Max stood in the shadowed corner of the arena, his heart hammering against his ribs in a rhythm that matched the ticking of the sixty-second clock. He felt trapped, backed into a corner where he had no choice but to reach out to Dennis Stern. The problem, however, was the nature of the request itself. How was one even supposed to ask a man like Dennis for such a staggering sum of money?
Even if there was no cutthroat race to become the primary heir, or the intense competition Max was currently mired in, Dennis was not the type of person to just hand out capital for no reason. He was a man of cold logic and colder ledgers. What reason could Max possibly come up with that sounded sane? He couldn’t exactly explain that his superpowers were directly reliant on his bank balance, and that he just needed to hold the money for a few moments to gain a temporary boost before giving it back.
That clearly wouldn’t work. Beyond the immediate crisis, Max knew that asking for money this way would be a one-time gambit. He couldn’t continually rely on Dennis to bail him out whenever a fight got too difficult. This was all assuming he could even convince the patriarch to authorize the transfer in the first place.
"This is the first time you have called me directly in how many years, and the first thing you ask for is money?" Dennis’s voice came through the receiver, sounding calm yet dangerously sharp. "I’m rather hurt."
"A busy man like you, you didn’t expect me to just call you to say I love you," Max replied. He knew he had to tiptoe through this conversation. He was trying to mind-read Dennis through his actions and his tone, knowing that if he said a single wrong word, the situation would be over just like that. Ramon would close the distance, and the Stern family’s most promising "heir" would be a memory.
"Just to add, I do love you," Max said, feeling a wave of nausea at the words. It felt incredibly weird saying this since Dennis wasn’t his real grandfather, but he had to maintain the act to survive. "But rather than just empty words, I think it’s better to show you. I know what would make you more proud than ever, and that’s why I’ve been working quite hard on my businesses."
There was a pause for a long, agonizing moment, followed by a low chuckle from the other end of the line. In the board room thousands of miles away, Marsha Stern watched in shock as a large smile spread across Dennis’s face—a smile she rarely saw. It made her wonder even more who was on the other end of that phone call.
"The amount you are asking for... I can send it off," Dennis replied, his tone shifting back to business. "But you know what the deal is. Right now, all of you are competing against each other. If I sent it over, it would be playing favorites and giving you an unfair advantage, don’t you think?"
Overhearing this, Marsha began to connect the dots. She knew now that it had to be one of the Stern family members, but she couldn’t reconcile the warmth in Dennis’s reaction with any of the cousins she knew. There were only three people he ever smiled at: herself, Donto, and Randy.
"I’m not asking this as a member of the Stern Family," Max stated, his voice gaining a sudden, cold steel. "I’m asking as a businessman. The offer I’m about to make to you takes into account the situation I am in now. I don’t have many connections or people who I know who could move this amount of money quite as quickly as you can.
"Which is why I’m asking you—not because I’m related to you. You should know my situation; you have been keeping track of all of us. You would have seen how much I have managed to increase my finances in such a short amount of time. You know that I don’t need the money just to survive like some of the others. What I need it for now is another business deal. This is the difference between me asking for this and the others. And just like any other business deal, I will reward you for your risk.
"I will return what I have borrowed within the month, and I will add interest to it as well. As collateral, if I don’t pay things back, I have assets and businesses which can be sold off. All of that will be part of the contract."
Max remembered his earlier move well. He was glad he had snuck into Dennis’s office that one time and seen all of the private records. It was because of those files that he knew exactly how the other family members had been losing money while he had been gaining it. He was playing on Dennis’s primary vice: his curiosity. Dennis was going to be extremely curious about what Max was planning to do with that much liquidity.
"Alright, fine," Dennis said, his voice decisive. "I’ll send over the money, but this is a one-time thing. And you should be careful, Max. If this turns out to be a bad deal for myself, you will learn what happens to my business partners that don’t perform."
Max gulped, a cold sweat breaking out on his neck. He wondered for a split second if Dennis even realized he wasn’t talking to his actual grandson, but to a complete stranger inhabiting his life.
"Alright, sounds good," Max said, checking the time. "But can you send it to my account right now? Like, right now. I’m in a bit of a rush, you see."
Max stood there, his thumb hovering over the refresh button on his banking app. He could hear Ramon’s exoskeleton beginning to whir as the scientist prepared to move again. He needed the 330 million to hit, and he needed it before the sixty seconds were up. This wasn’t just a loan; it was a lifeline, the final piece of the puzzle that would allow him to step beyond the limits of a regular person and finally face the machine head-on.