My Ultimate Sign-in System Made Me Invincible

Chapter 189: The Storm (3)

270 Park Avenue, New York City.

Rain streaked across the floor-to-ceiling windows, soft and steady, the gray afternoon light cutting through the storm clouds that hovered above Manhattan.

Inside the executive boardroom, the air was thick with that peculiar silence that falls right before a financial hurricane.

At the far end of the table, Marianne, Head of Ultra-High-Net-Worth Relations, broke the silence. Her tone was low but sharp.

”They’re connecting us to Nova Technologies. Treasury filed a formal request through the OCC this morning — joint query with Homeland Security.”

Across from her, Thomas Whitmore, the bank’s Chief Risk Officer, adjusted his glasses. He’d been staring at the internal ledger summary for the past ten minutes, hoping the numbers would rearrange themselves into something less incriminating.

”Our exposure originates from Bellemere Family Office,” he said finally. ”Nova’s Delaware registration came straight out of one of our incubation templates — set up when Liam Scott was still under our private-banking umbrella.”

A few heads turned sharply at that.

Charlotte Winslow, General Counsel, looked up from her legal pad. ”You’re telling me the most talked-about company on Earth was incorporated through one of our formation shells?”

Whitmore nodded grimly. ”Yes. Standard venture structuring—Delaware LLC, cascade ownership, registered via our Family-Office Formation Desk. All perfectly legal. But the signature trail leads right back here, under Daniel Conley’s oversight, before Bellemere became independent.”

A quiet hiss of air escaped Charlotte’s lips as she exhaled. ”Well, congratulations, everyone. We just became the supporting cast in the biggest tech mystery of the century.”

At the head of the table, Jamie Whitlock, CEO of JP Morgan, placed his coffee down carefully. The soft clink echoed like a gavel.

”So, let me make sure I understand this. We helped the most mysterious teenager in the world, with billions of dollars in undisclosed assets, set up his family office. Not only that, but we also create for him a legal shell for a small tech venture. That venture suddenly drops a piece of technology that makes Silicon Valley look medieval, and now the U.S. government thinks we’re the architects of an alien invasion?”

No one answered, because there was no answer to be given.

Marianne’s voice was steady but her jaw was tight. ”Liam Scott is no longer our client. Bellemere is fully independent. We built the scaffolding, but he owns the tower.”

Charlotte shook her head slowly. ”That distinction won’t matter to Washington. They see our fingerprints on the blueprints and they’ll call it complicity.”

Whitmore tapped his tablet, pulling up another set of alerts. ”Requests are pouring in. Homeland wants KYC files, Treasury wants every transaction linked to Nova Technologies, and the SEC wants confirmation of beneficial ownership. If we open the books entirely, we look naïve. If we refuse, we look guilty.”

Jamie Whitlock leaned back, expression unreadable. ”Then we do what we always do — walk the knife edge. Cooperate enough to appear transparent, reveal nothing that matters.”

He turned to Charlotte. ”Draft a disclosure protocol. Limit access to executives only. Attorney-client privilege covers Bellemere. Add private-banking confidentiality as the second firewall.”

Charlotte nodded. ”Understood. I’ll also reach out to our OCC liaison. Better they hear a sanitized version from us before they start sniffing around.”

Marianne leaned forward. ”We also need to discuss relationship management. Bellemere Family Office is about to control more liquid capital than several sovereign wealth funds combined. We can’t afford to lose our proximity. Also, he’s still in the news for his private A380. Sigh... Just thinking about it is gives me a migraine already. Just who the hell is this kid?”

Whitlock gave a small nod. ”It’s the same question we all have. But we don’t sever ties. Instead, we reinforce them, and quietly. Geneva desk, Singapore desk — we will extend our concierge coverage through them. Offer liquidity pipelines, property financing, global custody — whatever keeps us inside his orbit. This is one more reason for us to make sure we don’t lose Liam. I don’t care who he is, what matters is what we stand to gain. And you all are aware that we stand to gain a lot. It’s high time we also become a trillion-dollar company.”