Chapter 197: You’re ’The’ Jake Rivers?
After conquering the cheese-drenched burgers, the three of them strolled through the high-end retail wing of the Galleria. Melissa was currently in heaven, clutching a heavy, premium paper shopping bag containing a brand-new, top-of-the-line tablet Jake had insisted on buying her "for her matric exam studies."
"I’m going to download so many practice papers on this," Melissa whispered, staring into the bag as if it held a sacred relic. "And maybe a few games. But mostly exam prep. I swear, Cathy, don’t look at me like that."
Catharine laughed, hooking her arm through her sister’s. "I didn’t say a word, Mel."
Jake walked slightly to their left, his hands casually shoved into the pockets of his grey hoodie. It was a rare, peaceful moment. For a few hours, he wasn’t the relentless corporate predator or the market-disrupting force that kept the Ministers and many high profile people awake at night. He was just a guy enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon.
But in a city like the capital, peace was always a temporary luxury for someone like Jake Rivers.
They were walking past a massive, open-concept glass atrium when a group of college-aged kids came descending down the opposite escalator. One of them, a guy wearing a bright green cap, stopped dead in his tracks. He blinked, stared hard at Jake, and then grabbed his friend’s shoulder so tightly the other boy stumbled.
"No way," the guy gasped, his voice carrying across the high-ceilinged corridor. "Yo... is that Jake Rivers? It’s him! The Gold King!"
The shout was like a match dropped in a dry forest.
Within seconds, the casual chatter of the crowded atrium died down. Head after head snapped in their direction.
"Wait, where?"
"Oh my god, it is him!"
"Jake! Jake Rivers!"
A low, electric hum swept through the crowd. In the digital age, a sighting of the country’s youngest, most elusive billionaire was equivalent to spotting a mythical beast in the wild. Before Catharine could even process what was happening, a dozen phones were pulled out. People began jogging backward in front of them, holding up their screens, some immediately launching live video streams.
"Mr. Rivers! When are you going to be dropping the next signal?" a man in a business suit shouted, pushing past a clothing display to get closer.
"Jake, can I get a photo? Just one!" a teenage girl screamed, waving her phone frantically.
The crowd of twenty quickly swelled to fifty, and then a hundred. The sheer velocity of the public reaction was terrifying. The peaceful mall corridor was instantly transformed into a chaotic, pressing wall of noise, flashing camera lenses, and outstretched arms.
Catharine felt a sudden spike of anxiety. She instinctively reached out, pulling Melissa closer to her side. Is Melissa going to panic? she thought, her heart hammering against her ribs. She’s never experienced anything like this. A crowd this dense, shouting and pushing—it’s overwhelming for anyone, let alone a teenager from a quiet village.
Before the crowd could close the gap, a massive, immovable barrier materialized.
Elias and three other plainclothes security detail guards, who had been maintaining a discreet, twenty-yard distance, stepped in with flawless synchronization. Elias’s towering, broad-shouldered frame anchored the front, his expression carved out of solid granite.
"Step back. Secure the perimeter," Elias commanded, his deep voice carrying a quiet authority that brooked no argument.
The guards locked shoulders, forming a tight, impenetrable wedge around Jake, Catharine, and Melissa. With smooth, mechanical efficiency, they began steering the trio toward the private service elevator, gently but firmly shoving aside the pressing wave of bodies and flashing screens.
"Clear the pathway. Move back," the guards kept repeating, their physical presence easily holding back the tide of over-excited onlookers.
They stepped into the service elevator, and Elias quickly swiped his temporary access card, forcing the doors to slide shut. The chaotic roar of the crowd was instantly cut off, replaced by the quiet hum of the descending lift.
The elevator took them straight down to the secure VIP parking deck. Within minutes, the three of them were safely inside the Brabus, the doors sealing with a solid, expensive thwip that locked out the outside world entirely.
Jake started the V8 engine, the deep, mechanical growl echoing off the concrete walls of the empty garage as he navigated toward the private exit.
Catharine immediately turned in her seat, her face filled with worry as she looked at her sister in the back. "Mel, are you okay? I’m so sorry about that. It was incredibly chaotic, and I know it must have been really scary—"
"Are you kidding me?!" Melissa suddenly exploded, jumping up in her seat as much as her seatbelt would allow. Her face was flushed bright red, her eyes wide with absolute, manic excitement. "What was that?! Are we celebrities now? Cathy, did you see that guy with the giant tablet trying to take a picture of my elbow? Am I going to be on the evening news?!"
