It had already been one week since Alfred Lancaster met Vince Paolo on the jungle road outside the Stanley Estate. The morning after the jungle incident Alfred had given Vince seven days to complete a task for him, in a way this was a test for Vince because Alfred wanted to see how well he did things. And in that single week, something invisible had changed between Alfred and Vince, they were no longer strangers connected by coincidence but friends instead, connected by fate and an almost life marred with pain and loss.
Vince worked fast and efficient, much faster than Alfred initially hoped. That week alone Vince had activated the background networks he had maintained from his past life, some legal personnel, quiet brokers, offbook acquisition consultants, relocation specialists, and identity-shielded corporate scouts. A few days later he had prepared options, seven days later he asked Alfred to meet him and sent him the location.
Rain poured over San Francisco like the sky itself was trying to wash the city clean. This was the kind of rain that blurred skylines, erased reflections and forced strangers under shared temporary shelters to start conversations. Cars moved slowly through slick intersections, and pedestrians hurried to their destinations beneath umbrellas. Fog also clung low between building like something was alive and watching. Inside Blue Bottle Coffee, however , it was different. Warm light, soft music, expensive but forced smiles and porcelain cups touching saucers with quiet elegance. Designer coats hung beside polished chairs and watches worth small fortunes flashed beneath café lighting. Conversations drifted lazily between investors, founders, consultants, and tourists who wanted to feel important just simply by sitting there.
In the quietest corner of the café near the window sat a boy wearing simple black clothes. Every pair of eyes in the room looked at him with disgust like he didn't belong there. That much was obvious, well at least to them. What hey saw someone too young, plain and too ordinary to be here. Someone who had wandered into a space designed for people with credentials and confidence. Even though their assumption was totally off, Alfred didn't correct them. He never corrected people who underestimated him, he simply waited for Vince to arrive so they could have their meeting.
After about ten minutes, the café door opened and rain followed someone inside. Immediately heads turned again only this time not with disgust but curiosity. Vince entered the café like a man who knew how to walk into rooms without asking permission. He had on a dark charcoal wool coat his posture relaxed but deliberate. His eyes were alert and so he instantly spotted Alfred. Vince crossed the café floor without hesitation and stopped beside the table.
"You chose visibility," Vince said quietly.
"I chose neutrality," Alfred replied.
Vince glanced around once, too many curious eyes, a lot of attention, all in all just much curiosity directed at someone who should remain unseen.
"We need privacy," Vince said and Alfred nodded once.
A staff member approached them almost instantly, Vince spoke quietly for less than ten seconds before the two of them were escorted toward a small private meeting room at the back of the café. After the door closed, the noise instantly disappeared, now the conversation could begin.
Vince placed a mobile tablet on the table and four folders appeared on the screen. Each one was labelled clearly representing something important.
"Business hubs," Vince said, "Four candidates that meet your specifications."
Alfred nodded across from him and began scheming through the files.
"Location diversity?" he asked Vince
"Yes." Vince replied and also continue, "Ownership complexity, manageable and flexible. You can expand it anytime. All four options are viable."
Alfred opened the first file:
************************************************File One
Location: Downtown Seattle.
Model: Mixed-use complex.
Design: Three building shaped like a triangle.
Situation: Shared underground infrastructure.
Valuation: $1.2 billion.
After reading through it, he closed it.
************************************************
File Two
Location: Silicon Valley corridor edge.
Model: Corporate campus-style hub.
Design: Eight mid-rise buildingss.
Situation: Tech-heavy tenancy.
Valuation: $1.6 billion.
Alfred felt something off about this on and decided to move on to the next
************************************************
File Three
Location: Los Angeles financial district perimeter.
Model: Five interconnected buildingss.
Design: Legacy construction.
Situation: Partial occupancy.
Valuation: $1.1 billion.
Another file closed.
************************************************
File Four
Location: San Jose
Model: Centralised business district
Design: Six high-rise buildings, pentagon shape, tallest building in the middle all interconnected
Situation: vacant, owners looking to sell
Valuation: $800 million - $1.1 billion.
************************************************
Alfred stopped and number four and examined it slowly. Vince watched him quietly but did not interrupt. Alfred slid the tablet back to Vince when he done and pointed at file number four.
"San Jose," Vince said.
Alfred nodded slightly.
"Eighty-story central building," Vince continued, "Five fifty story each buildings connected to it like a web, and its cheap too. We could get it at bout $900 million."
"Yes." Alfred answered.
Vince leaned back slightly and closed the folder gently. He didn't look surprised, but he asked the question anyway.
"Why number four?"
Alfred rested his hands calmly on the table and answered:
"Structure, its like a web. There's one building controlling the other five which matches my model."
