Chapter 115: Expansion

It was early Tuesday, June 10th, and I was sitting comfortably in business class on a flight from Gainesville to Boston. The plane was quiet, and I was enjoying a cup of coffee. The seat was big and soft, and I felt relaxed after the trip.I leaned back, stretching my legs, and glanced out the window as the plane cruised above the clouds.

The plane landed smoothly at Logan International Airport. After getting my luggage, I took a taxi to the city. Boston was busy, even in the morning, with people heading to work.

And I was heading to work too.

When the taxi pulled up to the building where Immortal Investments was, I looked up at the tall structure made of glass.

I got out of the taxi and walked inside, into the lobby.

I headed straight to the elevator and pressed the button for the 26th floor.

When the elevator doors opened, I walked out into the office space of Immortal Investments.

A large, dark wooden desk stood at the front of the office, and behind it was a male secretary, neatly dressed and professional-looking.

He looked up as I approached and greeted me with a polite smile. "Welcome to Immortal Investments. How can I assist you today?"

For a moment, I was taken aback—Derec had hired a secretary, and a male one at that. Pushing the surprise aside, I introduced myself. "I'm Jack Somnus. I'm here for job orientation. Derec Johnson should be expecting me."

The secretary nodded. "Of course, Mr. Somnus. One moment, please." He stood up and walked into the main office room behind him, leaving me alone in the quiet lobby.

After a few seconds, the secretary returned and got back behind his desk. "Mr. Johnson will be out in a second," he said.

Exactly a second later, Derec Johnson stepped out of his office with a warm smile. "Jack! Welcome to Immortal Investments," he said, walking over to greet me.

Derec put out his hand, and we said hello to each other with smiles.

He was in charge of the company, so I put on the act, even though we both knew who really ran everything.

"Good to see you, Derec." I said.

"Likewise, Jack," he replied. "Let me show you to the office."

"Yes, of course," I said, gesturing for him to lead the way. "By the way, is Raegan Lee working for us yet?" I asked casually.

Derec glanced over his shoulder. "He'll be starting next month."

I nodded as we stepped into the office.

The room was outfitted with simple, dark desks.

There were three people inside, and as we entered, they looked up from their workstations.

Each of the six fully prepared stations had an iMac G4. These had the unique white domed base and adjustable 20-inch flat screens paired with white keyboards and matching mice, giving the whole office a clean look.

Around the room, there were eight more desks, but they were free and empty.

I glanced at the employees; the first was a woman, probably around 30, with short black hair. She gave a slight nod in acknowledgment.

The other two were men, a few years younger than her. One had long dark hair tied in a ponytail and wore glasses, while the other had a short cut of brown hair, looking more clean-cut.

Derec stepped forward with confidence, ready to introduce me to the team. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Jack Somnus. He'll be working with us starting today."

The three of them looked at me with curiosity and maybe a hint of surprise as Derec spoke. Derec's posture and behavior probably seemed odd to them; he was acting as if I wasn't just another employee.

"Jack is a board member of Johnson Trading Orlando," Derec continued, with a serious tone. "He's also a self-made multi-millionaire," he said with a smile, looking at me almost with admiration. "A bit of a visionary, you could say."

"Alright, Derec, stop buttering me up." I cut in. "Guys, what are your names?" I asked, looking at the three.

Their expressions changed almost instantly. What had been mild curiosity turned into something closer to respect, even if they tried to keep it subtle.

The woman with short black hair was the first to speak. "I'm Clara," she said, offering a slight nod.

"Ilia," said the guy with the long ponytail and glasses.

"Mike," the clean-cut guy added quickly.

I nodded in return, though a small voice in my head was already predicting that I would forget these names before the day was out.

"So, are you going to be working with us as a trader?" Clara asked, her tone careful.

Derec had taken out a key from his pocket, casually spinning it around his fingers. "Jack will be working as a headhunter."

"Looking for new people to hire?" Ilia asked.

"That too," I said, meeting his gaze directly. "I'll be looking for people—be it to hire or invest in."

After answering Ilia's question, I turned to Derec. "Derec, could we step outside for a moment? I'd like to finalize a few things."

