"Christian, I have to see your siblings, they are playing in the pool" Eva whispered.
"Leslie is watching them, plus there are the people cleaning the house around, they'll be fine."
"Right..." Nodded Eva hesitantly.
"Welcome to the...- annual."
"Aunt Sara, I didn't hear anything..." With a bored expression, Christian spoke.
"The place is very big, and the seat I have is a bit far from the stage... I'll tell you what they sell and you tell me if you're interested."
"Well..." With a pout, Christian nodded.
After about 5 minutes of boredom, Sara spoke "We have an apartment facing the south beach in miami, it has a sauna, pool, private outdoor cinema, decorated by an interior artist, 9 bathrooms 6 bedrooms, the auction started at $28 million dollars"
"What building is it?"
"450 Alton RD #PH2, Miami Beach FL 33139"
Grabbing his laptop, Christian looked up the building quickly "Built 2005...looks interesting, bid for the max 35 million"
"30 million!" shouted Sara, drawing an amused smile on Eva's face.
"It sure has spirit" Eva smiled.
"32 million"
"33.5 million"
"..." Waiting patiently, Christian just sighed.
"Done, bought for 33.5 million, then I make the payment."
"Great" Christian nodded, then turned to his mother and smiled "How about we give it to Alan?"
"Alan? He's too little yet..."
"But he can use it in the future, he always talks about how great Miami is."
"It would be a nice gift" Eva nodded after remembering how many times the boy pestered them to travel to that place.
"Mansion for sale just outside Los Angeles, it's on a hill, it has 5000 square meters of land, 5 bedrooms 6 bathrooms, pool, spa area, jacuzzi, gated compound, overlooking the Santa Monica ocean, starting price 5 million"
"Angels..." Pursing his lips, Christian looked at his mother "What do you think? Do you like it there?"
"I've never been to the Angels" Shrugging her shoulders, Eva replied.
"Aunt Sara, maximum 10 million dollars."
"7 million dollars" Sara shouted "Oh wow, no one else bid".
"..."
"House in Hawaii, makena, on the edge of the beach-"
"Buy-"
"Luxury apartment, San francisco-"
"Buy-"
"Honolulu mansion in Hawaii-"
"Buy-"
"Mansion in California, $40 million down" It got to the point where Sara wouldn't even give specifics, just price and location.
"Is it nice?"
"It looks beautiful."
"Buy."
"Mansion-"
"Buy-"
"Apartment-"
"Buy-"
After 1 hour, Christian spent $547 million for 11 mansions and 13 apartments, causing Eva's gaze to become vacant and tired.
"Christian, now comes the building."
With a serious look, Christian nodded "Get it yes or yes."
"650 million"
"680 million"
"800 million"
"Fuck you, 900 million!" With an angry shout, Sara raised the price, causing Christian to raise his eyebrows.
"Did something happen?"
"A VIP asked me to allow him to buy the building."
"Do you know who it is?"
"No, I just know it's VIP, oh wait 920 million!"
"..."
"Son of a bitch..."
"Did something happen?"
"It went up all at once to 1.1 billion..."
Frowning, Christian spoke "Go up, no fear."
"1.2 Billion..."
"SOLD!!!" Even Christian heard the shout from the cell phone, drawing a smile from him.
"*Sigh* My throat hurts" With a tired voice, Sara spoke.
"Aunt Sara, are you walking with security?"
"Yes, why?"
"Pay what we already have and get out of there."
"Is anything wrong?" asked Sara nervously.
"Nothing, but I don't trust those people in the VIP rooms, do the shopping and get out of the place, we don't need anything else."
"Okay... I'll hang up on you and let you know when it's all set up."
???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????-????????????.????????????
"We're talking" With a yawn, Christian hung up the call and mumbled "I should be left with 3,407,000,000 approximately..."
...
Saturday, May 05, 2012.
Time passed without problems, no one attacked Christian or his family, the protests calmed down 2 months ago, the whole country returned to normal.
But not before everyone on the list was locked up, something that marked a historical milestone, making that day to be added to the history books with events such as the fall of the stars, the first former president locked up, among other things. The person who received the lowest sentence was the former president, receiving 10 years in prison.
Jossey Epstein was sentenced to life imprisonment, but within 3 days of going to prison she was stabbed 79 times and died, something the country celebrated.
Starbucks had its fierce start and consumed 3 small coffee chains, managing to have 137 coffee shops in total, expanding every day and the best thing is that it already started to produce profits, causing Christian not to have to contribute any more dollars to the company.
Eva had to hire a nanny to take care of her children at least 2 days a week when she was going to the company, and although there is security and there is Aria to do that job, Eva said that they have their own job and she wants someone special to watch her children when she is not there.
The man's name is Jimmy Carter, he is 29 years old and is quite nice, he plays almost all day with Alan and had the job of cooking for everyone when Eva was away.
Something that made Christian very happy is that his building has already started the remodeling process, all thanks to Jayden who found an architect known worldwide for only accepting challenging structures, something that the building drawn by Christian more than met.
It turns out that the whole structure would have problems since it would not withstand earthquakes and would not have the necessary stability due to its design, but the architect managed to do a perfect job and everything went smoothly.
Needless to say, the purchase and then demolition of the building caught the attention of the media, who quickly found out who the owner was, but knowing that the boy never accepted an interview after that fateful day, they didn't even bother to try to contact him.
The only thing that bothered Christian a little, is that all the construction will be ready in about 6 years, all because the demolition process is something that will take a long time because it is a very busy place and the risks are quite high.
