Well, we could look for a new director—"
"No, let's not do that," I sighed.
"Daniel, I know how you—"
"What I'm saying is that I think we should do Justice League 2 in 2020."
"Really?" Dave said, surprised.
"Yeah. I think we can move Green Lantern 2 to 2020 as well. And Joseph says he can do it if that's the timeline."
"Okay, that's good," Dave said, relief evident in his voice.
"Joseph has a good idea of what Green Lantern 2 needs to be. It can be as successful as the first one with him at the helm again," I added.
"I think I made a mistake with the Justice League sequel being set so far away," I admitted. "We're going to need to make some changes to the World's Finest credit scenes."
"Well, I'm not going to bother you much with this anymore," Dave said. "I just wanted to make sure the creative isn't changed too much by the time you come back."
"Don't change too much," I said as I saw someone walk in from my side.
It was Lucia.
She was wearing full professional attire, a tailored navy suit, a crisp white blouse, and sunglasses perched on her nose. Lucia was the only one of my high school friends who had gone to college. Well, Haley went too, I suppose. But Lucia had gone into finance, and now she handled most of my financials, with Carter, my former adviser and manager, assisting. Carter had decided to retire early, content to work part-time and let Lucia take the lead.
I waved her toward a lounger nearby. She walked over and sat down, crossing her legs and setting her briefcase beside her.
"Well, I'll see you at the event then," Dave said. "Also, Sam has been asking for you about that new movie you're making."
"I'll give him a call," I said.
"Talk soon."
The call ended.
I turned my attention to Lucia.
"The others aren't here yet?" I asked.
"No, they're not," Lucia said, adjusting her sunglasses.
The others in question were the CEO and some senior executives from Chrysos, my tech company, which last year had released TikTok—an app that, like in my old life, was changing the social media landscape. After TikTok got so big in just a year, many offers had come my way to sell it off. That was the reason for this meeting.
"…Are you drinking Coke in a wine glass?" Lucia said, noticing that I was indeed doing that.
I looked down at it, then back at her. "It's called presentation, Luce."
She stared at me.
"What?" I shrugged. "It feels fancier."
Lucia leaned forward slightly. "So, made a decision yet?"
"Nope," I admitted.
"Well, it's a big decision," Lucia said. "I mean, those offers being public really puffed up your net worth."
I looked at her, confused. "What?"
"Didn't you see my text yesterday? Didn't Graves tell you?"
"No, I've been writing," I said. "I asked Graves for radio silence."
I really had to get some writing done. The Percy Jackson fandom was rabid, and Lucy was going absolutely crazy waiting for The Lost Hero.
"Well, why don't you check the Forbes richest list?" Lucia said, a subtle smile playing at her lips.
I grabbed my phone and pulled up the list. I knew I was around 102 or 103 the last time I checked, with my net worth being around $8 billion.
The net worth was held up by my Netflix stocks and also the recent success of TikTok. Plus my earlier investments nearly a decade ago, all those real estate investments were really beginning to pay off. Midas and my book sales were only one-eighth of this, though most of my spending money came from Midas and book sales. The others were, of course, tied up in stocks.
I scrolled through the list.
I didn't see my name.
"Look even higher up," Lucia said.
I kept scrolling.
And scrolling.
And then I finally saw my name.
#38 – Daniel Adler – $20.2 billion
"What the fuck," I said out loud, looking at Lucia, who had a large grin on her face.
"Congratulations," she said. "Forbes now thinks you are twelve billion dollars richer."
I was still in shock.
"How? When?" I stammered. "Wait, am I actually—"
"Well, you have nearly five billion in stocks you can easily liquidate and two hundred million in cash," Lucia began. "The rest is tied up in Chrysos, real estate, and other investments. You'd need to actually sell those to access the money."
"Where did the extra twelve billion come from?" I interrupted.
She laughed. "The recent offers for TikTok have made it easy for Forbes and others to calculate your net worth more accurately."
She explained how the offers had made it easier to value Chrysos as a whole.
"Facebook offered fifteen billion. That became news yesterday," she said.
"And SoftBank's investment of three billion for fifteen percent implies a twenty billion valuation on their end."
"Wasn't ours only like… less than ten?" I asked.
"That was the lowest estimate, and what Forbes and others thought as well," Lucia said. "The market clearly disagrees."
I leaned back in the lounger. "Well, I guess I have some bragging rights now. Being the 38th richest person in the world."
"You could have all of that in cash if you sell," Lucia said pointedly.
Oh yeah. That would put me at the level of dictators, drug lords, and some Middle Eastern royal families when it came to liquid cash.
I shrugged. "I don't know. Why sell it when I can make so much more in the future?"
Lucia's expression shifted. "Chrysos is losing three hundred million a year, Daniel."
"So what? Didn't you tell me it would take some time to—"
"What I'm saying," Lucia cut in, "is that Facebook and Google and companies like them will soon come up with their own version of TikTok." She paused. "I was told Facebook already has one ready. They just want TikTok integrated into it."
I looked at her. "So you think I should sell?"
Lucia sighed. "You're focused on making movies, writing. That's what you do, Danny. Just take the money and put it all into that."
I leaned back in the lounger, thinking.
No way I was letting Zuck have TikTok.
If it got as popular as it did in my old life, I could hold a lot of power in my hands. The only reason I had it so easy in Hollywood now was because of how much money I had. I had gotten the easy way in. Met the right people.
