They didn’t say a word until they were outside. Even then, Jacob waited until Adrian had finished loading the last of the shopping bags into the Ferrari’s front trunk. The afternoon sun reflected off the silver hood, drawing the occasional glance from passing shoppers.
"Bro," Jacob finally said. "What the hell was that?"
Adrian closed the trunk. "What was what?"
"The car, sure. I could accept that. I could even accept that you somehow made a fortune in Venturas." Jacob rubbed a hand over his face. "But the entire building stopped what it was doing just to shake your hand. There’s something you’re not telling me."
Adrian leaned against the car for a moment. He considered how much he could explain without dragging Jacob into something he wasn’t ready to understand. In the end, he decided the simplest version of the truth might sound ridiculous enough to pass as a joke.
"I own it."
Jacob frowned. "You own what?"
"The mall."
Jacob blinked.
"The Halcyon Grand Galleria," Adrian clarified. "The whole thing."
For several seconds, Jacob just stared at him.
Then he looked past Adrian toward the towers of glass, the flags fluttering above the entrance, and the hundreds of shoppers still moving through the doors. Finally, he turned back to his oldest friend.
"Since when did you own it?"
"About two hours ago, it’s a long story"
"You hate long stories!" Jacob’s voice cracked with disbelief. "You literally said that this morning. Adrian, I need an explanation."
"You’ve been on your feet since dawn," Adrian said, opening the driver’s door. "Get in. I’ll drive you home."
Jacob stood there for another moment, apparently trying to decide whether strangling his friend or demanding answers would be more productive. Eventually, he sighed and dropped into the passenger seat like a man surrendering to the tide.
"You’re impossible," he muttered.
The drive back was mostly quiet. Jacob tried a few more times to get answers, but Adrian smoothly sidestepped every question. By the time they reached Jacob’s apartment building, he had given up and was staring at the ceiling with the exhausted expression of someone who had accepted that today was simply going to be strange.
"Good luck tonight," Jacob said as he climbed out. "Try not to scare her off by talking about gambling."
"I’ll do my best."
Nearly forty minutes later, Adrian pulled into the parking lot of his own apartment building.
Compared to the Galleria, the place looked like a photograph that had been left out in the sun for too long. The paint had peeled away in several places, the hallway lights flickered whenever they felt like working, and a row of old mailboxes hung crookedly from their screws.
Adrian carried the shopping bags upstairs and dropped them beside his door.
The stale smell hit him as soon as he stepped inside.
He grimaced.
"Yeah. I really need to move."
He sank onto the sagging sofa and opened his banking app.
His balance sat just below $4.9 million.
He had spent nearly a hundred thousand dollars in the last five hours.
It barely made a dent.
Adrian stared at the number for a few seconds. He still hadn’t gotten used to seeing that many digits attached to his name. Part of him found it exhilarating. Another part found it deeply unsettling.
Then his eyes drifted toward the wall clock. Four o’clock. Dinner with Chloe tonight.
He sat up. A thought suddenly occurred to him.
Did Chloe even have a job?
He’d barely seen her leave the building since moving in. Maybe she worked from home. Maybe she worked nights. For all he knew, she could have been quietly running a company from the apartment across the hall.
He shrugged.
’I’ll ask her.’
Adrian picked up his phone and opened Seekr.
Most luxurious restaurants in Halcyon City.
The search returned dozens of results.
The Sovereign. L’étoile. Le Cygne. Maison élise.
Each listing came with photographs of beautifully arranged dishes that looked more like art exhibits than food. Adrian opened one of the images and stared at a steak occupying perhaps ten percent of an enormous white plate. The rest was decorated with a sweeping line of sauce.
"That’s it?"
He swiped to the next picture.
Three scallops.
Then another.
Half a lobster tail and a single leaf.
Adrian frowned.
"I could spend fifty bucks at McRichie’s and walk away fuller than I would after paying five hundred here."
Unfortunately, finding a table proved harder than finding something to complain about.
Almost every reservation page gave him the same answer: fully booked for the next eleven weeks.
The Sovereign, sitting at the top of nearly every ranking, required a personal introduction from an existing patron.
Maison élise, ranked second, was the only one offering same-day premium reservations.
The pricing though was ridiculous.
Adrian barely hesitated.
"That’ll do."
He booked a VIP table, paid the substantial reservation fee, and set his phone down.
The fee alone had cost roughly as much as two months worth of rent.
A quiet laugh escaped him.
He was sitting alone in the wreckage of the life he’d had only days ago, spending that kind of money on dinner.
’You’re taking her to the second-best restaurant in the city because you can’t get into the first.’
He shook his head.
’Wonderful.’
The afternoon slipped away.
By six-thirty, Adrian was standing in front of his bedroom mirror.
The man staring back at him looked almost unfamiliar.
The faded jacket was gone. So were the worn jeans and battered sneakers he’d spent months wearing because they were all he had left.
In their place was a perfectly tailored midnight-blue suit that fit his shoulders almost too well, polished dress shoes, and a Patek Philippe watch resting against his wrist.
His long hair had been tied neatly at the back of his head, leaving his face more exposed than usual.
Adrian studied his reflection.
"This is what money does."
He said it quietly, almost like a warning.
’Remember who you were three days ago.’
He reached down and picked up the handbag he’d bought earlier, still sitting in its boutique bag.
Then he checked the time, grabbed his keys, and locked the apartment behind him.
He crossed the hallway and stopped in front of Chloe’s door.
For a moment, he simply stood there.
Then he took a breath and knocked.