The Billionaire’s Hidden Heir

Make Me

Adrian arrived at RouteLink ten minutes early.

He came alone, just as Noah asked.

That didn't mean he came unprepared.

Before leaving home, he had sent Daniel the address, Noah's name, and the time of the meeting. Ethan Carter had learned long ago that "come alone" could mean many things, and very few of them were good.

Still, this wasn't Black Veil.

It was a struggling software company with bad furniture and too much coffee.

Probably.

The office was quieter than the day before.

Only three employees were there.

Noah waited inside the small meeting room.

He looked tired.

"You came."

"You asked me to."

Adrian sat across from him.

Noah didn't waste time.

"I rejected Vale Logistics."

Adrian stayed still.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to spend the next five years watching someone else turn my company into a department."

That was the answer Adrian had hoped for.

Noah pushed a folder across the table.

"But I'm not accepting your offer either."

Adrian opened it.

A revised proposal.

Thirty percent equity.

Seventy thousand dollars.

No automatic right to future shares.

No control over product development.

Adrian looked up.

"You changed the terms."

"So did you."

"I offered sixty."

"And I slept on it."

Adrian almost smiled.

Good.

Noah wasn't desperate enough to surrender everything.

That made him more valuable, not less.

Adrian closed the folder.

"Thirty percent for sixty-five."

Noah shook his head.

"Seventy."

"Thirty-two percent."

"Thirty."

"Board seat."

Noah stared at him.

"You are sixteen."

"You mentioned that yesterday."

"You can't sit on a board."

"Then give the seat to my father until I'm old enough."

Noah leaned back.

"You're serious about this."

"Very."

Noah looked through the glass wall toward his employees.

"They think I'm crazy."

"For rejecting Victor?"

"For considering you."

"Fair."

Noah laughed.

Then his face became serious again.

"There's something else."

Adrian waited.

"Vale Logistics didn't just make an offer."

Noah opened his laptop.

He pulled up an email.

"They contacted two of my clients yesterday."

Adrian read it.

Both clients had received proposals from Vale Logistics offering discounted delivery contracts that included free dispatch software.

RouteLink's software.

Or something designed to replace it.

"They're squeezing you."

Noah nodded.

"If I lose those two clients, I'm down to seven."

"Did this happen before or after I visited?"

"After."

Adrian's expression hardened.

Victor wasn't waiting.

That was useful information.

It also meant RouteLink mattered more to him than Adrian first thought.

"How long can you survive with seven clients?"

"Three months."

"Two if anything else goes wrong."

Noah didn't argue.

Adrian looked at the numbers again.

Victor's strategy was simple.

Make RouteLink weaker.

Lower the price.

Buy what remained.

Clean.

Legal.

Effective.

Exactly how powerful people preferred to fight.

Adrian slid the laptop back.

"Then we stop selling software."

Noah frowned.

"We already had this conversation."

"No. Yesterday I told you to sell results."

"What's the difference?"

"Today we prove them."

Adrian took out his notebook.

"Pick one client."

"For what?"

"We run their deliveries for free for thirty days."

Noah stared at him.

"Free?"

"Yes."

"We're already losing money."

"That's why we don't do it for everyone."

Adrian wrote three words.

Fuel. Time. Failures.

"We measure how much fuel they use before RouteLink. Average delivery time. Late deliveries. Failed deliveries. Driver overtime."

Noah slowly leaned forward.

"Then compare it after."

"Exactly."

"If the results are good, we use the data to sell."

"And if they're bad, we find out why before wasting more money."

Noah looked at the page.

"That could work."

"It has to."

"Why?"

Adrian looked at him.

"Because Victor already showed us his plan."

Noah became quiet.

Adrian continued.

"He can beat you on price. He has more money, more customers, and more people."

"You're making me feel much better."

"He can't easily beat proof."

Noah frowned.

"Vale Logistics could copy the software."

"Eventually."

"They could hire my engineers."

"Probably."

"Then what exactly do we have?"

Adrian tapped the notebook.

"Speed."

Noah looked unconvinced.

Adrian continued.

"Big companies move slowly. Meetings. Approvals. Budgets. Departments. You have seven employees and almost no money."

"Again, very encouraging."

"It means you can change something today."

That made Noah stop.

Ethan had seen it many times during operations.

A smaller force couldn't beat a larger one by fighting the same way.

You changed the rules.

Adrian pushed the proposal back.

"Thirty-two percent. Sixty-five thousand now. My father holds my board seat until I can legally take it."

Noah looked at him.

"And the remaining thirty-five thousand?"

"Reserve capital."

"Controlled by who?"

"Both of us."

Noah shook his head.

"I need access to it."

