February 6 – The Storm Map
The monsoon was still months away, but his trade dashboard looked like a weather chart in full cyclone season. Red and green pulses—each a buy or sell—spread across exchanges in Singapore, Zurich, and New York.
Aarya's voice was crisp.
> Aarya: "Gold spikes in seventy-three hours. Oil will dip by six percent before recovering in two weeks. Shall I prep the orders?"
> MC: "Prep them, but don't fire until the first tick moves. We don't tip our hand."
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February 8 – First Counter-Move
At the NSE's cyber-operations wing in Mumbai, Raghav Mehta squinted at a graph. The mystery trader's behavior had changed—timing was more cautious, more scattered, as if they knew someone was watching.
Not possible, he thought. Yet here it was: a shadow that could feel his gaze.
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February 11 – The Coffeehouse Meeting
MC sat in a dim café in Connaught Place, pretending to scroll Instagram on his phone. In reality, his earbud was streaming live updates from Aarya.
Orders executed in Zurich. Silver was up. Wheat futures ticked higher after news of bad harvest forecasts in Argentina.
A waiter refilled his coffee without being asked. Life, for now, still looked perfectly ordinary.
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February 14 – The Valentines Day Haul
While the rest of the city was busy with roses and overpriced dinners, he was on his balcony at 2:00 a.m., watching trades stack like falling dominoes.
By dawn, his positions had turned $3.2 million in profit in a single night.
> MC (to himself): "Happy Valentine's, future."
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February 17 – Shadows on the Forum
Raghav's search finally caught a hint. On a private crypto forum, someone complained about "a ghost that eats profits before you can even blink." No names. No screenshots. Just whispers.
He bookmarked the thread. The hunt was heating up.
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February 20 – The Gold Surge
The predicted spike hit like clockwork. He moved $15 million into gold ETFs and sold them 26 hours later for a clean 18% gain.
The balance now: $39 million.
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February 23 – Family Unaware
In the living room, his father argued with a neighbor about electricity cuts. His mother was folding laundry. The TV blared an old Bollywood movie.
They didn't know that upstairs, their son was operating a machine that could bend the global market like clay.
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February 25 – Tiny Ripples
Financial journalists in London started a short piece about "unusual trading clusters" in precious metals and crypto. It barely made page six.
But Raghav noticed. He circled the printout in red pen.
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February 28 – Crossing Fifty
It happened at 11:47 p.m.
A cascade of small trades—each insignificant alone—tipped the portfolio over the $50 million mark.
MC didn't celebrate loudly. He just exhaled, leaned back in his chair, and whispered:
> MC: "The foundation is set."
Aarya's hologram flickered, eyes almost warm.
> Aarya: "Phase three?"
> MC: "Not yet. Let's make them think the storm passed."
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