"Your model?" Vince askes,
Alfred tapped the table once before answering:
"Yes, you see my friend," he tapped again, "In a spiders web control radiates outward, everything i need including executive offices and my office will be in the central building. While other parts of the company in the other buildings. The center is the heart and the others are mor like extensions blood vessels of some sort."
Vince smiled slightly, " like a symbol."
" Not exactly, more like a structure," Alfred corrected.
"Same thing." Vince argues.
"Not always." Alfred replies instantly.
After a few seconds Vince leans slightly forward now, "You're building architecture before ownership, thinking long-term are we."
Vince nodded once. "Then we buy it." He said.
After a little silence, Vince opened another folder on the tablet contain 3 files:
"Housing," Vince said, "You asked me to prepare options."
Alfred opened the first file and closed it quickly, it too public for his taste. Then the second, which was too small had security gaps, it was just too exposed. The third option made Alfred pause, he began reading through it carefully:
Property name: 'THE ONE'
Location: Bel Air
Details: a 653,400-square-foot mega-mansion featuring 21+ bedrooms, 42+ bathrooms, five pools, a 30-car garage other. Private estate with gated access. It is landscape isolated and private.
Valuation: between $300 million and $ 1 billion dollars.
Status: on auction
Date: 20 November 2028
Alfred looked at the details, the auction was 6 months and he really like this house. He closed the folder and spoke:
"This one."
Vince tilted his head slightly, 'no hesitation, this kid, with the auction this house could easily cost a billion dollars' he thought to himself. "Why Bel Air?" he finally asked.
"Distance from business operations, peaceful and quiet, its neutral and close to where im going for college plus i just have the money so no worries." Alfred replied.
Vince froze, Alfred was just saying things and planing to by a billion dollar how just because he had the money. "The Stanley Familys Estate Mansion is also in Bel Air aren't you worried they will find out." Vince inquired.
"No," Alfred replied plainly, " They won't find. Remember im not the one purchasing the mansion. Its a Ghost, and without a face or a name i plan to survive unless you sell me out for some peanuts that it."
Vince accepted that answer without argument. "I'll initiate both acquisitions immediately," he said, " But there is only one problem tho, although A.G.L Consortium exist and is registered to to the government and everything, we can't just buy a business hub and make it your Headquarters without money Ghost."
"Oh about that Vince," Alfred scratched the back of his head. "We might need buy Bank and a Law Firm while we are at it"
'Did i hear this kid say a bank,' Vince thought. 'Who in the worlds needs to buy a bank at eighteen, what was i even doing at eighteen,' Vince questioned himself. After a while the asked, "Did i hear you say we have to by a Bank? A law firm i can understand but a bank really!"
Alfred nodded once, "Yes a bank, i have a lot of money and i don't want some random person keeping it."
Those words brought silence in the room, neither Alfred nor Vince spoke, they just at their breakfast in silence. After they finished their breakfast quietly, Alfred stood up shook Vince's hand then moved toward the door reached for the handle when Vince spoke:
"Hey, Ghost."
Alfred paused then turned slightly one hand on the door knob the other in his pocket and replied:
"Yes?"
Vince leaned back in his chair, "I never really asked how much you intend to invest in this empire you're building."
Alfred raised three fingers, Vince blinked.
"Three billion?" He asked and Alfred, Alfred just stared at him in silent, Vince frowned slightly.
"Thirty billion then?" He leaned forward now, "That's a lot of money to have at your age but not necessarily enough to want to buy a bank that a waste it can be done at a later date."
Alfred shook his head after hearing Vince's words, "Three hundred."
Vince froze, his face drained of all colour, " Three hundred what?" he asked, his voice rose slightly despite trying very hard to act composed.
"You don't mean Three hundred billion?" Alfred ignored this question, " My God, what in the world, how does somebody have that much liquid money?"
Alfred laughed softly, the first genuine laugh Vince had heard from him since they met.
"If you knew how much I actually hold," Alfred said calmly, "you'll be in an ICU needing emergency heart surgery."
Vince just shook his heads and let out a low chuckle, the was still processing.
"So how much exactly?" He finally asked , Alfred did not respond immediately, instead he opened the door stepped halfway through it then answered without turning around.
"I'll leave that to your imagination, but just know its more that the government can authorise at once and small enough that they notice and importantly a lot to the point we need our own Bank to manage it."
The door closed behind Alfred as he left the Café, as for Vince, he was left sitting alone in the private room for nearly a full minute. His mind was blank but slowly a smile appeared. Realization hit him almost instantly, he had just chosen to follow someone far more terrifying than he had ever expected but for the first time since leaving Italy.
He felt certain he had made the right decision.