CHAPTER 5 — When the System Notices You
Word spreads quickly when billionaires stop behaving normally.
Within a week, Wendell Hayes’s unusual “investment interest” in Pine Hollow reached boardrooms.
Within two weeks, analysts were questioning it.
Within three weeks, competitors were watching.
And within four weeks, someone started digging into Jaylen Tate.
That was when problems began.
A private development firm offered Jaylen’s uncle money to “relocate the property.”
Then they offered pressure.
Then threats.
Pine Hollow suddenly became “strategically interesting.”
Jaylen didn’t understand corporate warfare.
But he understood patterns.
And patterns meant danger.
One evening, Wendell arrived to find Jaylen outside, standing near a broken generator.
“You need to leave,” Jaylen said.
Wendell frowned.
“Why?”
“Because people came asking questions about me,” Jaylen said. “And when people ask questions, they usually take things next.”
Wendell’s expression changed.
For the first time, this wasn’t business.
It was personal.
“You’re not a thing to take,” Wendell said firmly.
Jaylen looked at him.
“That’s not how they see it.”
A silence.
May you like
Then Wendell said something unexpected.
“Then we change how they see it.”
