Chapter 44: Target

The question followed Damian all the way out of the administration building.

Can I trust you?

He had expected numbers.

Revenue projections. Implementation costs. Student adoption. Nexora.

Instead, the vice chancellor had looked him in the eye and asked something much simpler.

Something that was harder to answer.

Damian stepped outside and let the door close behind him.

The afternoon air felt warmer than it had when he’d walked in.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and started down the walkway.

"Can I trust you?"

He replayed the conversation once more before shaking his head.

"Why am I still thinking about that?"

Maybe because the question wasn’t really about Westbridge.

It was about him.

For the first time, Damian was starting to understand that opportunities weren’t just about having enough money to participate.

People had to believe you were worth betting on.

He pulled out his phone and checked his balance almost absentmindedly.

$2,599,924.32

A few months ago, seeing that number would have made him feel like he’d finally escaped the constant pressure of being broke.

Rent.

Food.

Tuition.

Unexpected expenses.

The kind of problems that could ruin an entire week because he didn’t have enough money to handle them.

Now?

He stared at the number for a few seconds.

And strangely, he didn’t feel satisfied.

Not because it wasn’t enough.

It was.

More than enough.

But something had changed.

What do I do with it now?

He locked his phone.

That question stayed with him.

By the time Damian reached Westbridge Solutions, Daniel was already waiting.

Sarah sat nearby with her laptop open.

Daniel looked up.

"Well?"

Damian dropped into the nearest chair.

"He didn’t approve anything."

Daniel’s expression fell slightly.

"That’s... not exactly what I wanted to hear."

Damian smiled.

"He didn’t reject us either."

Daniel paused.

"Okay."

Sarah leaned forward.

"So what happened?"

Damian explained the meeting.

The VC had asked about Nexora’s advantages. Damian had acknowledged them.

More experience.

More resources.

A more established product.

Better institutional connections.

He hadn’t tried to pretend Westbridge could magically compete with all of that.

Instead, he’d presented the controlled expansion of the pilot and the measurable targets they could use to judge the results.

Daniel listened quietly.

When Damian finished, he leaned back.

"So he wants proof."

"Pretty much."

Sarah nodded.

"That makes sense."

Daniel looked at Damian.

"And the final question?"

Damian hesitated.

"What question?"

Daniel gave him a look.

"The one you clearly haven’t stopped thinking about."

Damian sighed.

"You really notice everything."

"Occupational hazard."

Damian leaned back.

"He asked if he could trust me."

Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"And what did you say?"

"Trust is subjective."

Daniel stared at him.

Sarah slowly smiled.

"You actually said that?"

"Yeah."

"That sounds like something someone says when they’re buying time."

Damian laughed.

"Maybe."

Daniel shook his head.

"And then?"

"I told him yes."

For a moment, nobody said anything.

Then Daniel nodded.

"Fair enough."

Damian glanced at the laptop sitting on the table.

"So what’s next?"

Daniel turned the screen toward him.

"We prepare for the expanded pilot."

A document was open.

Implementation schedules.

Support staffing.

Training.

Technical adjustments.

Performance tracking.

Damian scanned through it.

"We should make the results impossible to misunderstand."

Sarah looked over.

"What do you mean?"

"Numbers."

He tapped the screen.

"Student sign-ups. Completion rates. How many people stop using it. Support requests. How quickly we respond. Staff feedback."

He scrolled.

"If they’re going to judge whether we’re worth keeping, let’s give them something concrete to judge."

Daniel nodded slowly.

"That’s basically what the VC asked for."

"Exactly."

Sarah smiled.

"You’ve been paying attention."

Damian looked at her.

"I’m trying."

There was no dramatic realization.

No sudden transformation.

He was simply beginning to understand how business actually worked.

Winning wasn’t always about having the biggest product.

Sometimes it was about making the decision easier for the person sitting across the table.

Later that afternoon, Sarah pointed something else out.

"If this works, the university deal could be bigger than the contract itself."

Damian looked at her.

"How?"

"Credibility."

She closed her laptop.

"If one major university uses Westbridge successfully, other universities notice. Then another institution asks questions. Then another."

Daniel nodded.

"She isn’t wrong."

Damian leaned back.

"One deal becomes proof."

"Exactly."

He stared at the table.

That was different.

Until recently, he’d been thinking about Westbridge mostly as an investment.

A company he’d put money into.

Something that could grow and increase the value of his stake.

But this was bigger.

The university could become a doorway.

One successful contract could lead to another.

And another.

Leverage.

The word came to him naturally.

Damian smiled faintly.

He was starting to understand why people cared so much about businesses.

It wasn’t just the money they made today.

It was what they could become tomorrow.

By evening, Damian had mostly pushed Westbridge out of his head.

Mostly.

"Fish brain!"

Damian stopped walking.

Ethan caught up beside him, slightly out of breath.

"There you are."

Damian looked at him.

"What?"

"I’ve been calling you for like thirty seconds."

"I didn’t hear you."

"Obviously."

