After an hour or so of discussion, Morgan agreed to purchase all of the materials that I needed under the university's name after giving them a large grant as Dalvaro Freight & Trade's new CEO. To the public, I was a new CEO hoping to steal a few talents from the university in the future while, privately, I managed to get Morgan to handle the menial tasks of ordering everything. It was a nice cover that he had offered personally, showing his understanding of my personality so far, which I approved of greatly.
By the time that we had ironed out the finer details of our co-operation, none of which he was unsatisfied with, the sky was growing dark, even if I could not see it personally. I agreed with nearly everything he said, only being stubborn that these deals were only based on the current market and could only be renegotiated in a year's time. If his ambition was not too extreme, I had no problem if he lined his pockets with our deal, but I doubted that he was the type to be swayed by money with his position.
After telling Rae to focus on entering her Mental Plane with her own ability through meditation and to meet me again in a few days, I teleported back to my hotel suite. For a change, I switched my casual outfit to something more revealing; a turquoise shirt with the back mostly open and my toned stomach on display while my black pants were skin-tight. Sarah arrived not too long after I was ready and she was in a stunning violet dress with a bag over her shoulder.
Leaving the bag behind in the room, we left the hotel for a nice restaurant before heading to the bar for drinks. It was the same place where we met and, just like before, Sarah's ex was playing on stage. Showing me off had not been her main intention as she did want to spend time with me, but I had no problem being her arm candy for the night and make the woman jealous.
After some dancing, we retreated to a booth in the back where we could have some privacy and enjoy our drinks. Sarah was leaning against my side with one of my arms around her waist and her chin resting on my shoulder. My fingers traced invisible patterns across her stomach while we sipped on our drinks and chatted; her face had a healthy pink glow the entire time, though she never pulled out of my embrace.
"Well, well... what do we have here?" a woman commented as she walked up, her voice making Sarah freeze in my arms.
I looked up and saw none other than Sarah's ex in front of us. Her caramel-toned skin caught the light with a soft glow, warm and vibrant against the inky black of her cropped leather jacket. A small, silver nose stud glittered on one side of her nose, subtle, yet impossible to miss. Her ears told stories of rebellion and self-expression, each lobe and cartilage punctuated with hoops, studs, and bars in mismatched symmetry that somehow made perfect visual sense.
Her dark hair framed her face in messy, artful waves, a few streaks of color peeking through, some blues and greens. There was a defiant elegance to the way she moved, confident in her punk sensibilities without ever seeming performative. Whether scuffed boots or torn fishnets, every detail of her style felt intentional, a reflection of a girl who carved her own path and never asked for permission.
"Well, we were enjoying our drinks and the atmosphere before you walked up," I retorted, not bothering to hide my annoyance. "I take it that you know this woman, Sarah."
"This is..." Sarah started, her voice barely above the music.
"Juno Thorn, lead singer and guitarist of Neon Howl, daughter of Nathan Thorn," the new woman introduced herself smugly as she held out her hand.
I looked at her outstretched hand for a moment then turned to Sarah and questioned, "Should any of those names mean anything to me?"
Trying, yet failing, to suppress her chuckle, Sarah explained, "The Neon Howl is the name of the band that's been playing all night, and Nathan Thorn is the richest man on the eastern side of Ostror. Juno is also my ex."
"Mmm... so, are you some kind of gold digger? First her, now me?" I teased, ignoring the other woman completely, which pissed her off more than anything else I could have done. "Oh well, you're worth the price tag."
Although Sarah cared nothing about my money, or Juno's family money, it was something that Juno had accused her of in the past to the point that it was one of her triggers normally. Of course, that was not something I would ignore, so I brought it up specifically so that I could smooth out the insecurity that Juno had created with a bit of magic. Nothing extreme; simply reinforcing the things that her friends had told her countless times and how I had treated her during our short time together.
"She'll bleed you dry if you keep that mindset," Juno warned.
"Considering that she hasn't asked me for a dime, nor knew my financial standing when 'I' approached her, I highly doubt it, but even if she did have expensive tastes and allowed me to throw money at her, do you think that I am so weak that I can't say 'no' to her? What it sounds like to me is that you used the fact that you had money to order her around and cheat on her whenever the opportunity presented itself, blaming her whenever she caught you," I retorted coldly, having pulled a few memories from her to fully go in for the 'kill' and protect a bit of Sarah's honor.
"You're an idiot," Juno said coldly.
"Really? Because you seem like the idiot to me. Sarah is supporting, kind, funny, intelligent, thoughtful, and beautiful... what more could you ask for in a partner?" I replied then nuzzled into Sarah's neck, making her squeal with surprise.
Juno's face turned dark as she glared at me and Sarah, but I did not care. What could the brat really do against me? Since I was feeding Sarah positive emotions during the whole exchange, she barely cared about Juno's accusations.
"What's your name?" Juno all but growled.
"Asynia Zarra, new CEO of Dalvaro Freight & Trade based out of Silverbrook. Please, look into me, or better yet, have your father look into my company. I'd be happy to expose all of the backdoor deals that undoubtedly happened for your family's rise," I replied with a cheerful smile, honestly hoping that she would be dumb enough to make me an enemy of her family.
"We'll see about that," Juno retorted coldly, then turned and left without another word.
"You shouldn't have pushed her; she'll hold a grudge," Sarah said softly.
