Chapter 157: Right on Schedule

Xavier looked at her.

She came to Kenvale because of me, he thought. Not knowing it was me specifically. Just the pattern. He held her gaze. The Panamera in the gym car park wasn’t coincidence. She was already looking.

"The gym approach," he said.

"Was the first time I’d seen you in person," she said. "I’d been tracking the acquisition pattern through business registry searches for two months before that."

Two months, Xavier thought. She was tracking the pattern before she even knew what I looked like.

"And the trainer arrangement," he said.

"Was the most direct way to get into a regular position where I could make this conversation happen," she said. "Without it looking like what it was." She paused. "I’m telling you this directly because I think you’d have figured it out anyway and I’d rather you hear it from me."

Xavier looked at her.

She came to Kenvale for the portfolio, he thought. Tracked the pattern for two months. Used the gym approach to get access. Set up the trainer arrangement to create a regular position. He looked at the folder in her hands. And now she’s sitting in his hostel room telling him all of it directly.

Because she thinks I’d have figured it out anyway, he thought.

She’s right, he thought.

"Show me the proposition," he said.

She opened the folder.

It took forty minutes.

Jade walked him through it properly — not a pitch, an analysis. Each of his ten businesses assessed against its current operational profile and a proposed twelve month improvement plan. The logistics companies and their route efficiency. The distribution company and its client retention. The printing operations and their equipment utilisation. The industrial services company and the municipal contract renewal timeline.

She’d done her research. Not surface level — specific. Numbers that came from the public business registry filings Xavier himself had been reading for months.

She knows these businesses, he thought. Not as well as I do. But she’s done the work.

"What do you want in exchange," he said when she finished.

"A salary," she said. "And a percentage of measurable efficiency gains in the first twelve months."

"What percentage," he said.

"Five percent of documented gains," she said. "Measurable against current baseline."

Xavier thought about it.

Five percent of efficiency gains across ten businesses, he thought. If she actually delivers what the analysis suggests — significant. But percentage of gains rather than percentage of revenue means she only gets paid if she produces.

She’s confident she’ll produce, he thought.

"The salary," he said.

"$20,000 a month," she said.

Xavier looked at her.

$20,000, he thought. From a man sitting on forty seven million. He looked at her holding the folder across from him. She underpriced herself.

"$25,000," he said.

She looked at him.

"You’re negotiating up," she said.

"You underpriced yourself," he said. "The analysis is worth more than $20,000 a month."

She held his gaze for a long moment.

"$25,000," she said. "And five percent of gains."

"Done," he said.

She closed the folder.

That’s it, Xavier thought. That’s what she came to Kenvale for. He looked at her. Two months of tracking. A gym approach. A trainer arrangement. And now a legitimate operational role in a ten business portfolio.

She played a long game, he thought. A very long game.

But she played it honestly, he thought. Told me everything when she could have kept parts of it.

That counts, he thought.

"Monday," he said. "I’ll have Patricia draft a contract."

"Monday," she said.

She stood. Picked up the folder. Looked at him one more time with the brown eyes that had been doing their work since a gym car park on a Tuesday morning.

"Xavier," she said.

"Jade."

"Thank you for hearing it out," she said.

"You did the work," he said. "It deserved to be heard."

She left.

Xavier sat in the apartment alone for a moment.

Jade Kimura, he thought. Operations specialist. Came to Kenvale for the portfolio. Told him everything directly.

$25,000 a month, he thought. Five percent of gains. Patricia drafting the contract Monday.

He checked his balance.

[ REBATE SYSTEM ]

Daily Cycle Complete

Donations processed: Women’s Empowerment Fund, Digital Access Initiative, Child Nutrition Foundation, Rural Water Access Trust

Total Spent: $200,000

Total Returned: $400,000

[ Net Balance: $47,340,383.00 → $47,540,383.00 ]

[ $200,000 buffer retained ]

$47,540,383, he noted. Saturday done. Forty million milestone. Jade’s proposition accepted. Patricia on Monday. Vincent’s due diligence package Monday. Tuesday meeting.

Everything moving, he thought.

Right on schedule.

_ _

Xavier called Patricia Monday morning at 9AM.

Two things. The Jade contract and the investigation documentation.

He’d spent Sunday finishing the case file, pulling the last threads together, cross-referencing the rental income discrepancy against the revenue figures one more time, making sure everything was sourced to public records with no gaps a competent lawyer could exploit.

By Sunday evening it was done.

Seven companies, he’d noted looking at the finished document. Two directors. One legal architect. Six years. Estimated $15,000,000 to $25,000,000 moved through the structure. Every piece of it provable from public records alone.

Now it was Monday morning and Patricia was answering on the second ring.

"Two things," he said.

"Go ahead," she said.

"First — I need a contract drafted. Operations consultant. Monthly salary $25,000. Five percent of documented efficiency gains across the business portfolio over twelve months. Name is Jade Kimura. I’ll send you her details."

A brief pause. "Jade Kimura. Operations consultant. I’ll have a draft by end of day." Another pause. "Xavier — five percent of efficiency gains across ten businesses is potentially significant compensation."

"She earned it," he said. "Second thing."

"Go ahead."

"I have a financial crime case," he said. "Documented. Seven company money laundering structure operating in Kenvale District. Six years running. I need you to look at it and tell me the correct reporting channel — without involving Vincent’s firm."

Silence on the line.

Not the brief pause Patricia used when processing information. A longer silence. The particular kind that communicated genuine surprise from someone who was rarely genuinely surprised.

"Xavier," she said.

"Yes."

"You documented a financial crime case," she said.

"Yes."

"Yourself," she said.

"Yes."

"From public records," she said.

"Yes."

Another silence.