Chapter 89: Taking the initiative

Before Tom could think too much, the men in the office began to talk.

The General Manager spoke first. Even through the toilet door, Tom could hear how uneasy he was and uncomfortable he sounded.

"What you’re asking for is risky, very risky." the man began.

"If this is packaged the way you want, and your fiancée later finds out what she is actually advertising, how do you think that ends? For her. For me. For all of us?"

Tom’s breath caught. He did not need every detail yet to understand that something dirty was already on the table. He pulled out his phone and before the next sentence finished, He had turned on the recorder and kept it steady near the slight opening in the door, every muscle in his body locked in place.

Adrian answered without strain, his reply came out smooth and unbothered;

"Stella doesn’t have to know."

A chair shifted on the other side of the office. The General manager’s voice didn’t come up, instead Adrian continued;

"She doesn’t need the structure. She just needs the campaign language, the images, and the public trust. As long as this doesn’t touch her money or her public image, she won’t dig into the rest. That is the advantage of using someone like her. People already want to believe her."

Tom’s fingers tightened around the phone.

The General Manager let out a hard breath. "And me?"

"You will be taken care of, properly. Be it in terms of money, cover, preferred access when the profitable side opens... Everything. I’m not asking you to take this risk for free, you should know me by now." Adrian said.

There was a pause. Caution still held the other man’s voice together.

"And the public?" the General Manager asked. "The same public that thinks this is community development coming through you? What happens when they realize the affordable units were never going to remain affordable?"

Adrian gave a low chuckle, mild and dismissive.

"Of course I’m looking after the public. I’m giving them a story they can feel good about. That is what they actually take in. The project will still be announced as government-linked urban renewal. Stella will stand in front of it as ambassador and Goldy will handle the property framing. By the time the affordable portion is reduced, moved, or reclassified through the back end, the headline will already have done its work."

"It’s as simple as that." He added smoothly.

Tom felt his pulse thud hard in his ears. There it was. A lie just to enrich senator Adrian more. A public-benefit housing project: Affordable units promised to ordinary people, Stella’s face used to sell that promise and underneath it, a quiet plan to shift the real value into private hands.

"Why are the wealthy always so greedy for more?" Tom scoffed in annoyance.

The General Manager’s voice dropped. "You’re using her."

"I’m positioning her," Adrian maintained firmly. "There’s a difference. She gets an ambassadorial deal and clean publicity. I get public trust attached to a project that would attract too many questions without a face like hers. You get your share for making the paperwork behave."

"And if she asks the wrong question?"

"Then you make sure she never has to," Adrian replied at once. "Keep her on the surface of the campaign. Don’t drag her into ownership details, allocation changes, or the secondary buyers waiting behind the first announcement. As long as she believes she is representing community housing, she will sell it better than any of us could."

Silence sat between them for a moment.

Then the General Manager spoke more carefully. "The CEO doesn’t know about this."

"And she doesn’t need to. What’s wrong with you, Peterson? Why are you acting like a newbie?" Adrian almost snapped. Then he controlled his tone;

"This stays with you. If Josie gets involved, she will start asking unnecessary questions than either of us want to answer. Handle it at your level and keep the benefits to yourself only."

Tom’s grip on the phone hardened. So it was not a company-wide plan. It was Adrian and the General Manager, cutting a private route under Goldy’s name while the CEO remained outside the arrangement.

On the other side of the door, resistance finally began to thin under the weight of benefit.

"You’re asking me to carry a lot," the General Manager said.

"And I’m paying you in a way that makes the load worth it," Adrian answered. "Enough money to make hesitation look foolish. Enough cover to keep your name from becoming the first one sacrificed if noise starts. Do your part, and you’ll come out ahead."

Another pause. Then the smaller sound of agreement, reluctant but real.

"Fine, I’ll handle the framing and keep the surface clean." the General Manager said.

"Good. Now you’re talking as you should." Adrian said with excitement.

Chairs moved. The tone of the meeting shifted into closing details, shorter now, less argument and more arrangement. After a few more exchanged lines, Adrian’s footsteps crossed the office.

"Don’t drag your feet. Once Stella signs and the campaign starts, the public side locks in fast." he said on his way out.

The office door opened. Then it shut.

Adrian was gone.

Tom remained frozen in the toilet, his phone still recording, his lungs tight from how long he had been controlling every breath. Outside the door, only one set of movements remained. The General Manager was still in the office.

The System chimed softly.

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[MAIN MISSION — PART 2]

Status: Completed

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And a new panel opened almost immediately.

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[MAIN MISSION — PART 3]

Leave the General Manager’s office without being seen.

[TIME LIMIT]

40 minutes

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Tom groaned as if he was in physical pain.

How was he supposed to leave the office when the General Manager was still inside?

As if the question had called movement out of the room beyond the door, a chair scraped back. Footsteps crossed the office floor. For one hopeful second, Tom thought the man was heading out entirely.

Then the footsteps stopped in front of the bathroom.

Without warning, the knob turned.