Chapter 99: Poor Aliya
The Friday evening traffic was a slow-moving river of red taillights, but inside Jake’s car, the world felt strangely quiet. He pulled up to the curb outside Catharine’s office right on time. When she slid into the passenger seat, she looked exhausted, tossing her bag into the footwell with a heavy sigh.
She didn’t notice the way people on the sidewalk were glancing at the car, or the subtle shift in Jake’s own posture. To her, it was just Friday, and she was finally done with the first week of her internship.
"Rough day?" Jake asked, reaching over to squeeze her hand.
"Just long," she said, leaning her head back against the headrest and closing her eyes. "My brain feels like it’s been through a blender. I think I spent six hours just filing digital compliance forms. I don’t even want to look at a screen for the rest of the night. Can we just go home and hide?"
"That sounds like a perfect plan," Jake said, a small, knowing smile tugging at his lips.
The drive back to the apartment was peaceful. They didn’t talk about the markets or the news. They talked about the mundane details of her day—the coffee machine that broke at noon and the intern who accidentally CC’d the entire department on a personal email.
For Jake, it was a necessary groundedness. Outside these doors, he was a billionaire titan being dissected by every news outlet in the country. Inside this car, he was just Jake.
Once they were home, Catharine went straight to the kitchen. She insisted on making dinner, saying the repetitive task of chopping vegetables helped her decompress. Jake sat at the island, watching her move, feeling a strange sense of guilt for the storm he knew was about to break her quiet evening.
They were halfway through a quiet meal of pasta when Catharine’s phone, sitting on the counter, began to vibrate violently. The caller ID showed ’Lisa.’
"I thought you said no screens tonight," Jake teased.
"It’s Lisa. She probably wants to know if we’re coming over this weekend," Catharine said, picking up the phone and putting it on speaker. "Hey, Lis, I’m in the middle of—"
"CATHARINE! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Lisa’s voice blasted through the speaker, so loud it was slightly distorted. "Why did you hide this? How could you not tell us? I thought we were friends!"
Catharine blinked, looking at the phone in confusion. "Lisa, what are you talking about? Hide what?"
"What am I talking about? Cath, turn on the TV! Go on social media! It’s everywhere! Jake is a freaking billionaire! Like, multi-billionaire! First, you tell us he’s a graduate like us, then you tell us he was just a millionaire CEO. But I’m literally staring at a headline that says he owns the Meridian Crown! Do you know how many times we’ve joked about even being able to afford a drink there?"
Catharine’s fork stilled halfway to her mouth. She looked at Jake, who was calmly taking a sip of water. "Lisa, you’ve been drinking. Jake isn’t a billionaire. We joke about the CEO thing because he started his own company, but—"
"I am stone-cold sober, Cath! Search his name. Search ’Golden Investments.’ He inherited like nine billion marks today. The news says he’s in the top three richest young people in the country. Just... just look!"
Lisa hung up, seemingly frustrated that she had to be the one to break the news. Catharine put the phone down, her hands shaking slightly. She didn’t go to social media. She just stared at Jake.
"Jake? What is she talking about?"
Jake set his glass down. "I was going to tell you tonight. I just wanted us to have a normal dinner first. My grandfather left a private trust. It wasn’t part of the public Meridian Group. The requirement for me to even learn about it and activate it was for me to finish college first. I activated it today for myself and Aliya, but there’s a catch—she only gets her share when she completes her degree." He lowered his voice slightly. "I’m still thinking of how to lie to her so that the fact she even has a share remains hidden until she finishes college. I don’t want her dropping out because she thinks she’s set for life."
"And... Lisa said billions?" Catharine’s voice was barely a whisper. "Nine billion marks?"
"On paper, in assets, yes," Jake said, his voice soft. "The hotel, the brewery, the gallery... they all moved under my company, Golden Investments. It also cleared about three billion in liquid dividends, making the actual total 12.2 billion marks."
The silence that followed was heavy. Catharine looked around their apartment, then down at her own hands. She thought about her internship, about the excitement she’d felt over her modest starting salary, and the way she’d been worried about contributing her fair share to their living expenses.
"Twelve billion," she repeated. The bewildered expression on her face shifted into something sharper—insecurity. "Jake, I... I’m an intern. I spent today worried about whether I formatted a spreadsheet correctly. And you... you practically own a share of the city."
Jake stood up and walked around the island, taking her hands in his. "I don’t own the city. I just took back what belonged to my family. Nothing changes between us, Cath. I’m still the same guy who picked you up an hour ago."
"But it does change, doesn’t it?" she asked, her eyes searching his. "The way people look at us, the security, the pressure... I felt like I was finally starting to catch up to you, and now you’re suddenly on another planet."
Before Jake could answer, his own phone began to ring. It was Aliya. He hesitated, then answered.
"JAKE RIVERS, YOU BETTER START TALKING RIGHT NOW!" Aliya was practically screaming, her voice full of the high-octane energy of a college student who had just realized she was an heiress. "I’m sitting in my new apartment trying to study, and my roommate just showed me a TikTok about my own brother and some inheritance! Nine billion? Is that real? Am I rich too? Am I ’buy-a-private-island’ rich?"
"Aliya, breathe," Jake said, though he couldn’t help a small laugh. "Yes, the trust is active. I’m in the middle of something right now, but no, you are not rich."
"What?" Aliya’s voice dropped an octave, sounding genuinely surprised. "What do you mean I’m not rich? I was too young to remember Grandpa well, but I should at least have gotten *something*! I’m a Rivers too!"
"Everything was meant for the firstborn, Aliya," Jake said, sticking to the lie with practiced ease. "That’s how Grandpa set it up to keep the estate from being split into pieces."
Aliya groaned loudly on the other end. "That is so old-fashioned and unfair! I’m the one who actually does the chores when I’m home!" She paused, then her tone shifted back to opportunistic. "Fine. But I’m your only sister. I want a new car for being the best sister in the world—and don’t forget I’ll eventually need a penthouse too! I want answers, Jake!"
"I’m coming over to Mom and Dad’s house tomorrow to explain everything to the whole family," Jake promised.
"You better not get there after me!" Aliya threatened. "I’ll see you in the morning!"
She hung up, leaving the room quiet again. Jake turned his full attention back to Catharine. He could see the wheels turning in her head, the fear of the gap between them widening.
"Cath, look at me," he said, lifting her chin so she had to meet his eyes. "I don’t care about the nine billion. It’s just ammunition for the fight I’m in. You’re my anchor. If I didn’t have this—this dinner, this apartment, you—I’d just be another heartless suit like Sterling or Mason. I need you to keep me human."
He pulled her into a hug, feeling her slowly relax against him. The excitement of the day was there, but beneath it was the reality of what this wealth meant for their lives. It was going to be a different world starting Monday, but as they stood in their kitchen, the pasta getting cold on the plates, Jake realized that the most important thing he owned wasn’t the Meridian Crown. It was the woman currently hiding her face in his shoulder.
"Let’s just go freshen up and then go to bed," Catharine whispered after a long moment. "I think I’ve had enough ’news’ for one lifetime."
They left the dishes in the sink and moved to the bedroom. As Jake turned off the lights, he saw the faint glow of the city through the window. It looked different now—smaller, more manageable. He pulled Catharine close, the weight of the billions outside the door fading away as he finally drifted into a restless sleep. Tomorrow, the world would come knocking, but for tonight, he was just a man at home.
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