Chapter 138: Millhaven Acquisitions

Xavier was at the suite’s dining table at 9AM with his MacBook open and his coffee going cold beside it.

Selene was still asleep.

He’d gotten up quietly at 8AM. With the particular careful movement of someone extracting themselves from a warm bed without disturbing the person still in it. Showered. Dressed in dark trousers and a clean shirt. Made coffee from the suite’s machine which turned out to be significantly better than the hostel version. Sat at the table and opened the MacBook.

Saturday morning, he thought. Two acquisitions. No Patricia on the ground. No Vincent network pre-validating targets. No USB document telling me these are rated A.

Just me, he thought. And what four months of acquisition work has built.

He opened the browser tabs he’d left open the night before. The logistics company first.

Vincent had come back at midnight with what his Millhaven contacts had found.

Xavier read through it now properly in the morning light.

Gerald Nwosu, he noted. Owner of Nwosu Logistics. Sixty one years old. Built the company over twelve years — same profile as Gerald Obi had been in Kenvale. Three vehicles. Two distribution contracts with local manufacturers. A third contract that had lapsed eighteen months ago that Nwosu hadn’t replaced because he’d been dealing with a health situation.

Health situation, Xavier thought. Same as Gerald Obi.

These men build something honest over a decade and then their bodies decide enough, he thought. And nobody in their immediate circle has the capital or the interest to keep it running.

I do, he thought.

Vincent’s contact had confirmed the valuation — $580,000 asking price, negotiable to $550,000 given the circumstances. Clean books. No outstanding liabilities.

He moved to the printing company tab.

Millhaven Print and Design, he noted. Two partners — a man named Kofi Asante and a woman named Rita Mensah. Eight years operating. The inconsistent accounts Vincent’s contact had explained — not fraud, exactly what Xavier had suspected. Two business owners who had stopped communicating properly about finances two years ago when their personal relationship had deteriorated. The business still ran well. The accounts just reflected two people not talking rather than a business in trouble.

Asking price, he noted. $420,000. Both partners motivated to exit — they wanted out of the arrangement more than they wanted maximum value for the business.

$420,000 for a business worth $520,000 the moment someone ran it with proper financial oversight, he thought. Clean.

He called Patricia.

She answered on the second ring.

"Xavier," she said. "Saturday morning."

"Saturday morning," he said. "I need you to handle two acquisitions remotely. Millhaven businesses. I’ll send you everything."

A brief moment.

"Millhaven," she said. "You found acquisition targets on a vacation."

"Yes," he said.

She was quiet for exactly two seconds.

"Send me everything," she said. "I’ll have documents ready by noon."

"Good," he said. And hung up.

He sent her everything. Vincent’s contact report. The business registry searches. The valuation comparables. Everything he’d compiled the night before while Selene was in the shower.

Then he opened his banking app.

$19,087,133, he noted. Saturday cap at $2,000,000.

Two acquisitions, he thought. $550,000 and $420,000. Combined $970,000. He checked the cap. Plenty of room. Keep the buffer. Move on both.

He set the phone down and waited for Patricia.

Selene emerged from the bedroom at 10:15AM.

Hair down. Dark jeans again. A different top from yesterday. She’d packed light but efficiently. She looked at Xavier at the dining table with the MacBook open and the coffee cup beside it and said nothing for a moment.

Then she walked to the suite’s coffee machine and made herself one.

Came back. Sat across from him.

"Working," she said.

"Almost done," he said.

She looked at the MacBook screen. Not reading it, just noting that it existed at 10AM on a Saturday morning in a hotel suite in Millhaven.

"The businesses you found," she said.

"Yes," he said.

"Is it Both of them," she said.

"Both of them," he confirmed.

She picked up her coffee. Looked at him over the rim of it.

"You called Patricia this morning," she asked.

"Yes," he said.

"Before 9AM,"

"She’s used to it," Xavier added.

Selene held his gaze for a moment with the expression that sat between professionally assessing and genuinely amused.

"Okay," she said. And opened her own tablet.

She’s not going to fight it, Xavier thought. Two people at a table with their respective screens on a Saturday morning in Millhaven. He almost smiled. This works.

Patricia’s documents arrived at 11:47AM.

Xavier read through both sets in twenty minutes. Clean. Properly structured. Patricia had managed to get Millhaven legal sign off on both acquisition frameworks in under three hours on a Saturday morning which told you everything you needed to know about Patricia Osei.

He signed both digitally.

Then opened his banking app.

First acquisition, he thought. Nwosu Logistics. $550,000.

He transferred.

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Transaction Detected: $550,000 spent on Nwosu Logistics Acquisition — Millhaven

Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x

Total Return: $1,100,000

[ Net Balance: $18,537,133.00 → $19,637,133.00 ]

Asset Rebound — Activated

3x Investment Return pending

[ Credited in: 72 hours ]

[ Rebound Return: $1,650,000 ]

[ Investment Portfolio: $3,630,000 / $3,000,000 ]

[ Millhaven Mission: $2,472,505 / $3,000,000 ]

[ SIDE QUEST COMPLETE ]

Eighth Business Investment

Reward: +1,500 EXP

[ EXP: 5,250/150,000 ]

$19,637,133, he noted. Nearly twenty million.

Second acquisition, he thought. Millhaven Print and Design. $420,000.

He transferred.

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Transaction Detected: $420,000 spent on Millhaven Print and Design Acquisition

Base Multiplier (Tier 2): 2x

Total Return: $840,000

[ Net Balance: $19,217,133.00 → $20,057,133.00 ]

Asset Rebound — Activated

3x Investment Return pending

[ Credited in: 72 hours ]

[ Rebound Return: $1,260,000 ]

[ Investment Portfolio: $4,050,000 ]

[ Millhaven Mission: $2,892,505 / $3,000,000 ]

[ SIDE QUEST COMPLETE ]

Ninth Business Investment

Reward: +1,500 EXP

[ EXP: 6,750/150,000 ]

$20,057,133, he thought.