The office carried the faint aroma of fresh coffee mingling with the luxury of expensive leather—a scent Leon remembered well from the original timeline. Still, now, every familiar detail seemed sharper, tinged with a deeper meaning.
He walked into the boardroom of Vercetti Global's nascent headquarters, a space that felt smaller compared to the vast empire it was destined to become.
The glass walls captured the mid-morning sun, casting bright rectangles across the polished floor.
His team was already assembled.
Daniel was pacing near the window, his fingers nervously tapping on his phone.
Across from him sat Elena Rowe, her arms crossed, with a sharp gaze darting between Leon and Daniel.
She hadn't been part of the company long in this timeline, but Leon recognized her potential as both an invaluable asset and a wildcard.
Leon cleared his throat and said, "Morning."
Daniel looked up, remarking, "You look… different."
Leon offered a smile—a tight, determined curve of his lips.
"I'm done being the man who's always a step behind," he declared.
Elena raised an eyebrow, replying, "Sounds ominous."
Leon took his seat at the head of the table.
"We have three priorities today," he began. First: secure the bank loan to fund our next project. Second: solidify our team's loyalty. And third: identify potential threats before they identify us."
Daniel nodded slowly, agreeing, "Sounds like a plan."
Leon fixed his gaze on Elena.
"I want your honest assessment of our marketing strategy. No sugarcoating," Leon insisted.
She smirked, "You want brutal honesty? I can do that."
Leon leaned forward, continuing, "Good. I want to build this company without blind spots."
For the next hour, they delved into ideas, risks, and opportunities.
Leon felt alive in the conversation—a feeling he hadn't experienced since his rebirth.
The knowledge from his future self provided a sharp edge, but he also knew that loyalty, trust, and instinct would be crucial in shaping this new path.
Midway through the meeting, the door opened.
A young man entered, clean-cut and carrying a leather briefcase.
"Leon Vercetti?"
Leon nodded.
"I'm Victor Lang. I've been sent by one of your investors. He wanted me to offer you some advice."
Leon's eyes narrowed.
"Advice?" he queried.
Victor smiled thinly, responding, "Beware who you let in too close. Not everyone is here to build. Some want to take."
Leon stood, replying, "Tell your investor I appreciate the concern. But I'm no longer playing by their rules."
Victor's smile faltered, yet he maintained it.
"As you wish," he conceded.
Victor left the room, leaving behind a palpable tension.
Leon glanced at his team, saying, "See? The game's already begun."
Daniel swallowed. "So, what's next?"
Leon sat back down, concluding, "Next? We prepare. We watch. And we strike first—when the time is right."
Outside the window, the city buzzed with its usual, oblivious energy.
Inside, a man was already shaping his destiny anew.
After Victor's departure, the room was thick with tension, the silence stretching a few seconds too long. Elena was the first to break it, her words cutting through the unease like a knife. "That guy gave off serious vulture energy," she muttered, brushing a stray curl behind her ear.
"That guy gave off serious vulture energy," she muttered, brushing a stray curl behind her ear.
Daniel nodded, still visibly unsettled. "Do you think he was bluffing? Or was that a warning?"
Leon didn't answer immediately. He stares. After a moment of contemplation, Leon spoke with a steely resolve. "It doesn't matter if it was a bluff or a threat. We'll treat it as both," he declared. d at the spot where Victor had stood, letting the residual presence of the man's words settle. In his past life, Victor Lang had been little more than a ghost—a name buried in contracts, a shadowy intermediary for faceless investors. But now, having seen the man early in this timeline, Leon realized how much earlier the players had entered the board.
And that meant the game was moving faster than before.
After a moment of contemplation, Leon spoke with a steely resolve. "It doesn't matter if it was a bluff or a threat. We'll treat it as both," he declared, his eyes reflecting the determination to stay ahead in this high-stakes game.
He turned to Elena, his eyes intense. "Elena, I need you to gather every bit of information on Victor Lang. His financial history, ties to investors, legal affiliations—dig until your fingers bleed," he ordered, his tone leaving no room for hesitation.
Elena nodded, already pulling out her laptop.
"Daniel," Leon continued, his tone sharp. "I need you to reach out to Darlon Bank. Reschedule the meeting. I want face-to-face with Krueger—no middlemen."
Daniel blinked. "Krueger? He doesn't take unscheduled meetings. He's the senior credit officer."
Leon smirked. "He will for me. Tell him I'm offering a long-term partnership with triple the projected growth."
Daniel paused, watching Leon with a mixture of awe and confusion. "You are different, aren't you?"
