Chapter 27: The Cost of Loyalty

After dropping Gwen and Helen off at the house, I waited until they disappeared inside before pulling away from the curb.

I glanced at Diablo, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

“Where is he?”

“We kept him in his house, Lord,” Diablo replied calmly.

“As planned, we arranged a temporary outage in the neighborhood’s power distribution. Every security camera connected to the local grid has been offline for the past twelve hours.”

I frowned.

Disabling the neighborhood’s cameras was a good start, but it only solved one problem.

What if someone saw me entering the house?

What if they saw Diablo?

What if a neighbor recorded something on their phone before the outage?

All it took was one witness, one forgotten camera, or one loose end for someone to start asking questions.

That wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.

“No. That’s not enough. Move him.”

Diablo turned toward me, surprised by the order.

“My Lord?”

“Take him somewhere isolated. A forest, an abandoned warehouse, anywhere without cameras, internet, or nearby electronics. I don’t want a single recording device within kilometers of him. The only communication anyone should have is through a satellite phone.”

Diablo immediately nodded in understanding.

“As you command, Lord.”

He picked up the satellite phone, issued several short orders, and put it away a minute later.

“They’re moving him now.”

The car fell silent for a while as I watched the city disappear behind us.

After thinking it over, I asked the question that had been bothering me since brunch.

“Assuming we continue expanding,” I said, breaking the silence, “how reliable are the people working for us?”

Diablo understood the question immediately.

“They are loyal, Lord.”

“Loyal enough to endure interrogation? Blackmail? Threats against their families?”

He remained silent for several seconds before answering.

“No, Lord. I cannot guarantee that.”

“Why?”

“Because fear changes people. Even the most loyal subordinate has a breaking point. If someone they love is threatened, there is always a chance they will betray us.”

I slowly nodded.

That was the answer I had expected.

“Then I need another solution.” I rested my arm against the window before asking, “Do you know any poison, curse, or technique that kills someone the moment they betray me or reveal information they shouldn’t?”

“I know a low-level curse,” Diablo answered.

“However, it requires magic to cast.”

“Can you teach it to me?”

Diablo inclined his head.

“Of course, Lord. However, before I can teach you the curse, you must first be capable of using magic.”

I nodded.

“Which means I need a Magicule Body.”

“Correct.”

I opened the System and navigated to the Magicule section.

The moment the page loaded, the price appeared before me.

Magicule Body — $1,000,000,000

I stared at the number for several long seconds before letting out a quiet sigh.

A billion dollars.

I already knew it would cost that much, but seeing it laid out so plainly still made me wince.

“I guess I’ll have to arrange that.”

Money itself wasn’t the issue.

My grandfather hadn’t left me a fortune ; he had left behind companies, investment funds, and enough valuable assets that raising a billion dollars wasn’t impossible.

The real problem was liquidity.

Almost none of that wealth was sitting in accounts I could simply withdraw from, and I didn’t have direct access to most of the estate’s financial records yet.

“Shit…”

After my parents’ funeral, I’d left the family’s financial affairs almost entirely in Helen’s hands while I dealt with everything else.

At the time, I hadn’t expected to need immediate access to billions of dollars, so I never bothered memorizing Grandfather’s estate credentials or keeping copies of the authorization documents.

Now that decision had come back to bite me.

There was only one person who could untangle this mess.

Looks like I have to call Helen.

I picked up the satellite phone and dialed Helen’s number.

The call barely rang twice before she answered.

“Chris?” she asked, sounding mildly surprised.

“Is everything alright?”

“I need Grandfather’s estate credentials.”

There was a brief pause on the other end before she responded.

“I can send them, but before I do, let me give you one piece of advice. Whatever you’re planning, don’t liquidate any of his assets.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Why?”

“Because you’d be throwing away money for no reason,” she explained patiently.

“Most of your grandfather’s wealth isn’t liquid. It’s tied up in companies, investment funds, and long-term holdings that have appreciated for decades. Selling them now would trigger an enormous tax bill, and we’d lose a significant portion of their value. If you need cash, there are much better ways to get it.”

“I wasn’t planning to sell anything,” I replied.

“I just need access to a large amount of money.”

“I’ve already begun arranging financing for the neighborhood acquisition, so that part is covered. Is this for something else?”

“It is.”

Helen didn’t press for details immediately.

She knew me well enough to realize that if I was calling her directly, whatever I needed wasn’t something trivial.

“How much do you need?” she finally asked.

“One billion dollars.”

The line went silent.

For several seconds, all I could hear was the faint background noise from wherever she was.

When she finally spoke again, her voice was noticeably calmer than I expected.

“One billion…” she repeated.

“That’s a substantial amount of money, Chris. How quickly do you need it?”

“As soon as possible. Within an hour, if you can manage it.”

Another silence followed.

“I see.”

There wasn’t any panic in her voice, nor did she question whether I was serious.

Instead, I could almost hear her organizing possibilities in her head.

“It can be done,” she said at last, “but we’ll need to restructure the financing.”

I leaned forward slightly.

“How?”

“The neighborhood purchase was already going to require somewhere between eight hundred million and one point two billion dollars. I was preparing a secured credit facility for that. Increasing the amount by another billion isn’t ideal, but it’s still manageable.”

“So you’re taking a larger loan.”

“Essentially.”

“We’ll use part of your mother’s clothing company as collateral. The company is profitable, privately owned, and has very little outstanding debt, which makes it attractive to lenders.”

“Won’t that put the company at risk?”

“No,” Helen answered without hesitation.

“We’re not pledging the entire company, only a portion of its valuation. Your mother deliberately kept the company separate from Sterling Global. Because of that, we can use it as collateral without affecting the rest of the family’s businesses. The banks already know the company’s financials, and they’ll likely ask for our commitment to move forward with an IPO in the future.”

I nodded slowly.

That made considerably more sense than selling assets and paying an absurd amount in taxes.

“Alright,” I said.

“What do you need from me?”

“I’ve already prepared emergency authorization documents. Check your tablet.”

A notification appeared almost instantly.

I opened it and was greeted by page after page of legal documents, banking authorizations, board resolutions, and digital consent forms.

It took me nearly five minutes to read through everything before I finished signing the last page.

As I placed the tablet back on my lap, I couldn’t help smiling.

“Wow…”

“What is it?” Helen asked.

“You had all of this prepared already.”

She laughed softly.

“After your parents passed away, I promised myself I wouldn’t let you get buried under legal paperwork if another emergency came up. I’d rather prepare for situations that never happen than be caught unprepared.”

For a moment, I simply looked at the signed documents resting on the screen.

Sometimes I wondered what I would have done without Helen.

“I’ve received the signed documents,” Helen continued.

“I’ll contact the banks immediately. They already know our asset portfolio, so once I request the emergency credit facility, the funds should be available long before the remaining paperwork is finalized.”

“So the money comes first, and the paperwork follows.”

“One of the few advantages of being this wealthy,” she replied with an amused sigh.

“Just don’t make a habit of asking for a billion dollars with an hour’s notice.”

“I’ll try.”

“You’d better.”

The call ended, and I lowered the satellite phone, feeling considerably more at ease.

If everything went according to plan, the money would arrive within the hour.

Then I could finally purchase the Magicule Body.