All this dream of having his own Stark Tower, cost him 850 million in construction, but the idea of having his tower was stronger than the sense of saving and he paid without hesitation.
Christian's books became big sellers after the whole scandal, as each of his 28 published books exceeded 50 million copies domestically, while worldwide each exceeds 100 million copies.
The publisher has already talked to Christian about the idea of selling the stories for movies, but for now it is just a possibility and more details will be discussed in the future.
Thanks to this, Christian's money went from 2.55 billion to 4.54 billion, in just 5 months.
The other projects that already started working are Tik Tok and Instagram, Christian had to talk to Georgia and they reached an agreement, she would work as CEO of the two apps for 20% of each app and at the same time there would be no censorship towards any trend unless it was harmful, allowing non-invasive advertising along the way.
After an investment of $10 million each, the apps started the creation process, and in about 5 months should be launched with the 2021 design that Christian created.
Finally, a pleasant surprise is that bitcoin started to be exchanged for real money, today it costs 60 dollars a bitcoin and the price is going up. Christian searched the internet, but could not find out who was the person who created the bitcoin to dollar exchange page, but regardless he continued to do his thing and planned the rise of Ether with Emily.
But the most important thing for Christian, is his new bond with Leslie, who from day one has followed him everywhere, even taking on the task of helping him get dressed when Eva wasn't there.
Watching in the mirror as Leslie cuts his hair, Christian asks "Leslie, you've never told me your real age."
"I already told you I'm 31"
"Don't lie to me" With a pout, Christian looks at the serious woman "You know I don't like lies."
"*Sigh* I'm 27"
"You're so young" Raising his eyebrows, Christian looked at Leslie's eye "Are you going to tell me what happened to your eye too? You told me something happened in the army, but you were very vague in your explanation."
"..." Without answering, Leslie continued to cut the boy's hair carefully.
"Leslie, I'll get mad at you" Pursing his lips, Christian spoke.
"It was in a fight" Leslie replied "I was a sniper, this eye got me discharged."
"You're pretty open today Leslie, did something happen?" hesitantly, Christian asked.
He asked her the same question 1000 times before this day, but she never answered and just stayed silent. At first she was telling lies, but she quickly realized that this child can't be lied to without him knowing, something she found terrifying.
"..." Pausing slightly, Leslie looks directly into the boy's eyes and speaks "In 3 days I'm taking a week off..."
"And why do you look so sad? Unlike your whole team, you haven't had a day off since you started working, you need to rest" Smiling softly, Christian spoke.
"..."
"Don't you have a family? They must miss you"
"I don't have anyone" Continuing where he was, Leslie continued speaking with the same neutral face as always.
"I'm sorry..." With a concerned look on his face, Christian asks "Are you okay? Do you need help with anything?"
"I'm fine... it's been a long time" Smiling slightly, Leslie nodded.
"Leslie, you know I love you very much, don't you?" With concern, Christian looked at the woman through the mirror and continued "At first I found your presence somewhat annoying, as I wasn't used to having someone following me at every step... but with time you became important to me, I can talk to you about everything without having reservations, you listen to me and give me advice when needed... so make sure you come back after your vacation, or I will send people after your head."
Pausing for a few moments, Leslie looks at the boy and nods, saying nothing more.
Having already cut the boy's hair, Leslie puts the scissors aside and speaks "You like it like that?"
Pursing his lips, Christian turns his head and takes a good look at himself.
His hair was as he always left it, long reaching only a few inches from his shoulders and without any particular direction, remaining somehow tidy yet messy.
"Today I want to try something new, can you bring me a pencil and paper, I'll draw you my idea."
"Right away" Nodding, Leslie left the bathroom and went to the boy's room, arriving quickly with what he asked for.
Receiving the pencil, Christian took the notebook and began to draw quickly, so that a few minutes later he would show Leslie what he wanted "Can you do this?"
"I think I can" Leslie nodded, taking the razor and carefully cut the sides.
"Leslie why did you learn to cut hair? You told me you practiced with your friends in the military, but you didn't tell me what motivated you."
"I always wanted to be a hairdresser before I joined the army, but then I liked guns more and here I am."
"You didn't do badly at all, you ended up cutting the hair of the most handsome boy in the world" Smiled Christian narcissistically.
"..." Nodding, Leslie continued her work.
After 30 minutes of soothing silence, Leslie put the scissors aside and grabbed some hair gel, then combed the boy's hair with her fingers and asked, "What do you think?"
Turning his head, Christian looked at his hair carefully and nodded, "It looks perfect, I just need a beard."
The new haircut is quite unseen in this world, but it is something that seems to give Christian more years of age on his boyish face.
[Photo here]
"You wouldn't look good with a beard."
"Why not? I think I would look handsome"
"Your face is... very perfect symmetrically, you have a very delicate face, the beard would make you look like a baby with a beard."
With a pout, Christian turned in his chair and looked at the woman "You took the energy out of me, take me to my bed"
"Understood" Leslie nodded, picking up the child as if carrying a princess and carrying him carefully to his bed.
With the child in bed, Leslie proceeded to clean the bathroom and tidy everything up, then returned to Christian's side and stood up straight at the side of the bed.
Picking up his cell phone, Christian purses his lips and mumbles aloud "I've already upset Sarah, I've already talked to Elisa, I've already called Emily.... I don't have any more friends."
Blinking for a few seconds, Christian puts the cell phone down and turns to Leslie "Leslie, would you like to work for me permanently?"