Jake caught her reflection in the rearview mirror and let out a genuine, booming chuckle. "Your elbow might make the financial columns, Mel. It had great form."
"I knew it!" Melissa gasped, slapping her knee. "I should have waved! Oh my gosh, that was like being in a movie. The big scary guard Elias just walked forward and people literally parted like the Red Sea!"
Catharine let out a long, slow breath, her shoulders sagging in immense relief. She shook her head, a soft, dry laugh escaping her lips. "I can’t believe you. I thought you’d be traumatized, and instead you look like you’re planning your red carpet debut."
"Hey, opportunities like this don’t happen in the village," Melissa grinned, hugging her new tablet to her chest. "But seriously, Cathy... why was everyone screaming like that? I know Jake is rich and has a cool car, but they were acting like he invented electricity."
Catharine smiled, glancing at Jake’s calm profile as he steered the heavy wagon onto the main road. "Well, Jake is... pretty famous in the country, Mel. People follow what he does very closely. The newspapers and the news channels talk about him almost every day."
Hearing that, Melissa’s animated expression slowly faded. She leaned back against the leather headrest, her eyebrows furrowing as her brain began to connect the pieces.
She remembered the luxury restaurant from the night before, where the elegant manager had referred to Jake as ’Mr. Rivers.’
Rivers.
And today, the crowd in the mall was screaming ’Jake Rivers.’
She thought about the newspapers her father used to bring home from the local tavern—the ones he would throw onto the wooden table while muttering curses about the "crooked market" and the "boy genius" who was single-handedly breaking the gold trading boards. She remembered seeing a grainy, black-and-white picture of a sharp, unbothered young man in a dark suit on the front page, under a massive, bold headline: THE GOLD KING DOMINATES.
Her eyes slowly traveled to the back of Jake’s head, and then to his reflection in the rearview mirror. Her jaw slowly began to drop.
"Rivers..." Melissa whispered, her voice losing all its previous playfulness. "Jake... Rivers."
"Mel?" Catharine asked, watching her sister’s face turn completely pale.
Suddenly, Melissa let out a high-pitched, finger-pointing shriek that echoed through the cabin of the Brabus.
"You’re JAKE RIVERS?!"
Jake couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the sheer, unfiltered shock in her voice. "Guilty as charged. That’s my name."
"No, no, no, wait," Melissa stammered, her fingers trembling as she pointed at him. "You’re the Jake Rivers? The Gold King? The guy who made hundreds of billions of marks before he even turned twenty-five? The one my math teacher uses as an example of why we should study statistics and finance?!"
"I didn’t know I was in the curriculum," Jake murmured, highly amused. "But yeah, that’s me."
Melissa whipped her head toward her older sister, her face a mix of absolute betrayal and awe. "Cathy! Are you out of your mind?! How could you not tell me that your boyfriend is literally the most famous billionaire in the country?!"
Catharine blinked, completely stumped by the sudden accusation. "I... Mel, I genuinely thought you knew! You literally rode in his car yesterday, and we ate at the Meridian Crown! I told you his name was Jake!"
"Yeah, ’Jake’! Just Jake!" Melissa yelled, gesturing wildly. "There are like fifty Jakes in our district! One of them works at the butchery and has a lazy eye! How was I supposed to know ’Jake’ meant the guy who owns half the capital’s skyline?!"
"He doesn’t own half the skyline," Catharine protested, blushing slightly. "That’s an exaggeration."
"He just said he’d buy a towing company if they touched his car, Cathy! He basically does!" Melissa turned back to Jake, suddenly sitting up straight and smoothing down her t-shirt, her tone instantly shifting into a formal, incredibly polite pitch. "Um... Mr. Rivers. It is an absolute honor to be in your spaceship. Please do not buy my school and fire my teachers."
Jake shook his head, his shoulders shaking with laughter. "Don’t worry, Mel. Your school is safe. And you can still call me Jake."
"I don’t know if my vocal cords are allowed to do that anymore," Melissa mumbled, staring at him as if he had just grown a second head. She leaned over the center console, whispering loudly to Catharine. "Cathy... seriously. How did you land him? Did you threaten to audit him?"
"Melissa, I swear to god," Catharine warned, though her eyes were shining with pure happiness as she looked at the two of them.
The Brabus cruised smoothly through the afternoon light, the warmth inside the car completely shielded from the chaotic, fast-moving city outside.
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