Chapter 57: The missing piece

The next morning, Damian sat at his desk with three folders spread across the table.

Northstar.

The acquisition agreement.

And everything his legal team had managed to pull together overnight.

He stared at the documents for several seconds before reaching for his coffee.

Cold.

He took a sip anyway.

"Great."

He put it down.

The acquisition had started as a simple idea.

Buy a struggling software company.

Fix what was broken.

Keep the customers.

Modernize the product.

Grow it.

Now he had a minority investor with protective rights, a complicated shareholder agreement, and a former co-founder whose name had barely appeared in the information Michael gave him.

Damian picked up his phone.

Damian:

Are you free today?

The reply from Marcus came quickly.

Marcus:

For you? Unfortunately.

Damian smiled.

Damian:

Bring the financial documents.

Marcus:

I was already planning to.

A few seconds later, another message appeared.

Marcus:

And don’t buy anything.

Damian frowned.

Damian:

I haven’t bought anything.

Marcus:

Good. Keep it that way.

Damian shook his head.

Marcus was becoming increasingly annoying.

Which probably meant he was doing his job.

Two hours later, the three of them were sitting in Damian’s apartment.

Marcus had spread financial statements across the table while Maya had brought her own laptop.

Damian sat between them.

"So," Damian said, "how bad is it?"

Marcus looked up.

"Financially?"

"Yes."

"Not terrible."

Damian waited.

Marcus continued.

"But not clean."

"Of course."

"The company has recurring revenue. That’s good."

He pointed toward one of the documents.

"Debt is manageable. Operating costs are high, but not ridiculous. Payroll is one of the biggest expenses."

"Because of support?"

"Support, customization, maintenance. They’re carrying costs that a healthier company could probably reduce."

Maya nodded.

"And the infrastructure is holding them back."

Damian looked at her.

"How much?"

"Depends how ambitious you want to be."

"That’s not an answer."

"It is."

She turned the laptop toward him.

"If you just want to keep the company running, you can patch things."

"And if I want to grow it?"

"You’ll need a proper modernization."

"How much?"

"I’m not giving you an exact number until I inspect everything."

Damian sighed.

"Everyone keeps telling me that."

"Because you’re asking questions that need actual information."

Fair.

He leaned back.

"What about the customers?"

Marcus answered.

"Still the strongest part of the business."

"Meridian?"

"Still the biggest concern."

Damian nodded.

Three months until renewal.

Thirty percent of recurring revenue.

One customer leaving could hurt badly.

Maya closed her laptop.

"There’s another problem."

Damian looked at her.

"What’s that?"

"The intellectual property."

His expression tightened.

"What about it?"

"Michael’s name is attached to some of the original development work."

"So?"

"So I want to verify exactly who owns what."

Damian stared at her.

"Northstar?"

"Possibly."

He looked toward Marcus.

"Can you check the contracts?"

"Already doing it."

Damian rubbed his forehead.

This was getting ridiculous.

Every time he pulled on one thread, another appeared.

His phone buzzed.

Emily.

Damian glanced at the screen.

Emily:

Morning love.

His expression softened immediately.

Damian:

Morning babe.

A few seconds passed.

Emily:

How’s your company thing going?

Damian smiled.

Damian:

Messier than I expected.

Emily:

Uh oh 😂

Damian:

Apparently buying a company isn’t as simple as buying something online.

Emily:

Who would’ve thought? 😂

Damian laughed quietly.

Marcus glanced over.

"Girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

Marcus returned to his paperwork.

"Then stop smiling and read this."

Damian looked at him.

"You’re actually annoying."

"Thank you."

Damian turned back to his phone.

Emily:

You free later?

He hesitated.

He had work to do.

But he’d barely seen her properly in days.

Damian:

Yeah. I can make time.

The reply came almost immediately.

Emily:

Okay. I’ll let you know.

Damian put his phone down.

Something still felt slightly strange.

She was texting normally.

Calling him love.

Checking on him.

But there was a distance underneath it.

He couldn’t quite explain it.

He decided not to force it.

If something was wrong, she’d tell him.

At least, that’s what he believed.

Later that afternoon, Damian met Michael again.

This time, he didn’t sit across from him like a buyer negotiating over a price.

He sat like someone reconsidering the entire deal.

Michael noticed.

"You look different."

"I’ve learned a few things."

Michael gave a nervous laugh.

"That’s usually not a good sign."

"Tell me about Rachel Morgan."

Michael’s smile disappeared.

For a moment, neither man spoke.

Then Michael leaned back.

"So Victor talked to you."

"He mentioned her."

Michael sighed.

"I was hoping that wouldn’t come up."

"Why?"

"Because it complicates things."

Damian almost laughed.

"That’s becoming the company’s slogan."

Michael looked down.

"Rachel was my co-founder."

"I figured."

"She helped build the original product."

"How much?"

Michael hesitated.

"A lot."

"That’s not a percentage."

"I don’t have one."

Damian frowned.