This was not a nice place. Power and money were everything. I knew that. Everyone involved knew that.
To make sure my place was secure? Well, money ruled, and I was already near the top of it when it came to money in this business.
In a decade or so, if TikTok doesn't flop or get taken over by one of the other big tech copies, I might become one of the richest people in the world.
"We could pay off the loan," Lucia said. "And the second loan you took to make sure TikTok stays up and running for the next two years."
"I'm confident we'll begin making money by that time," I said.
Lucia gave me a long look. "At least think about the SoftBank option."
"Sure. Let's hear what the others have to say."
"Well, whatever happens, I'm glad your portfolio is diverse enough," Lucia said, settling back into her lounger. What she meant was that even if TikTok completely tanked, she could help me out of any huge loss easily. My Netflix stock, my real estate holdings, and other investments, along with Midas Aurum and more, all protected me from total disaster.
"Carter was a huge help all those years ago," I said.
"And he got rich because of that, and it's something I aim to do as well," Lucia agreed.
"Like I don't pay you enough."
"Still could be more."
"Greed is a sin, Luce."
"Hilarious coming from you, Danny."
I opened my eyes and changed the subject. "So, about that ring."
Lucia smiled. "Don't worry. I looked into it more. There's no way it's going to be traced as stolen."
"Good. Good."
"So it's happening finally?" Lucia asked.
"If all goes well, soon."
"Good," she said. "Because poor Margot was expecting it last year."
I did have something big planned, and every day as the planned date got closer and closer, I was growing more… well, I couldn't really describe the feeling.
As Lucia began pestering me about what I had planned, I saw an alert pop up on my phone, the security system showing that someone had arrived near the house.
"Looks like the others are here," I said, glancing at Lucia.
"Good," she said, not moving.
"Can you go and get them?"
Lucia turned her head toward me, raising an eyebrow behind her sunglasses. "I'm not your PA, Daniel."
"Come on, Luce. Just go and lead them here. I'm going to casually lie here to assert my power over them—"
She looked at me. "Okay, okay, fine," she said, annoyed, as she stood up and walked off.
.
.
.
The screen in front of me was playing a remote made by Conan. I was backstage at the Conan show taping, and the remote was being shown as part of the episode.
I could hear the audience laughing, and so did I, as Conan did his antics on screen.
I wasn't here as a guest. Well, I was going to be in November, when the marketing for Justice League was going to take off.
The marketing for the movie was going to be something.
Well, it already was.
We even had a partnership with the NBA, especially with the team I owned over twenty percent of, the Golden State Warriors, who won the championship this year.
The marketing budget was over $250 million, making it one of the most extensive promotional campaigns in film history. It featured extensive promotional partnerships with McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and about a dozen other major brands. There were Happy Meal toys, limited-edition soda cans, car commercials with the Batmobile, everything.
The movie had to go over $2 billion to make its money back. It really had to.
As for why I was at Conan today? Well, Conan and I had shot a segment earlier. It was one of his most popular segments called "Clueless Gamer," and we played the new Batman game coming out at the end of this month.
And it was fun. Really fun. I couldn't wait for it to come out next week.
On screen, Conan did his usual Conan antics. The remote was about him and his office doing Secret Santa, and Conan was trying to find out what the best gift he could give to the person he got.
He investigated the employee's office space, trying to figure out what she liked. Opening drawers, rifling through papers, making exaggerated detective faces at the camera.
One scene showed Conan finding a copy of A Feast for Crows on her desk.
"Oh, look, she likes to read," Conan O'Brien said, holding up the book. He flipped through it with exaggerated confusion. "This thing is like a thousand pages."
"Does anyone work here? Like, is this what it is? People just come here and…"
I could hear the audience laugh.
Conan looked around more and found a cutout of a magazine cover. It was me on it, GQ, from a few months ago.
Conan picked it up and squinted at it. "Is that Daniel Adler?"
He turned to another employee in the neighboring office space. "So she likes Daniel Adler. That explains the book."
The other person nodded. "Yeah, she's a big fan."
Conan nodded thoughtfully. "You know, Daniel and I are very similar actually." He paused for comedic effect. "If you think about it, we're both incredibly talented writers…" He looked at the employee. "We're both devastatingly handsome, right? If you had to choose between me and Daniel Adler, you'd say we're basically the same, right?"
The audience laughed.
The employee hesitated. "I don't know about the looks."
More laughter.
The remote ended, and soon the producers led me away. Conan had brought his Secret Santa out to give her the gift.
It was a large framed picture of me.
He presented it to her dramatically. "Now, this would be better if it was signed."
And that was my cue.
I walked out to huge applause.
"Yes!" Conan announced. "We just brought him over. Helicopter and all!"
The girl in question seemed in complete shock as I took the photo from her, signed it with a Sharpie, and handed it back. Then I gave her a hug.
"See?" Conan said, standing next to me and gesturing between us. "We're practically twins."
The audience laughed.
I shook Conan's hand, waved to the audience, and then walked off as I was told to. I didn't really stay for the show to end, leaving the studio and beginning my journey back home.
I did get to meet Frankie Muniz though, as he was a guest on today's show.
Tomorrow was a big day.
Alice and I were leaving for the sets of Game of Thrones.
I was really looking forward to it, as I had gotten her a small part in it.
The girl was serious about wanting to be an actor.
Who was I to say no?