“That’s fine, I have something to tell them once I’m done eating,” I purred and took a sip of my juice.
“What else did you do?” Mel demanded. She sighed when I winced. “What did you do and protect us all from knowing?”
“Good stuff?”
“Oh, it’s never good when you say it like that,” Izzy grumbled.
Yeah, that was pretty fair.
I finished breakfast and threw on my jacket, knowing I had more than enough time to go say what I needed to before getting my stuff and making it to Power Training I. It wasn’t like I couldn’t be late if I needed to. Larson said I was already at Power Training III level, but everyone thought it best not to make waves and draw more attention by bumping me up higher.
Or people could just work harder and keep up. Babies.
“There she is,” someone called out as I reached the security station at the main gates where visitors would portal in if they didn’t have prior permission or, like Portal Chow, had the credentials to make deliveries.
“Ms. Vale, Ms. Vale, can you answer some questions about today?” another voice called over.
“How can you allow such a respected firm to fall to ruins for you?” a third voice asked, a male one with judgment in his tone. Unbiased media, my ass. “There’s no way you can cover the business they’ll lose from this.”
I studied him, tilting my head as I did. “And you know this how? You’ve studied my financials?”
He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly looking down his nose at me as the others went quiet. “Even if you transferred everything of Cherrywood to the firm—”
“Which I am. My partners and I are all in agreement to do so, and it’s ready to go,” I interjected.
“That’s still not enough, and you’ll ruin them.”
“They’re grown men, men much older than me, who made a decision based on their own morals and honor, who I’m sure were then able to foresee the repercussions of,” I drawled. “And I promise I can make up the business difference. I couldn’t give them everything I have, as some of it was a conflict. Now it won’t be.”
His eyes flashed shock, practically drooling as he smelled a hot scoop, which was exactly what I wanted. “What? What could you have that was a conflict?”
I shrugged. “I decided to diversify. Some of it, I had to after what was done to Katrina Calloway. After speaking with the hobgoblins and giving sanctuary to all the fae dogs that come to them, we’ll be selling fae dust.”
“You’ll put the dust collectors out of business.”
I smirked at him, knowing the cameras would pick it up. “Good. They shouldn’t have shot at fae dog pups and chased the dogs out of safe places to get what they could, like selfish assholes. It wasn’t passive at all. They could have given them a safe place and taken care of them, but they wanted no overhead and to look like heroes this whole time, cleaning up after wild beasts. They’re liars and horrible people.”
“Still, that’s just one business.”
I snorted. “One very lucrative business. But I’ve bought into others.” It was hard not to smile like the cat that ate the canary. “I’ve been selling a lot for a while and slowly buying up stocks and shares of some companies.”
“Which ones?” he demanded, his tone too aggressive with me.
I slowly raised an eyebrow at him, not hiding my amusement or that I was looking down my nose at him. “That’s how you ask a woman for what you want? You’re unmated, right?” I turned away from him and glanced around. “Did someone else want to ask me questions?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Ray warned the guy, on duty right then and of course there for the chaos. The reporter must have reached for me or something. The sexism was unreal. He never would have pulled that with a guy.
“Yes, which companies have you been buying into, Ms. Vale?” a woman looking to be about Claudia’s age asked me.
I smiled at her and moved closer. “A few that caught my eye. The turtle wins the race and now I’m the majority holder in a microprocessor company, a German car company, and…” I tapped my lip like I forgot. “Oh, right, a telecommunications company.”
Her eyes went bug wide as the others gasped. “The warlock elders get their wealth from two companies like that. And the Craftsmans, and other magical family elites all own—”
“Yes, that one. Those ones. I now am the majority owner of those companies,” I clarified, beaming brightly. “I bought out INTELS, BMC, and AT&P and now have controlling power. It is amazing what people will give for fae dust and to be part of the latest trends.” I glanced at my phone in my hand. “I have to get to class. Have a great day!”
I turned on my heel and headed back towards campus, dying as they shouted questions after me, doing my best not to burst out laughing as I let that cat out of the bag. Or cats really. The scary thing was it had been so easy to put it all together. It had taken time, sure, and a lot of time. For months and months, I’d been putting this all together.
But since everything was announced about the Power Playoffs, and I realized how hard of a push people were going to make to try and obtain me, I decided to use that. At first, people were lining up to get in with me, as I had a lock on the fae dust. Katrina wasn’t going to take a monopoly on that, and I had a bunch of eating and pooping machines.
The first customer was a councilman’s niece. She wanted dust for her new
