Chapter 9: Blind Faith

Inside the penthouse boardroom of Belmont Enterprises, Arthur Belmont stood at the head of a table, his gaze sweeping over his top executives.

Trent sat near the middle of the table, looking exhausted, nursing a cup of coffee.

"The Obsidian Conglomerate has yet to respond to my inquiries this morning," Arthur said. "If we do not secure the commercial district contract with them by Friday, our stock is going to take a catastrophic hit. I want every available resource dedicated to finding out the identity of the VIP staying in their Presidential Suite. If we can appease him, we save the deal."

The executives nodded.

"Sir, forgive the interruption," a junior executive at the far end of the table said, timidly raising a tablet. "But speaking of the Zenith District... have you seen the trending footage from yesterday afternoon? It’s dominating every major social feed."

Arthur frowned, clearly annoyed by the distraction. "I do not care about social media trends, Marcus."

"I understand, sir, but the footage involves the Obsidian Grand, and a transaction of over $500,000," Marcus explained, quickly casting the video from his tablet onto the projector screen at the front of the boardroom.

The video began to play.

It was the viral clip of Jude catching the streamer Lexi, shutting her down with the $2 water bottle, and then panning to Manager Caldwell announcing the staggering $537,000 wardrobe buyout.

Trent dropped his coffee cup.

"That’s him!" Trent shouted, shooting up from his chair.

His face drained of color as he pointed a shaking finger at the screen.

"Dad, that’s the guy! That’s Jude! The broke loser from the dealership!"

Arthur’s eyes narrowed as he stepped closer to the projector, scrutinizing the man in the video. "This is the man you insulted? The one you claimed was a penniless car washer?"

"Yes! But look at the video!" Trent panicked. "He just dropped half a million dollars in cash! He really is a billionaire!"

Arthur stared at the frozen frame of Jude signing the clipboard. He looked at Jude’s faded, poorly fitting polyester suit.

Then, a smirk spread across the older man’s face.

Arthur let out a laugh.

"Are you really this gullible, Trent?" Arthur asked, shaking his head. "Look at the production quality. Look at the camera angles. You actually believe a centimillionaire walks around in a suit that looks like it was pulled from a dumpster?"

Trent blinked, confused. "But... the manager..."

"It is a viral marketing stunt," Arthur stated, waving his hand at the screen. "Aurelius is a high-end brand. They clearly orchestrated this ’hidden billionaire’ narrative to boost their online engagement with the younger demographic. This Jude character is nothing more than a struggling actor they hired off the street to play a role."

The executives in the room immediately relaxed.

"Ah, classic guerrilla marketing," the Chief Financial Officer noted with a smirk. "It’s actually quite brilliant. Frame the ’rich guy’ in cheap clothes to create a viral contrast."

"Exactly," Arthur agreed, turning away from the screen. "It’s all fake. A perfectly staged scene for the internet. Trent, I can’t believe you let a paid actor terrify you like this."

Trent felt a wave of relief wash over him. His father was right... It made perfect sense.

Jude didn’t have any money; he had just stumbled into a gig as a brand ambassador for a viral video.

"I... I guess I panicked," Trent laughed nervously, sitting back down. "So he really is just a broke loser."

Arthur sighed, taking his seat at the head of the table. "Forget the actor. Now, if the Obsidian deal completely stalls, we have a secondary safety net. I have been in talks with the parent company of Zenith Motors. They are planning a multi-million-dollar expansion of their dealership lots across the state. If we secure the real estate provisioning for that expansion, we can offset our current quarterly losses entirely."

The executives murmured in agreement, unaware that the very dealership they were banking their entire corporate survival on was currently changing hands.

...

Miles away, the morning sun was reflecting off the hood of a sleek, black Maybach town car as it cruised down the bustling city streets.

Jude sat in the spacious rear cabin, looking out the windows.

He was wearing one of his newly delivered bespoke suits.

Sitting across from him was Victoria. The Senior Partner looked incredibly sharp in a white designer blazer, a folder resting in her lap.

"The hostile takeover was successful, Mr. Lawson," Victoria said, tapping the folder with a manicured fingernail. "By leveraging your liquid capital through our shell entities, we bypassed the board’s usual waiting periods. You now hold 78% of the parent company’s voting shares. The ink dried at 7:00 this morning. Zenith Motors is officially yours."

"Excellent work, Victoria," Jude said.

"I must admit, Mr. Lawson, this is unusual," Victoria noted, a curious glint in her eye. "Most of my clients who execute takeovers of this magnitude prefer to stay in the shadows, or at least wait a few weeks before making their presence known. Showing up to a mid-level dealership in person at nine in the morning on the very day of the acquisition... it’s incredibly aggressive."

Jude offered a smile. "I’m a hands-on owner. Besides, I left something behind yesterday."

Victoria chuckled, adjusting her glasses. "Well, their General Manager, a Mr. Sterling, was informed late last night that the new majority shareholder would be conducting a surprise inspection today. He has been hyperventilating on the phone to my assistants all morning."

"Good," Jude said, his eyes darkening slightly.

The Maybach turned off the main avenue, its tires gliding onto the freshly paved VIP entrance of Zenith Motors.

Through the glass, Jude could see the entire scene perfectly...

General Manager Sterling was standing at the absolute front of the red-carpeted entryway, wearing his best suit, sweating despite the cool morning air.

Behind him, lined up with military precision, were the sales associates, the finance team, and the inventory staff.

Maya was standing near the back, looking nervous and confused.

Derek, the junior associate who had offered Jude the $20 bill, was standing near the front, trying to look incredibly professional.

They were all holding their breath, waiting for the mysterious billionaire who held their careers in the palm of his hand to step out of the car.

The Maybach rolled to a silent stop right in front of the doors.

The uniformed driver immediately stepped out and jogged around the rear of the vehicle.

Sterling quickly wiped his palms on his trousers, slapping on a smile as the driver reached for the door handle.

*Here we go,* Sterling thought. *Time to meet the boss.*