Bitcoin Billionaire: I Regressed to Invest in the First Bitcoin!

The light from Miranda Sloane's laptop flickered faintly across Darren Steele's face, casting hard shadows beneath his eyes as he stared at the screen. Miranda stood at the corner of his desk, her fingers slightly trembling as she clicked through file after file.

"Three Holloway vendors," she said quietly. "Ownership changes happened over the last week, buried under shell companies. But I traced the trail. It ends in holdings tied to Richard Morrison's proxies. They're not clean, but they're subtle. Almost elegant."

Darren's expression froze into something unreadable. Then slowly, he leaned forward.

"Let me see that."

Miranda slid the laptop forward. He took over the trackpad, scanning vendor histories, contract transitions, ownership logs. He didn't blink once.

"He's trying to cut Leonard at the knees," Darren murmured. "If he corners the supply chain, he won't need to touch the board. He'll just squeeze Holloway from the inside. Cripple the hospital's cash flow and wait for the buyout to be inevitable."

He picked up his phone and dialed.

"Mr. Holloway..."

"Mr. Steele. Such an unexpected call. Is everything alright?"

"No. Our company is under attack."

"Under attack? That sounds very troubling."

"Listen to me, Mr. Holloway. Richard Morrison is making a move on your vendors. He's already purchased two and you know what it means when he gets his hands on more."

"When did this happen?" Leonard gasped.

"My portfolio manager got hold of it when she was cross checking my allies' assets." He turned to Miranda. "When?"

"Yesterday," she mumbled.

"Yesterday," Darren relayed.

"How did I not notice?"

"He used ghost. Did it all with shell companies that your employees might have not bothered to cross check. But that's by the way now, Mr. Holloway."

"What's important now is that you protect your stakes immediately. Review all secondary contractors and raise all your thresholds. I'll handle the rest."

"Yes. Thank you for the heads up, Mr. Steele."

Darren furrowed his brow. "Just doing my job as your partner."

He hung up after.

Miranda remained silent, her breath caught. Darren turned to her, sinking the phone in his pockets.

"Good work. Even I might have missed that but you're sharp, that is clear from today."

Miranda's eyes glistened.

"Don't do anything. Your job was to inform me and you've done that already. For now, keep watching them. If Morrison so much as breathes in the direction of stocks, I want to know."

She flushed lightly, but nodded her head with enthusiastic obedience. "Yes, sir."

As she left the room, Darren turned to the window, a thinking frown on his face.

'Morrison.' his thoughts spoke. The name was starting to taste like ash. It was inevitable that they would face one day, but a move like this wasn't mere arrogance; it was a sign.

Morrison had resources, deeper plans already in motion, things he wasn't seeing. And that was unacceptable.

'I need to see it all. Not just the public-facing businesses or the known political allies, but the hidden connections, the shadowy partnerships, the illicit dealings.'

The kind of things only the Investor System could dig up.

He summoned the interface.

'First, I need a complete map of Morrison's network. I'm talking about every single thread of his influence, especially financially and politically. Who owes him, who he owns, who he's bought. I need the full picture of his reach.'

'Then, I need to identify the attack vectors. Where are his vulnerabilities? Which of his companies are ripe for flipping, for sabotage, for quiet undermining? We're not talking about outright destruction here, not yet. We're talking about surgical strikes, calculated pressure points.'

'And once I have that, we launch the retaliatory plays. Ghost bids to tie up his capital, redirection strategies to divert his resources, legal bottlenecks to ensnare him in red tape. I need to undermine his stability, throw him off balance, before he can even begin to gain traction. No longer being careful with using the system to take down my rivals.'

┏Insight Protocol on Richard Morrison┛

The interface pulsed once.

┏Loading...┛

He read deep, skipping the personal information and into his company holdings:

┏Morrison Pharmaceuticals: $3.4B

Morrison's® Health Tech: $1.1B

Wavestone Media Group (Business Everyday): $950M

Morrison's® Real Estate Group: $880M

MoreTrust Finance: $1.2B

Morrison's® Freight: $700M

Zephyr Defense Contracts: $1.6B

CivicComms Political Consulting: $500M┛

Darren's eyes narrowed. CivicComms. Wavestone. Morrison's Health Tech. Every one of those had tendrils near his operations. No wonder Morrison was emboldened.

He clicked on CivicComms.

┏Flag for Proxy Takeover. Request Approval for Legal Ghost Bid?┛

"Confirm."

He moved to Coastal Real Estate Group.

┏Nominate Coastal Real Estate for Financial Redirection Strategy?┛

"Confirm."

Darren's eyes darkened. 'You come for my shares, and I come for your holdings.'

--------

Two hours later, Darren stepped out of the dark comfort of his private office and into the waiting limousine. Rachel had already coordinated a quiet meet-up.

His first stop: CivicComms Political Consulting, the minority shareholder still quietly resisting Morrison's shadow bids in Coastal Real Estate.

The building rose like a crystal tooth in West Calivernia. Frosted glass and vertical gardens lined the structure, masking the cutthroat real estate deals made inside.

Darren stepped into the executive suite where a stern man in a white three-piece waited. Charles Denton, partner and senior controller.

"Mr. Steele," Denton said. He had a uniquely dry voice. "I must say, this meeting was very unexpected."

Darren sunk his hands into his pockets and sighed. "Are we doing this, or not, Mr. Denton?"

The man lifted a brow.

--------

Later that afternoon, Darren made his way to Holloway Medicals.

Leonard Holloway was in his office on the top floor, reviewing files on his computer with an exhausted expression. He looked up as Darren entered.

"You saved me from drowning today."

"It is what we do for each other, Mr. Holloway," Darren said, sitting opposite him, "I can't let you sink when I have a boat. Besides, Morrison's move is clearly targeted at the both of us.."

Leonard chuckled dryly. "He's playing hardball isn't he? I thought he'd wait until I pushed into federal hospice contracts."

"He's accelerating everything. Probably thinks I'm distracted."

"Are you?"

Darren didn't answer. He leaned back, folding his arms, thinking briefly of the meeting with Archibald Mooney.

"I've made moves to try to reclaim the shares, but it's going to be difficult. And Morrison, he'll come again. He'll likely use CivicComms to get the Department of Health to investigate your funding model. Or leak something through his media channels."

Leonard shook his head. "Why's he pushing so hard?"

"He wants revenge, I think." Darren darkened his eyes. "For Ryan Anders."

Leonard looked at Darren for a moment, smacked his lips and sighed. "Well, whatever you need from Holloway Medicals, it's yours."

Darren shook it. "It's great that you say that, Mr. Holloway, because I do have a few things to ask of you."

Leonard's brow shot up. "Oh."