The Next morning was an easy wake-up. I moved my body into some workout clothes and got started. Just behind me, Gabby followed by my daughter then Victoria. Everyone worked out for a couple of hours before we were done. I went out and enjoyed a meal my daughter made with a smile.
"Daddy, I am going to miss you at school!" She told me and I saw tears welling in her eyes. I laughed while wiping her tears, "Honey, You can go game and make friends. It's okay to miss me but," I wave around to Victoria and Gabby, "I am not alone so you don't have to worry baby." I finished with a terrible Austin powers impression much to her dismay.
"Daddy..." She paused with a dismayed face, "I won't cry as long as you never do that again!" She told me harshly and I laughed.
"No, Rick I don't think you get it that was terrible please don't" Victoria piped up from behind me and I turned to her.
"Not you too?!" I expressed deeply my feigned surprise, "Here I am cheering my daughter up who's smiling again. Why not?" I shot back and Everyone shook their heads while chuckling. It was terrible and we all knew it.
"Look baby, You need to keep up with your studies and gaming otherwise you will fall behind and I will win!" I told her confidence in my win on the game. The look in my daughter's eyes turned fierce.
"Daddy... That isn't going to happen." She simply said looking me straight in the eye. I just smugly smiled and raised my eyebrows.
"Prove it" She huffed and I knew I got on her competitive side. She left into the elevator going down to her car. My smile grew larger and prouder remembering that fierce competitive side.
It was that competitive ambition that drove her to be at Harvard today. Its what brought her grades from barely passing to perfects across the board. Hell, It made her before I entered her life to have such a large drug dealing business. Its why she is still scared people would come looking for her. I moved her far from that but the size of the region she had taken was substantial. I am just glad that she is just my babygirl now and not in that life.
I turned to see Victoria about to hug me. I was enveloped in breasts and arms. She separated quickly looking at me with a smile. "You saw Gloria off and we have an appointment!" I saw the excitement and I raised a brow.
"You are more excited than I thought," I stated and her smile turned larger.
"Rick you should understand," She faked being hurt by it, "You used to have passion in what you did! How could I have done an entire Decade worth of research without absolutely loving it? It can be boring but creating a whole new discipline and industry is worth it!" I nodded I couldn't refute nor didn't want to. I pulled out my phone quickly and asked the owner of the place If he was there.
I hung up with a smile and I told her he was home. It wasn't like it was going to be a far trip and we were about to leave when Gabby spoke. "Hey, I know its not my place to tell my bosses what to do..." She looked at us with a wry smile as we turned to her, "But, Maybe a shower is in order?" We looked at each other and noticed we were still in workout clothing. We both laughed and ran to our showers. In ten minutes we were both ready and heading out the door thanking Gabby.
The elevator ride was quiet for some reason with a weird tension. It was never there before but I chalked it up to Victoria being excited. Once we exited the elevator we were met with a small hallway like ours on my penthouse with the security door. We simply rang the bell and the door opened quickly.
The Man inside was in his early forties with a salt and pepper beard with short hair. He looked every bit the professional with a business suit on. I started with a simple greeting and all the pleasantries that were required. It turned out he was working as a CEO to a company that was in the games industry. They needed more capital to compete with the new VR technology. They had run into difficulties before it was out but things were getting worse. It seems that he was doubling down in the company instead of running.
I nodded along thinking that the investment was not a good one. I was wrong in the past though. The VR tech among the rich was already showing in the stock market. As Victoria's company found ways to mass-produce easier at more cost-efficient means the prices would go down as well. If she found a way to increase playtime without increasing the amount of time spent in the pod in real life? I think game over for the games industry. I could be wrong though. Didn't change my thought though on his doubling down.
The Place like so many in this building took two floors and was efficient. It was almost a carbon copy of my penthouse suite. We looked around and Victoria was looking happier and happier. "Rick this place works. It not only works but I think I could use this place for minor and Major Projects. It will be better than the stuffy basement labs I have back at the company. I can probably even pay someone to live here full time watching the experiments. Hell makes it three since there so much space. They can rotate over eight hours to make sure it all runs properly."
She then continued about a bunch of terms I had no idea about. The man just looked at her like she was talking in tongues as I stopped myself from chuckling. The person who caused you to lose this place is in the middle of purchasing it. If I told him I think he would shit a brick or something. I liked the guy, to be honest. He cared for his company and his employees to the point of selling his things for it.
Victoria turned to me and nodded, "I love it and I have many plans for it!" She told me seriously and I turned to him.
"The Market Price for this place is three point five million. That was when I purchased the penthouse. This one I believe was three point two five million. Let's say with inflation and taxes. Five million and you are out of here with completed paperwork by tomorrow?" I threw out arbitrary numbers although that was the price I paid for the penthouse suite. He looked happy with the price and Victoria was a new multi-millionaire. I noticed the Stock prices soaring increasing by over fourteen thousand percent. Her company had been taking off, to say the least.
She was not the main shareholder of a company with a monopoly on the VR industry. She was taking all the market share's from others as they struggled to understand the tech. Programming was another problem for them as it required new technology her company provided.
"Works for me too!" She told him simply and smiled as we started to settle the paperwork. We were overpaying but only by half a million or so I guessed. That was not a huge deal though when zero's hide that money loss.
We told the lawyers eventually to come to do the final settlement and went back up to our room since we were running late to our game cabins. We practically ran to our pods hoping that nothing bad happened.
In our rush, I saw a maid cleaning up while Gabby was talking on the phone to be startled by Victoria and I racing into our respective bedrooms. Smiling about the day to come the Pod closed while I also wished nothing bad happened.