Ethan shook his head.

"Anyway, did you do the assignment?"

Damian froze.

"...What assignment?"

Ethan stared at him.

Then slowly pointed at him.

"This."

He pointed again.

"This is why I call you fish brain."

Damian laughed.

"You never told me about an assignment."

"I told you yesterday."

"You definitely didn’t."

"I definitely did."

"You’re lying."

"I’m not."

They stood there arguing about it for another few seconds before Ethan finally pulled out his phone.

"Whatever. There’s a quiz tomorrow too."

Damian groaned.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"On what?"

Ethan stared at him.

"Bro."

"What?"

"You’re finished."

Damian laughed.

For the first time that day, his thoughts completely left business behind.

No university contract.

No Nexora.

No VC.

No projections.

Just him and Ethan complaining about school.

And honestly?

He needed that.

He met Emily later that evening.

She was sitting outside one of the quieter buildings on campus when Damian approached.

"Hey."

Emily looked up and smiled.

"Hey."

Damian sat beside her.

For a few moments, neither said anything.

Then he glanced at her.

"How have you been lately?"

Emily’s fingers tightened slightly around the strap of her bag.

"A bit more occupied than usual."

She gave him a small smile.

"But good overall."

Damian nodded.

"You seemed a little distracted."

"Yeah. Just a lot going on."

He looked at her for a second.

Then shrugged.

"Alright."

Emily looked at him.

"That’s it?"

"What?"

"You’re not going to interrogate me?"

Damian laughed.

"No. You would’ve told me if you wanted to."

She smiled.

"Thanks."

They sat quietly for a moment.

Then Emily tilted her head.

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"You seem different."

Damian raised an eyebrow.

"Different how?"

"I don’t know."

She studied him.

"More focused, maybe."

Damian looked away.

He thought about the VC’s office.

The question.

The balance sitting in his account.

And the strange feeling that two and a half million dollars wasn’t the finish line anymore.

"I think I’m finally figuring out what I want."

Emily smiled.

"And what’s that?"

Damian looked at her.

"A lot more than I used to."

She laughed softly.

"That sounds suspiciously ambitious."

"Maybe it is."

"Should I be worried?"

"Probably not."

She nudged his arm lightly.

"Good."

Damian smiled.

For a few minutes, he forgot about everything else.

That night, Damian sat at his desk.

His laptop was open.

A blank document stared back at him.

He didn’t open Westbridge’s files.

He didn’t check the university’s response.

Instead, he opened a new document.

At the top, he typed:

WEALTH

He stared at the word.

Then started writing.

Build assets.

He paused.

Increase income.

Reinvest.

Learn.

Avoid stupid risks.

Build businesses.

Own things that grow.

Damian leaned back.

The list looked simple.

Almost too simple.

But the more he thought about it, the more sense it made.

Cash wasn’t wealth by itself.

Neither was a lucky system.

If he spent money just because he could, he’d eventually have nothing meaningful to show for it.

He needed ownership.

Equity.

Businesses.

Assets.

Things that could grow without him having to personally chase every dollar.

His eyes drifted toward his phone.

$2,599,924.32.

He opened his financial records.

Westbridge.

Seven percent.

Potential profit share.

Potential growth.

Then he looked back at the blank document.

He typed another line.

First target: $10,000,000 net worth.

Damian stopped.

Ten million.

He read it again.

It was a ridiculous number compared to where he’d started.

Yet somehow, it no longer felt impossible.

Just difficult.

And difficult was different from impossible.

His screen flickered.

The familiar golden interface appeared in the air.

[NEW FINANCIAL TARGET DETECTED.]

Damian looked at it.

[TARGET: $10,000,000 NET WORTH.]

Another line appeared.

[LONG-TERM PATHWAY ANALYSIS INITIATED.]

Damian smiled.

"Ten million."

He said it quietly.

Then leaned back in his chair.

"Let’s get there."

The golden screen disappeared.

Damian closed the laptop.

He was about to stand when a new email notification appeared.

Subject: Acquisition Opportunity — Confidential

He frowned.

An acquisition?

He opened it.

The message was from someone representing a small technology company.

The company was struggling financially.

Its owner was looking for an investor or potential buyer.

Damian nearly closed the email.

Then he noticed the figures attached.

He stopped.

He read them again.

The company wasn’t doing well.

But it owned a software platform with existing users and a small recurring revenue stream.

The asking price was surprisingly low.

Damian leaned closer to the screen.

"How much...?"

He checked the number again.

It was within his reach.

Very comfortably.

His first thought was simple.

I could buy this.

Then he stopped.

That wasn’t the thought he would’ve had a few months ago.

Back then, he’d have wondered what cashback he could get.

Now?

He looked at the company details again.

Its software.

Its users.

Its revenue.

Its potential.

He leaned back slowly.

For the first time, Damian wasn’t thinking about what he could purchase.

He was thinking about what he could own.

And that thought made him smile.

Maybe ten million wasn’t the real beginning after all.