"Good," I chuckled then hugged her a little tighter and reminded, "I'm not someone Morgan Lexington can bully, let alone Nathan Thorn. Money can only do so much in front of real strength."
"Thank you," she replied, leaning into my embrace.
"It's the least that I could do. Besides, the bitch is far too cocky with her barely passable looks."
Sarah chuckled and kissed my cheek before saying, "Let's go back to the room."
"Sure," I agreed, having closed our tab with our last drink.
We walked out of the bar hand in hand with Juno watching us, angrily. She had already decided to call her father and have him sabotage my company out of spite. I could barely contain my laughter at the 'young master' syndrome that she had, but it just made things easier for me. If the Thorn family's business was truly legitimate, then I would 'convince' Nathan to assist with my business and, if it was not, his fate would be the same as Victor's after signing over control of his business... of course, only after he makes a move against me which would remove any chance of Karmic Debt.
I pulled Sarah into an alley, much to her surprise, but I just chuckled and asked, "Would you like to take a scenic route back?"
"Sure?" she replied hesitantly.
I chuckled again and pulled her into a kiss as I wrapped her, and myself, with my telekinesis, then slowly raised us up into the air. It was not until I broke our kiss a few moments later that she noticed that we were now above the rooftops, and she gripped onto me tighter.
"Don't worry, you're fully supported," I assured her with a smile.
"Telekinesis? That's your power?" she asked curiously.
"One of them," I retorted with a wink as I scooped her up into my arms then picked up speed as I shot into the air, though I made sure that the wind did not affect us.
"So, what are your other powers?" she questioned as she nestled into arms.
"Let's just say that even after I give up the suite, visiting you won't be difficult if you would like things to continue between us. I'm not exactly the type to settle down with one woman, but I can promise to always be honest with you and make you feel appreciated," I replied, having grown to enjoy her company.
"I'm pretty sure that this is the last place that I should reject your offer... over a hundred feet off the ground," she teased, trying to hide her excitement.
"I'd never do anything to hurt you, even if you wanted nothing to do with me," I promised with a smile as I landed onto the terrace of the penthouse suite, and then carefully placed her onto her feet.
"Well, we have a deal for me to show you around the city, so the rest can wait until that's handled," she retorted with a small smirk.
"Sounds good to me. I'm in no rush," I agreed before I gave her a kiss.
Our night ended much as the past few had, to both of our enjoyment. The next morning, I did my morning run to deliver food to my island residents and was back in bed before Sarah woke up. When she finally did wake up, and we had a nice breakfast, we went out to explore the city, starting with the historical museums at my request since I still had a bit of digging to do into this world's past.
There were three history museums in the city, one for ancient civilizations, one for the history of Ostror, and the last focusing on the history of Supers. Unsurprisingly, I saw similarities between the ancient cultures of this world and my original one, but with their own unique legends, several of which popped up in the Supers' museum. I could infer that the world had never been visited by a true God-level being unless they completely hid themselves within the ancient societies, but few factions would take such a long, reserved method to gain control; then again, I had barely peeked into the Underworld of this place, so perhaps things were more unified in the shadows.
The legends that became Supers in the present-day culture were lucky people who had found damaged artifacts from the Celestial Realm. It was not surprising to me as it was common for artifacts to break and get banished to a Mortal world in the massive Faction Wars that dominate the Celestial Realm; not everyone could be as lucky as me to play around in the lower realms. Some relics were thousands of years old while there were two or three that were just a few hundred years old, all having numerous wielders over the years.
Still, having spent the day working on 'research', I made sure to take Sarah out to somewhere special for dinner. The following days we spent in a much more relaxed manner going to a couple of shows and concerts as well as sailing on the bay. Rae stopped by twice for lessons, cutting into my time with Sarah, but she did not mind and used it to catch up on some of her own work. Far too quickly, the two weeks that I had reserved the suite for were up and, while I could extend my stay, Sarah had been neglecting her project for long enough.
"...So, my house should be ready for guests in three weeks. I don't mind giving you a 'ride' there and back if you're interested in seeing it, even if it's just for a night," I commented in bed with Sarah lying next to me.
"I'll probably need a break after that long, but it might just be a night," she replied with a tired, but content smile.
"I get it," I chuckled. "I have stolen quite a bit of your time these last two weeks... but, hey, it's been fun, right?"
"It has been, so much fun that I'm not sure how I'm supposed to go back to work," she said with a light-hearted tone.
"I'm sure that once I'm out of your hair and you get working again, you'll get so wrapped up in your work that you'll forget about me," I teased, having infused quite a bit of my soul power into the Spark of Inspiration I gave her.
"I doubt it," she chuckled as she ran her hand across my arm.
"Well, I'll just need to make sure that I leave a lasting impression," I taunted before I pinned her to the bed with a hot kiss, making her moan.
Sadly, the sun rose signaling the morning, and my last hours in Brightton Bay. Of course, visiting Sarah was just a simple teleport away, but I knew that she would be busy with her thesis project. We had a late breakfast and then just enjoyed the incredible view of the city for the last few hours that we still had it.
After parting with Sarah, I stopped by Morgan's office to confirm a few things. Most of the plant samples, and seeds, from my list had been gathered and were already on their way to Silverbrook. Some of the metals and minerals were also on their way, but more than half of what I had asked for would need longer to get collected. I also gave him my new address to pass along to Rae for her lessons, but offered to teleport back here, if she preferred. So, with the last of my things wrapped up in Brightton, I teleported myself back to my mountaintop home...