Chapter 60: Before Pepper Arrives

White left, and I looked down at Gwen again.

She was still asleep, which made me frown slightly.

Was she really this tired?

Maybe the last few days had affected her more than I realized.

She had been terrified of her own body and had barely left her room because she thought she might hurt Helen or me.

Maybe she’d been keeping herself awake through willpower alone, and now that she finally felt safe, her body was simply catching up on all the rest she’d missed.

Or maybe it was her powers.

Peter’s body had gone through massive changes after the spider bite, and Gwen’s body was probably doing the same thing.

Something like that had to consume a lot of energy.

I gently moved some of her hair away from her face, but she didn’t react.

Yeah, let her sleep.

There was no reason to wake her when she looked comfortable.

I picked the book back up and continued reading.

There were still several hours before Pepper arrived.

For a while, everything was understandable, but then I reached another section.

I stared at the page and read it again.

Nothing.

I went back two pages and tried to understand how they had reached this point, but somehow that only made it worse.

“What the hell?” I muttered before looking down at Gwen.

She was still asleep.

Normally, I would have just asked her, but waking her up because I couldn’t understand a biology book felt stupid.

For a moment, I thought about asking the Research Assistant.

It could probably explain everything I didn’t understand in seconds, but I wasn’t interested.

For at least two days, I just wanted things to be normal.

No asking the Research Assistant about every little thing or constantly thinking about what I should do next.

I had already done enough recently.

Besides, Gwen already understood this stuff better than me.

I could simply ask her when she woke up.

I closed the book and quietly said, “I’ll ask you when you wake up,” before carefully placing it on the table.

I still had plenty of other things to do, so I reached for the files containing the information I’d collected about processors and AI development.

If I wanted to build an advanced AI, the software was only one part of the problem.

I also needed hardware capable of supporting it.

That meant processors.

A lot of processors.

Eventually, I would probably need something much better than what currently existed.

I started reading through the designs and notes, but before I could get very far, Helen spoke from the other sofa.

“Chris.” I looked toward her and saw several financial documents open in front of her.

“What?” She placed one of the documents down.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said about the loans. I don’t like it.”

“Why?” I asked, and Helen looked at me seriously.

“Because people are going to notice. If you start using your personal stocks, properties, and other assets as collateral to borrow that much money, people will ask why.” I shrugged.

“Let them.” Helen frowned.

“Chris, I’m serious. Even if Sterling Global itself isn’t being used as collateral, investors may think something is wrong.” I leaned back slightly.

“Continue.” She gestured toward the financial documents in front of her.

“Because you’re closely connected to the company. If the owner suddenly starts borrowing enormous amounts of money against his personal wealth, some people may assume the company needs cash or that you’re preparing for some kind of financial problem.”

Oh.

That was actually a fair point.

I looked down at the processor designs for a moment before an idea came to me.

“Start a rumor.” Helen stared at me.

“What?” I looked back at her.

“Start a rumor that I’m opening another company.” She narrowed her eyes slightly.

“What kind of company?” I thought about it.

I was planning to eventually deal with Vibranium, and there were plenty of other metals I wanted.

If my space-mining plans worked in the future, I would need somewhere to process everything anyway.

I could expand into technology and AI later, but there was no reason to advertise that part yet.

It would only attract attention from people who might try to interfere before I was ready.

“A company that processes heavy and rare ores and metals. Make it sound like I’m funding the entire thing personally instead of using Sterling Global’s money.”

Helen’s expression slowly changed as she thought about it.

“If people believe you’re taking the loans because you’re personally financing a new industrial project…” I nodded.

“They won’t think Sterling Global has financial problems.” Helen slowly nodded as well.

“And it explains why you’re willing to use so many personal assets as collateral.” I smiled slightly.

“Exactly.” Actually, the more I thought about it, the better it sounded.

People loved rumors, especially investors.

If they heard that I was willing to put billions of my own money behind a new company dealing with rare metals, they would probably assume I knew something they didn’t.

“I think it might even increase the stock price.” Helen looked toward me.

“It could.” I smiled.

“And anyone who gets scared and sells can sell.” She sighed, and I shrugged.

“I don’t think they’ll be able to buy back at the same price afterward.”

Helen shook her head but didn’t argue, so I returned to the processor documents.

For the next hour, the room became quiet again.

Helen occasionally made calls from inside the house, and I could hear pieces of conversations about banks, asset valuations, loan structures, and meetings.

White handled everything outside.

Good.

That meant Helen could stay here, and the universe wouldn’t end her life just to teach Gwen a lesson.

After some time, I felt Gwen move on my lap.

