Chapter 124: Drop Off

Patricia finding someone by midnight, he thought. $10,000 a day for however long Selene is away. He looked at Selene finishing the last of her drink. Whatever it cost it costs.

He looked at her across the table.

Worth it, he thought. Easily.

He opened his banking app. Transferred the first day’s coverage fee to the analyst account Patricia would confirm by midnight. Then paused.

Patricia, he thought. Four months of acquisition paperwork. Legal filings. Research trust documentation. EP contract holding company. Analyst sourcing at midnight on a Thursday. He looked at Selene across the table. She deserves more than her standard rate.

He transferred an additional $30,000 to Patricia’s firm account. No note attached. Just the amount.

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Transaction Detected: $10,000 spent on analyst coverage — first day

Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x

Total Return: $20,000

[ Net Balance: $15,836,100.00 → $15,846,100.00 ]

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Transaction Detected: $30,000 spent on bonus — Patricia Osei

Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x

Total Return: $60,000

[ Net Balance: $15,816,100.00 → $15,846,100.00 ]

His phone buzzed thirty seconds later.

Patricia: Xavier. I saw the overdraft. This wasn’t necessary.

Xavier: yes it was. It’s just a token and confirm the analyst by midnight.

Patricia: already done. Name and credentials in your email. She starts at 9AM. And between thanks.

Xavier: Good.

He pocketed the phone.

She said overdraft, he thought. Patricia’s way of saying thank you without saying thank you. He almost smiled. Different people. Same genuine thing underneath.

They left the restaurant and walked to the Panamera together. The Thursday evening city around them. Selene walked quietly beside him in the way she went quiet when something significant had landed and she was sitting with it rather than speaking over it.

At the car she stopped.

Looked at him.

"Xavier," she said.

"Yes Selene."

"If this is strange when we get there," she said. "Going back. I haven’t been in three years and I don’t know what it’s going to feel like and I just..." She stopped. Started again. "I just wanted you to know that."

Xavier looked at her.

She’s telling me she’s nervous, he thought. Selene Adler who reads rooms before she reads documents and called me from an office line to give herself cover. He looked at her in the quiet of the street outside her building. Telling me she doesn’t know what going back is going to feel like.

Maybe it’s not just that it’s unfinished, he thought. Maybe something happened there. Something she left behind that she hasn’t fully put down yet.

Three years without going back, he thought. People don’t stay away from home for three years because they’re busy.

He didn’t ask.

Not tonight, he thought. She’ll tell me when she’s ready. Or she won’t. Either way. That’s not why we’re going.

"I know," he said. "That’s why we’re going."

She looked at him for a moment like she was deciding whether to say more.

She didn’t.

Just nodded once.

"Selene," he said. "We’re just going for a little vacation. That’s all it is." He held her gaze. "You’re overthinking it."

She stared at him for a moment.

Then something in her expression shifted. The particular release of someone who had been holding something tightly and had just been given permission to put it down.

"A vacation," she said.

"A vacation," he said. "Nothing more complicated than that."

She looked at him for one more moment.

Then nodded once. The particular nod of someone who had made a decision and was done second guessing it.

He drove her home. The city quiet at this hour. The Panamera moving through it without rushing.

Outside her building she got out. Turned back through the open door.

"I’ll be ready by 7AM," she said.

"I’ll be there to pick you up," he said.

She almost smiled.

"7AM Xavier," she said. "Don’t be late."

"I’m never late," he said.

She looked at him. "You’re sometimes late."

"Name one time?," he asked.

She almost laughed. Turned and walked toward her entrance without answering.

Xavier watched her go.

He checked the gauge.

Selene Adler — 48% → 52%

Four percent, he thought. From one evening and a phone call to Vincent and whatever just happened at the car.

52%, he noted. Moving.

Millhaven tomorrow, he thought.

Let’s see what comes next. He then started recycling his routine spending donations.

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Daily Cycle Complete

Donations processed: Global Education Trust, Rural Healthcare Initiative, Women’s Empowerment Fund, Digital Access Initiative

Total Spent: $180,000

Total Returned: $360,000

[ Net Balance: $15,666,100.00 → $15,846,100.00 ]

[ $200,000 buffer retained ]

$15,846,100, he noted. Cap hit. Clean Thursday.

Three things done, he thought. Mr. Hartley. Jade. Selene.

Tomorrow, he thought. Millhaven.

Let’s go.

_ _

Xavier woke up the next day at exactly 5:30AM.

Not because of an alarm. Just the particular internal clock of someone who had somewhere to be and had decided sleep was done before sleep had finished deciding.

He lay there for a moment in the dark of the hostel room.

Friday, he thought. Exam day.

He thought about whoever would be sitting in his seat later that morning at Riverside University. Some third year Campus Admin he had sourced. Someone who had studied Food and Nutrition and had agreed to Xavier’s terms without asking too many questions about why a first year student needed a proxy for his end of semester papers.

Whoever they are, he thought. I hope they excel.

He almost smiled and got up from his bed.

He went straight to his bathroom showered. Made coffee. Sat at the desk with the mug and looked at the room properly for what felt like the first time in weeks.

The repositioned desk. The organised shelf. The wardrobe. Two Hartley suits hanging inside it, four more on order. The Millhaven tickets that had been sitting on the shelf were now tucked in the front pocket of his bag. The MacBook. The speaker.Everything in the right place..