"You need discipline."

"You don't even work here."

"That's why I'm useful."

Noah laughed despite himself.

Adrian continued.

"The reserve gets released in stages. First when we finish the thirty-day trial. Second when we sign five new paying clients. Third when monthly revenue reaches the target we agree on."

Noah stared at him.

"You planned this overnight?"

"Mostly."

"You're a very strange kid."

"I've heard worse."

Noah stood and walked to the window.

Adrian waited.

He didn't push.

Silence made people uncomfortable.

Ethan had used that during interrogations.

Adrian preferred using it in negotiations.

Finally, Noah turned.

"Thirty-one percent."

"Thirty-two."

"Thirty-one and a half."

Adrian smiled.

"Deal."

Noah held out his hand.

Adrian shook it.

For the first time since his rebirth, Adrian owned part of something.

Not through Richard.

Not through Daniel.

His own decision.

His own risk.

Thirty-one and a half percent of a company that barely had enough money to survive.

It wasn't impressive.

Yet.

Noah sat again.

"I'll have the documents prepared."

"Have a lawyer review them first."

"I thought you'd want to sign immediately."

"I want a good deal, not a stupid one."

Noah nodded.

"Your father really didn't teach you all this?"

Adrian looked at him.

"No."

That answer was true.

A phone began ringing outside the meeting room.

One of the employees answered.

A few seconds later, she stood.

"Noah?"

Something in her voice made both of them look.

She covered the phone.

"It's Michael Crane."

Noah's expression changed.

"Tell him I'll call back."

"He says it's urgent."

Adrian leaned back.

"Take it."

Noah looked at him.

"Why?"

"I want to hear what urgent sounds like."

Noah gave him a look, then walked outside and picked up the call.

Adrian couldn't hear Michael clearly through the glass.

He didn't need to.

Noah's face told him enough.

Confusion first.

Then anger.

Then concern.

Two minutes later, Noah returned.

"What happened?" Adrian asked.

Noah closed the door.

"Vale Logistics increased its offer."

"How much?"

"Two hundred thousand."

Adrian paused.

That was a large jump.

Yesterday, Victor had offered one hundred and twenty thousand for control.

Now two hundred.

Noah sat down.

"They want an answer by five."

Adrian studied him.

"Are you reconsidering?"

Noah didn't answer immediately.

That was enough.

Adrian wasn't angry.

Two hundred thousand dollars was real money to a man whose company could collapse in months.

"What happens to your employees?" Adrian asked.

"They said they'll keep most of them."

"Most?"

Noah looked away.

"And you?"

"I stay for three years."

"As an employee."

Noah nodded.

Adrian leaned back.

He could offer more.

Richard had approved one hundred thousand, and Daniel might help if Adrian asked.

But that would be a mistake.

If he started competing with Victor by throwing money around, Victor would always win.

Adrian needed Noah to choose.

Not just the money.

The future.

"Take their offer."

Noah looked at him.

"What?"

"If two hundred thousand is what you want, take it."

"You came here to buy part of my company."

"I came here because I thought you wanted to build it."

Noah's expression tightened.

"That's unfair."

"No. It's simple."

Adrian stood.

"If you sell to Victor, you get security. Maybe that's the right decision."

"And if I choose you?"

"You get risk."

Noah gave a dry laugh.

"Wonderful."

"You also keep control."

Adrian picked up his notebook.

"I won't promise RouteLink becomes huge. I won't promise we beat Vale Logistics. I can only promise that if we fail, it'll still be your company when we do."

Noah stared at him.

Adrian walked toward the door.

"Five o'clock, right?"

"Yes."

"Then decide."

He left the meeting room.

Noah didn't stop him.

Adrian walked outside.

The city was busy now.

Cars.

Buses.

Delivery vans.

Twenty years from now, there would be far more of them.

RouteLink could become NexusRoute.

Or maybe it wouldn't.

That was the problem with changing the future.

Ethan remembered Noah Bennett building a billion-dollar company.

But Ethan had never existed inside Noah's early story.

Victor hadn't been challenged by his sixteen-year-old nephew.

RouteLink hadn't received this exact offer.

The future was already changing.

Adrian looked back at the office window.

For the first time, he understood the danger of his advantage.

Knowing what happened before didn't guarantee it would happen again.

His phone vibrated.

A message from Richard.

COME TO THE ESTATE TONIGHT. 7 PM.

No explanation.

Adrian stared at it.

Then another message appeared.

This one from an unknown number.

Stay away from RouteLink.

Adrian read it twice.

No name.

No signature.

He smiled slightly.

Victor had finally stopped treating him like a child.

Good.

Adrian saved the number.

Then he typed one reply.

Make me.