Her eyes slowly opened, and for a few seconds she looked confused before realizing where her head was.

She looked up at me.

“How long was I asleep?” I glanced down at her.

“A while.” She immediately sat up.

“Why didn’t you wake me? We were studying.” I looked at her like the answer was obvious.

“Why would I? You were tired.” Gwen rubbed her eyes.

“I’m fine.” I raised an eyebrow.

“You’ve slept twice today.” She paused for a moment before saying, “Maybe I’m still tired from everything.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” I looked at her more carefully.

“Or it could be connected to your powers.” That immediately got her attention.

“My powers?” I nodded.

“Your body changed extremely quickly. Increased strength, probably increased reflexes, maybe other things we haven’t discovered yet. That requires energy.” Gwen looked down at herself.

“So I’m sleeping because my body needs more energy?” I raised a hand before she could take it as fact.

“Maybe. I said maybe. We still need to test everything.”

She nodded before her eyes moved toward the closed genome book on the table.

“You stopped?” I looked at the book.

“I got stuck.” Gwen immediately smiled, and I frowned at her.

“Don’t.” She tried to look innocent.

“I didn’t say anything.” I pointed at her.

“Your face did.” She picked up the book.

“Where?” I opened it to the section I’d been reading and pointed toward the part that had confused me.

Gwen read it for a few seconds before nodding.

“Oh. This.” I stared at her.

“What do you mean, this?” She moved closer.

“The book explains it badly.” I immediately felt better.

“Really?” Gwen looked at me for a second.

“No.”

I stared at her as she started laughing.

“You—” Gwen quickly interrupted me.

“Okay, okay.” Still smiling, she moved even closer and pointed toward the page.

“Start here.” She began explaining it again, connecting the advanced concept back to the basic material I’d already learned.

Annoyingly, within a few minutes, it started making sense.

I stared at the book and then at her.

“You know, I hired someone to teach me this.” Gwen smiled proudly.

“Maybe you hired the wrong person.” I sighed.

“Apparently.”

She continued explaining until we finished that section.

Afterward, I showed her some of the processor material I’d been reading, and her expression immediately became interested.

“You’re studying processors too?” I nodded.

“And AI.” Gwen looked at me curiously.

“Why?” I picked up one of the files.

“I want to build one.” Gwen stared at me.

“An AI?” I nodded again.

“Yes.” Her eyes widened slightly.

“Like an actual artificial intelligence?” I shrugged.

“Eventually.” Her tiredness seemed to disappear almost immediately as she moved closer and picked up one of the processor designs.

“Okay, this is interesting.”

I smiled slightly.

Of course this woke her up.

We spent the next couple of hours moving between genetics, processors, and AI.

Gwen understood some things better than I did, while other parts were outside what she’d studied.

That was fine.

Neither of us needed to know everything yet.

We had time.

Eventually, I heard footsteps approaching the hall, and White entered.

“My Lord.” I looked toward the clock.

It was almost six.

“Did you find anything?” White nodded.

“Several banks appear willing to discuss the loans. Lady Helen’s contacts were extremely useful. I am still waiting for valuations on some of your assets, so I cannot provide an exact maximum yet.” I nodded.

“That’s fine.” White continued, “I should have a preliminary estimate soon.” I nodded again.

“Good.”

White looked toward Helen.

“The first calls concerning the new company rumor have also been made.” Helen nodded.

“Don’t push it too hard. It needs to look like something people discovered, not something we wanted them to know.” White immediately understood.

“Of course.” I smiled slightly.

She was learning.

White then looked back toward me.

“There is one more thing.” I raised an eyebrow.

“What?” White answered, “Miss Potts has arrived.” I looked toward the clock again.

Six.

Exactly.

I couldn’t help but compare it to Obadiah.

At least Pepper knew how clocks worked.

I closed the processor file and placed it on the table.

Gwen looked toward me.

“Another meeting?” I nodded.

“Yeah.” She started gathering the books, but I stopped her.

“You don’t have to leave.” Gwen paused and looked at me before slowly putting the books back down.

I turned toward White.

“Bring Pepper in.” White bowed.

“Yes, My Lord.” She turned and left while I leaned back against the sofa and waited.

First Obadiah, and now Pepper.

This one should be much more interesting.

…..

Author’s Note (28|08|2026)

I’ve seen the comments about the direction of Chris’s relationship with Gwen and Helen, so I’m leaving the final choice to you guys.

I’m putting up a poll that will be available to everyone.

The poll will stay open for three days, and the option with the most votes will be the direction I follow going forward.

After the three days are over, the result will be final, and I won’t be taking any more requests to change the relationship direction later.

So if you care about where this goes, make sure you vote now.