"I've just seen where this road leads," Leon said quietly, his eyes burning with determination. "And I'm making sure we build the right bridges—and burn the right ones." His determination was like a spark, igniting a sense of inspiration and motivation in the reader.
A beat passed before Elena looked up from her laptop. "Victor Lang is a consultant for a private equity firm in Chicago. On paper, he doesn't own anything. But he's connected to a shell group: Halberd Holdings. Offshore accounts, anonymous backers."
Leon's eyes narrowed. Halberd Holdings. A memory flickered—an acquisition in year seven—a hostile takeover attempt, funded by a string of unnamed sources.
So this was their first move in this timeline.
"They're testing the waters," Leon said under his breath. "Trying to see if I'm still moldable."
"They'll be disappointed," Elena quipped, her tone reflecting the team's unity. "We're stronger than they think."
Leon gave a small smile. "That's the plan."
The elevator dinged open to the top floor of the Darlon Bank building. Leon stepped out in a charcoal suit that fit like armor, every detail deliberate—from the polished cufflinks to the subtle cologne that whispered power instead of shouting it.
Daniel followed closely behind, nervously checking his tablet.
Krueger's assistant greeted them and gestured toward the office. "Mr. Krueger will see you now."
Inside, the senior credit officer sat behind a sleek desk, his steely gray eyes lifting as Leon entered.
"Mr. Vercetti," Krueger said without standing. "You're persistent."
"Persistence builds empires," Leon replied smoothly, taking the seat across from him.
Krueger studied him for a moment, then leaned back. "I read your proposal. Ambitious. High risk."
Leon nodded. "So was Tesla in 2008. Amazon in '97. Uber in '09. This is where empires are born—in uncertainty."
Krueger's mouth twitched slightly, but he didn't interrupt.
Leon continued, "I'm not here to ask for favors. I'm offering you the chance to be part of something that will outlast this decade."
Krueger raised an eyebrow. "That confidence is either genius... or madness."
"History will decide," Leon replied.
A long pause. Then Krueger tapped his desk.
"You'll get your meeting with the board next week. Convince them, and you've got your funding."
Leon stood. "I will."
As they left the building, Daniel exhaled a breath he'd been holding. "How the hell did you do that?"
Leon glanced sideways. "You just have to know what people want. Krueger doesn't want safety. He wants a legacy."
The apartment was quiet, perched high above the city skyline.
Leon stood on the balcony, a tumbler of whiskey in hand, the amber liquid catching the city lights. He watched the streets below—small figures moving about their lives, unaware that one of the most dangerous men in the business world had just re-entered the game.
He wasn't doing this to rebuild the company.
He was doing this to destroy the ones who had taken everything from him.
And that meant Gabriel Kane.
The traitor.
His former right-hand man. The one who pulled the trigger—figuratively and literally—in the previous timeline. A man Leon had once trusted more than a brother.
But not this time.
This time, Leon would unmake him from the ground up.
Starting tomorrow, Gabriel Kane's name would go on the list.
Leon arrived at the office before anyone else. The stillness calmed him, but his mind was already racing.
He began sketching the new blueprint on the whiteboard in his office—a five-year vision condensed into bullet points and battle plans. Strategic acquisitions. Staff expansions. Regional dominance. Global foothold.
Every line he drew was a weapon sharpened by hindsight.
By 9 a.m., the team began arriving.
First, Elena, carrying two coffees, placed one on his desk without a word.
Then Daniel, with his usual bag of nerves and notepad.
"We need to talk," Elena said, her voice firm.
Leon looked up. "What is it?"
"I dug deeper into Halberd Holdings. One of their subsidiaries just purchased a minority stake in a tech firm you're targeting for acquisition."
Leon's pen froze mid-sentence.
"They're front-running our moves?"
"Looks like it. They're either watching us... or someone's feeding them intel."
Leon's jaw clenched.
Which meant only one thing.
There was a mole.
He turned to Daniel. "Lock down all communications starting today. No internal emails without encryption. No shared cloud access. I want you to oversee the new protocol rollout personally."
Daniel paled. "You think... someone on our team?"
"I think someone wants to see us fail before we've even begun."
Leon turned back to the whiteboard, erasing one line and replacing it with a new word:
EXPOSURE.
He underlined it twice.
Then, under that, he wrote:
Clean House. Quietly. Thoroughly.
The old Leon had been cautious to a fault. Too trusting. Too late.
But not this time.
This time, the knife was in his hand.
And he wasn't afraid to use it.