He nodded, and we both walked out into the hallway. Once we were out of earshot from the others, I looked at him seriously.

"The last update I got from you was in April. So, how's the position looking? I think back then, CalMaine was at $8 a share, and the last I checked, it was at $18.9. With 4 million shares at that price... are we at $75 million yet?"

Derec smiled, a hint of pride. "We've been doing even better than you think. The trading has been strong—Clara, especially, has been killing it. I let her manage a large portion of the stock, and we actually hold over a million more shares than we did in April. With that and our cash position, we're sitting at around $100 million."

"Good. Very good." I said, patting Derec strongly on the shoulder. "Now, how about the expansion to China and France that I asked you for?"

Derec sighed. "That's a bit more of a mess. Especially in China—it's taking a long time to get the paperwork done and everything confirmed. I mean, we're setting up a whole new branch of the company."

He continued, "But in France, we're almost done. I hired someone from France after a few interviews. Philippe is his name; he's doing reconnaissance, setting up the office. He might even start hiring soon."

He paused, looking into my eyes. "But I still don't get why we're doing this. We can trade European markets from the U.S."

"It has to do with avoiding monopoly lawsuits, but that's far down the road. Don't worry about it."

"Alright… Anyway, I was thinking about heading to France to handle some formalities that I can't finish remotely."

I mulled it over for a moment, then said, "How about I go to France instead? I'll check everything out myself."

"I mean... if you want to, sure."

"Hmm… But I don't have a passport."

"Well, then I can go," Derec suggested.

"No, I'll get a passport. Is it urgent? Do you have any specific meeting dates?"

"No, you can go whenever you want."

"Alright... just make sure you write up the documents that authorize me to act as the owner. I'll take them with me."

Derec nodded.

"Also... I'll be heading to Sweden." I added while I was at it.

"Sweden? What for?"

"You hired me as a headhunter, so it's time to do some headhunting."

Derec raised an eyebrow but didn't question further.

After discussing the trading situation and reviewing our position, I turned to Derec one last time.

"I've got a lead for you. Here's the number of someone I want you to bring on board."

"Another trader?" Derec asked.

"No, not a trader. She will help with analyzing the growth of companies. Just be prepared to invest some time in training her."

I wrote down the number on a piece of paper and added the name next to it: "Britney Adams."

Derec took the note, glancing at it. "Who's she?"

"She's about to start at MIT."

"A student? You're kidding me, right?"

"She won a Math Olympiad. I'm sure she will be helpful once we start diversifying."

He looked at me for a while, not that impressed, but then nodded. "Got it. I'll reach out to her."

"Perfect," I said. Searᴄh the NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

I left Immortal Investments and pulled out my phone to call Charlotte. After a few rings, she answered.

"Hey, Jack. What's up? Are you in Boston?" she asked.

"Hey, Charlotte. Yeah, I'm in Boston," I said. "I wanted to see if you would like to join me on a trip around Europe. France, Sweden, and maybe a few other places. I can get us passports."

There was a pause on the other end. "Hmm... I mean, of course I would like to," she finally said. "But I have a meeting with friends soon."

"In Panama City?" I asked, remembering she was from there.

"Yes. There's a party on Friday, and then I wanted to stay at my parents' house."

"Is it a party with only girls?"

She laughed. "No, no, no. Actually, I wanted to ask you to come with me."

"I mean, it's fine. There's no rush. We can go to your party first. But where will we sleep? At your parents' house?"

"Yep!"

"They won't mind?"

"No. They're cool."

"Okay, great," I confirmed. "Let's plan on that then."

"Sounds good," Charlotte said, sounding a bit more excited. "I'm sure my parents will like you... I'll talk to you soon."

"Looking forward to it," I said, ending the call.

As I walked to lunch, I had a sudden thought. 'Youtube won't even be around for more than a year.'

What if I used their idea?

Google ended up buying Youtube in 2006. What if instead I could make Immortal Investments the ones to own the entirety of Youtube, or my version of it?

This way the money from the purchase would stay with me.

I just had to be first.