"Meaning?"

"Rachel left years ago."

"Why?"

"Personal reasons."

Damian waited.

Michael looked uncomfortable.

"There was an argument."

"About?"

"The direction of the company."

Damian leaned forward.

"Keep going."

Michael sighed.

"Rachel wanted us to rebuild the platform earlier. I wanted to keep improving the existing product. We disagreed."

"And she left."

"Yes."

"Did she sell her shares?"

Michael didn’t answer.

Damian’s expression hardened.

"Michael."

"She transferred them."

"To whom?"

"That’s complicated."

"Everything is complicated."

Michael looked at him.

"Northstar."

Silence.

Damian slowly leaned back.

"So Rachel’s shares went to Northstar."

"Eventually."

"Eventually?"

"There were other arrangements."

"What arrangements?"

Michael shook his head.

"You need to speak to Northstar about that."

Damian stared at him.

He was beginning to understand why Victor had chosen his words so carefully.

The company wasn’t simply struggling.

Its history was tangled.

Damian stood.

"I’m pausing the purchase."

Michael’s eyes widened.

"Pausing?"

"Until I understand everything."

"You’re not walking away?"

"I didn’t say that."

Michael nodded slowly.

"That’s fair."

Damian picked up his folder.

"And Michael?"

"Yeah?"

"If there’s anything else you haven’t told me, now would be a really good time."

Michael looked away.

"There might be."

Damian stopped.

"What?"

Michael hesitated.

Then shook his head.

"Nothing I can explain properly right now."

Damian stared at him.

"That answer makes me want to walk away more than anything else you’ve said."

Michael gave a tired smile.

"I understand."

That evening, Damian waited outside the café.

Emily arrived several minutes later.

She smiled when she saw him.

"Hey."

"Hey."

She hugged him briefly.

Damian smiled.

"Missed you."

"Missed you too."

They sat down.

For a while, things felt normal.

They talked about classes.

Assignments.

A lecturer Damian complained about for nearly five minutes.

Emily laughed.

"You really don’t like him."

"He doesn’t like me either."

"You don’t even know that."

"He gives me that look."

"What look?"

"The lecturer look."

Emily laughed again.

Damian smiled.

For a few minutes, he forgot about Northstar.

Forgot about Rachel.

Forgot about the acquisition.

Then he noticed the tiredness in Emily’s face.

"You okay?"

She nodded.

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"Just tired."

Damian studied her.

She smiled.

"I’m fine, love."

He wanted to ask again.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he reached across the table and squeezed her hand.

"Then don’t overwork yourself."

"I won’t."

Her phone buzzed.

Emily glanced at it.

Her expression changed for half a second.

Then she turned the phone face down.

Damian noticed.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah."

She smiled.

"Just a message."

Damian nodded.

He didn’t ask who sent it.

Emily looked at him.

"Tell me about the company."

Damian smiled.

"You actually want to hear about this?"

"Maybe."

"Okay."

He leaned back.

"It’s a mess."

She laughed.

"That’s your professional assessment?"

"Very professional."

"Wow."

"I know."

For the first time that day, Damian felt relaxed.

Across the city, Adrian sat alone in his car.

His phone was beside him.

He looked at the message he had sent Emily.

No reply.

He didn’t send another.

Instead, he started the engine.

He knew pushing too hard would make her pull away.

He could wait.

For now.

Back at the café, Damian checked the time.

"I should probably go."

Emily nodded.

"Work?"

"Unfortunately."

She smiled.

"Go become a billionaire."

Damian laughed.

"That’s the plan."

She looked at him for a moment.

Then quietly said,

"You’re really changing."

Damian paused.

"How?"

"I don’t know."

She smiled.

"Just...different."

Damian thought about it.

Maybe she was right.

A few months ago, he had been worried about rent.

Now he was sitting in a café after discussing the purchase of a company worth millions.

But there was still one thing he hadn’t changed.

He still wanted people around him who knew him before all of this.

People who didn’t care about his bank balance.

People like Ethan.

People like Emily.

He smiled.

"I’ll take that as a compliment."

"It was."

They stood.

Emily hugged him again.

"Text me when you get home."

"I will."

She watched him leave.

Her smile slowly faded.

Her phone buzzed again.

She looked down.

Adrian:

Saturday still works?

Emily stared at the message.

She didn’t answer.

Not yet.

Damian reached his car and looked through the windshield.

The acquisition could wait.

Northstar could wait.

Rachel Morgan could wait.

For tonight, he just wanted to clear his head.

His phone buzzed.

Ethan.

Ethan:

Bro you alive?

Damian smiled.

Damian:

Unfortunately.

Ethan:

Football tomorrow?

Damian looked at the message.

For once, the answer didn’t require thought.

Damian:

Yeah.

Ethan:

Good. And don’t come with your businessman nonsense.

Damian laughed.

Damian:

Shut up.

He started the engine.

For all the money he had now, there were still parts of his life that felt exactly the same.