Chapter 116: Buying A Company

"A favor?" Irina repeated, Ethan could already imagine the grin on her face as she spoke, "according to our agreement, a favor will cost you Ethan.""I’ll offer a year’s use of a custom version of Sentinel for free," Ethan offered, "with its attack use, not just for defense."

There was silence on the other end for a while and Ethan heard her let out chyort, which meant damn it.

Or devil, which suit Ethan pretty well in Irina’s current mind. He knew that she’d use that ’favor’ as a way to get closer to him so he offered a deal hard to overlook.

Of course she knew Sentinel’s capabilities, especially since it had easily defended against one of the best hacking groups known in the Underworld....

The Vigilants.

She also knew the capabilities of its attack mode since that was the reason they were in this contract in the first place.

So a custom one would definitely be a lot better than the one they currently had.

"What advantages does this custom one have over the normal Sentinel?" Irina asked, just to be sure.

Ethan had a wide grin as he internally let out, bingo before answering with a single sentence, "large scale attacks on any network system in the world without triggering and alarms or leaving any prints."

He hadn’t actually upgraded Sentinel that much, but with his current knowledge and proficiency, it’d be pretty easy.

Irina’s breath caught in her throat as she heard his offer, he really was insane.

Ethan sat down on the study table, waiting for her response, he knew that there was no way she would reject.

"Tempting," Irina said after a while, "but I’m not interested."

It took a while for the words to actually register in Ethan’s minds. Of all the responses he expected, not once had he thought she’d reject.

"Is that so?" He calmly said, "then what would you like in return for this favor, Ms Romanova?"

"Irina," She corrected, "as for what I want, how about a favor in return? One that I can collect when I’m ready."

He thought about it for a while, he could get the Vigilants to do another one of his plans related to the company, but they were still supposed to be dead plus with Nathaniel’s recent death, he couldn’t risk getting them revealed now as they would be immediate suspects.

The second option was to just blackmail an underworld agent that lived here in Boston using the same carrot and stick method he had on that thief, but that could spiral out of control since there was no loyalty involved, only fear and greed.

So Irina was the fastest option so he let out a sigh and responded, "as long as whatever favor you ask for doesn’t cross any lines."

"Great," Irina’s voice turned a bit cheerful, "what favor do you need?"

"I want to buy a company that belongs to one of yours," Ethan’s tone was completely serious.

"Which one?" She didn’t even bother asking why as she simply responded.

"Solterra Development Group," there was a short pause on the other end but Ethan patiently waited for her response and it quickly came.

"When do you want it?" Irina asked, completely unshaken by the fact that Ethan wanted one of her money makers.

"Tomorrow," he simply replied.

"I’ll send the address." Irina completed, "oh and Ethan, expect the favor to be equivalent."


Before he could reply, the line went dead, leaving him staring at the screen for a short while before he chuckled and put the phone down.

Why would he be buying the company that was harassing María?

Well, because he was just that petty and he was going to make them regret as much as possible.

This was just the first step.

"Athena, start gathering information on everyone involved in their pressure tactics," he simply said.

{On it,} she responded as she immediately went to work on the task given, taking only a few minutes.

"Alright then, let’s take a shower," he said as he moved towards the bathroom.

This apartment really was smaller than he remembered.

-----------

The next day quickly arrived and Ethan was awoken by the sound of knocking on his door.

Getting up, not looking the least bit like someone who had just woken up from sleep, he walked towards the door and opened it.

"Good morning, Mijo," María stood on the other side, completely dressed and probably ready to go out, "I just wanted to drop your breakfast before leaving, I won’t be back until evening."

"Alright," Ethan nodded before taking the bag that held his breakfast from her, "have a nice day."

The words felt awkward, coming from someone like him, so awkward that even Marìa noticed but she only chuckled and answered, "you too, hijo."

With that, she turned around and went down the stairs, Ethan closing the door behind her.

He placed the food bag on his study table before moving to the bathroom first.

Steam still lingered in the air as Ethan stepped out of the shower, towel draped over his shoulders. He sat back down at the study table, opening the bag María had left behind.

Inside was a warm torta wrapped neatly in foil, the bread still soft, the smell of spiced pork and beans filling the small apartment.

He unwrapped it slowly, taking a thoughtful bite, and then savoring it before he set it down beside his laptop.

"Report," he simply saidsaid.

Athena’s avatar appeared on his phone’s screen. {All primary files on Solterra Development Group have been collated. Ownership structures, executive board, financial health, and—most importantly—the personnel behind harassment campaigns against tenants. Would you like the condensed summary or full breakdown?}

"Names first."

{Well, there are three primary actors,} Athena explained. {One, Victor Carroway, Head of Acquisitions. He directly manages intimidation tactics, subcontracting harassment to local enforcers. Two, Melissa Kane, Legal Director. She drafts coercive contracts, inserts ’emergency clauses,’ and has ties with city inspectors. Three, Anthony Greaves, Chief Operations Officer. Handles ’off the books’ payments to fixers and security groups.}

Ethan smirked. "Rotten all the way through."

{There are also secondary actors which include contracted firms, two construction companies and a private security outfit. Would you like dossiers on those as well?}

"Yes. But later. First, get me everything on Carroway, Kane, and Greaves. I want leverage—financial, personal, political. Affairs, gambling debts, bribes, shell companies. Everything."

{That shouldn’t take too long,} Athena responded, and she was right, a few minutes later all the information she needed was uploaded to Ethan’s phone.

"Good, now text Irina and ask when we’ll be meeting." He said with a smile while taking another bite of his breakfast.

He typed the message with one hand, the other still lazily holding the torta.

Meeting where you said. Ten a.m. I’ll be there.

The reply came almost instantly.

Good. Come alone. Bring cash (figuratively). — I.

Ethan smiled at the curt signature, then dropped his phone into his pocket. He finished the torta, rinsed the dish, and slipped into his coat. The morning air hit his face as he stepped into the street.

Boston smelled like cold iron and wet pavement; the city’s gray light felt like permission to do unpleasant things.

Irina’s address was a brick building in the Financial District definitely the works of old money.

He found her waiting under an awning, much as he’d expected: composed, impossibly well-dressed. Two men in dark coats stood a careful distance behind her.

"Ethan," she said. "You’re a bit earlier than I expected, there’s still a few minutes before ten."

"I prefer things done before lunch," he answered. "What’s the plan?"

She led him up a private stairwell and into a small, heavily guarded conference room.

The room smelled faintly of coffee and expensive perfumes of people who negotiated and closed deals.

At a side table were stacks of paperwork and a laptop. Beside them, a man Ethan didn’t recognize tuned a tablet. Irina sat, crossed one leg, regarded him with a look that was mostly amusement and partly business.

"You know how acquisitions usually work." She said. "Long meetings, due diligence, lawyers who talk too much."

"I do," Ethan replied. "And I also know you."

"You’d be surprised how many people underestimate me just based on my looks." She smiled. "After all, I don’t go around flaunting my my underworld queen status."

"Though, Solterra is... not a clean acquisition. But I arranged a path. There’s a controlling shareholder who needs liquidity fast."

Irina tapped a screen; a window showed a terse chain of emails and a transfer window with a round number Ethan’s mind barely flinched at. It meant money. His money. Or money he could make move.

"Paperwork?" Ethan asked.

"Well, there’s not much of it since I handled everything so you don’t have to worry." She responded with a small smile.

"I see," he simply said.

She really was going overboard but he was fine with it, after all he had gotten what he wanted.