Chapter 67: The Meeting
Hale & Associates occupied the sixth floor of a building on Meridian Street.
Nothing about the exterior announced what was inside. Clean glass facade, a lobby that could have belonged to any professional firm in Kenvale’s commercial district, a receptionist who looked up when Xavier walked in and confirmed his appointment with the particular efficiency of someone who had been doing this a long time and saw no reason to perform friendliness she didn’t feel.
"Mr. Hale is expecting you," she said. "Sixth floor. Someone will meet you at the lift."
Xavier rode up alone.Already informed I see.
The lift opened into a different atmosphere entirely. Quieter than the lobby. The particular hush of a floor where serious work happened and nobody needed to announce it. Dark wood panelling along one wall. A long corridor with closed doors on both sides. The faint sound of a phone call happening somewhere he couldn’t see.
A woman was waiting at the lift.
Not Vincent.
Xavier’s eyes landed on her before his brain caught up with the assessment.
Who would’ve thought, he thought. Dealing with Sarah for three months had me so tunnel visioned I forgot the world had women like this walking around in it.
She was composed in the particular way of someone who had never needed to perform composure because it came naturally. Dark blazer. Tablet in one hand. The kind of presence that didn’t announce itself and didn’t need to.
She was maybe twenty, twenty one — two or three years older than Xavier’s current body, which his brain registered and immediately contextualised. In this life she’s older than me. He noted it the same way he noted everything. In my previous life that gap wouldn’t have meant anything, not that I could’ve had the chance to talk to her.
"Xavier Cole," she said. Not a question.
"Yes," he said.
"I’m Selene Adler," she said. "I’ll take you through."
She turned and walked without waiting to see if he followed.
Selena Adler, he thought, falling into step behind her. Junior analyst or something with actual weight. Hard to tell yet. He checked the gauge quietly.
He checked the gauge quietly.
Selene Adler — 2%
Practically zero, he noted. She doesn’t know me. Hasn’t formed an opinion yet. Just a name on an appointment sheet that showed up at the lift on time. He watched her navigate the corridor. Starting from the floor. That’s fine.
She stopped at a door near the end of the corridor and knocked once before opening it.
"Mr. Cole is here," she said into the room.
Then stepped aside and let Xavier through.
Vincent Hale stood up when Xavier entered.
Taller than Xavier had expected. Late forties, early fifties. The kind of age that sat well on certain people, the kind that looked like it had been earned rather than accumulated. A handshake that was firm without performing firmness. Eyes that did what Xavier’s eyes did. Assessed without announcing the assessment.
He’s reading me, Xavier thought. The same way I’m reading him.
"Sit down," Vincent said.
They sat across a desk that was cleaner than most people’s desks. Not sparse, just deliberate. Everything on it had a reason to be there.
"You got the package?," Vincent asked.
"Sunday evening," Xavier replied....uhm he knows my home.
"And the drive."
"Yes."
Vincent nodded once. Like that confirmed something he’d already assumed.
Then what the hell did the system actually give me..., Xavier thought. I spent two days reading that document thinking it was some kind of gift. But Vincent know it exists. Which means—
[DING]
[ REBATE SYSTEM ]
Special Package — Skill Acquired
[ Financial Instinct — Investment Mastery ]
Description: Host has been granted enhanced investment perception. Any capital deployed into legitimate business ventures or investment opportunities will trigger Asset Rebound. Returning 3x the invested amount after 72 hours on top of standard rebate returns.
[ This skill is permanent and does not require tier upgrades to maintain ]
[ Asset Rebound activates automatically on all qualifying investment transactions ]
Xavier read through it once under the desk without taking his phone out fully.
There it is, he thought. That’s the actual gift.
Not the document. Not the USB drive. Not Vincent’s card.
The system used the special package to give me a permanent investment skill, he thought. Asset Rebound. 3x return on every business investment after 72 hours on top of the standard rebate. He looked at Vincent across the clean desk still talking. And it dropped it in the middle of a meeting with a financial crime investigator surrounded by investment opportunities I haven’t touched yet.
Timing, he thought.
The system always knows.
He pocketed his phone and refocused on Vincent.
"I’ll tell you what I do," Vincent said. "Then you can decide what you want to say and what you don’t." He leaned back slightly. "Hale & Associates investigates financial crime. Not for law enforcement, for private clients. Corporations that suspect internal fraud. Investment firms that have been taken advantage of. Occasionally government bodies that need work done outside official channels." He paused. "We track money. How it moves. Where it comes from. Where it goes. The patterns it leaves." Another pause. "Three months ago a pattern appeared in Kenvale that none of my analysts could categorise."
"Mine?," Xavier asked.
"Yours," Vincent confirmed. "A first year university student generating financial activity that didn’t fit any profile we had. Not inheritance. We already checked. Not criminal enterprise. The transactions were too clean and too varied. Not family money moved through a student account." He looked at Xavier steadily. "Something else entirely."
Xavier said nothing.
He doesn’t know about the system, Xavier thought. He can see the results but not the source. Which means he’s been trying to reverse engineer the pattern for three months and hasn’t been able to.
Good.
"What do you want from me," Xavier said.
Vincent leaned back slightly in his chair and looked at Xavier across the clean desk.
"I’ll be straightforward with you," he said. "I’ve been watching the financial activity coming out of your direction for three months. I don’t know how you do what you do and frankly I’m not asking." He paused. "What I do know is that someone your age generating returns like that has a ceiling somewhere. And when you hit that ceiling you’re going to need the right relationships already in place." He held Xavier’s gaze. "You have a lot of promise. I’d like a partnership. Nothing formal. Nothing that puts either of us in an uncomfortable position. Just...good conduct between two people who see value in knowing each other. For future reasons that will become clear in time."