Raimon sipped from his Coca-Co while pying with 50,000 per trade in Asian currencies. It was eaining—leveraging, selling, profiting, and starting ain. By two iernoon, he was trading crude oil, clearly enjoying himself, while the persoo him snorted a bit of white powder to stay awake, having barely slept in two days.

  – How much have you made? – asked Crazy Lomas, watg Raimon intensely focused, pletely absorbed by the numbers fshing on his s. Raimon ughed maniacally and pleted aransa.

  – Twelve million, five hundred ay-housand dolrs… and ting,– replied Raimon, his head ag.

  – Damn,– the man beside him responded.

  – I don’t want to look at another s for the rest of my life. It’s been two weeks already, – Raimon said, gng at the dar o him. – Thanks for the info. Your tacts are disturbingly accurate—it almost feels like cheating. –

  – Hahaha! – ughed Crazy Lomas.

  – I think it’s because you’re a math genius like me. All those values are hypothetical and far from exact, but when bined with other factors, it’s possible to make mohe crashes are practically preprogrammed. You o be careful, though—it doesn’t always work, – Lomas ented.

  – I see. ime, I won’t be so overfident! Now I’m heading to California. I’ve already ed up everything here. I o get bay job as operations director and, of course, make up for the time I’ve missed. It’s been ages since I attended any forums, – Raimon added, slightly hyper from the sugar rush. He exhaled deeply, feeling his braiimuted, and realized he desperately needed a nap.

  He had mao purchase bonds, establish es with the Bank of America board, revitalize credit portfolios, secure dists, iate a hotel deal in Manhattan, double Billy’s stock portfolio, and arraion tracts for June. Now, there was nothio do.

  All he could do was hope Rachel would st at him so threateningly in the ing days. Truthfully, he just wao py Dungeons & Dragons with his group. He suddenly remembered he o talk t Ptforms about Baldur’s Gate and its ret developments. The game had already undergoing on several soles, but the 2.0 version was set to unay 20—very so Ptforms were founded by Billy to handle Pokémon games, some turn-based titles like Jeanne d’Arbsp;and the Fate/Series franchise, featuring characters like Arturia, Gilgamesh, and Medusa. These were among the stories sted for uping releases. Although Billy thought the graphics left much to be desired, they were still among the best the market could offer at the time.

  – I’d like to go, but I hate summer. It’s always warm there, – said Lomas.

  – e in December. The weather’s more breezy than hot. I’ll introduce you to some friends. You know it’s not good to stay stu one pce. The stock market e us like nothing else. Sometimes, the trades pull me into the abyss, – Raimon replied, still refleg orange and divergent world of stocks, full of things that could bring ao their knees.

  ***

  Taking a break iernoon, Billy had spent over six hours practig lines with Kate. She was trying hard and had improved signifitly in her ag skills. For the role in Titanibsp;she was more than exceptional. He could see how her eyes now blinked with inno every take, embodying the idea that Rose had never experienced anything beyond the oppressive seasoning of the upper csses—a life that had trapped her in fairytales.

  – Sorry… I’m sorry. But doesn’t wearing that tie bother you? My God, just looking at it makes me feel suffocated! Every time I try to breathe, I feel like it acts like a noose, – Kate remarked.

  – I’ve been wearing suits since I was 13, – Billy replied, thinking it might be amusing to some people to see him so aced to formal attire. But it had never mattered to him; he carried out his activities focused entirely on himself.

  – That doesn’t answer my point, – she said, miming the gesture of hanging herself with a noose and stig out her tongue.

  – It’s not that bad. I even have enough room to eat. The colr is slightly wider than my neck, – he said, running a finger around the edge of his shirt colr to prove his words true. Perhaps someone unaced to wearing a tie might find it bothersome, but for him, it was fortable—just a matter of habit.

  – Let’s keep going; we’re almost done, – Kate said, taking a deep breath.

  – e on. For now, let’s focus on the ending… the saddest part of the story, – she suggested. Kate had a somewhat biased opinion; she believed Jack was the kind of man who could give Rose a life full of happiness. Arguments would be on, but with Jack by her side, she would be utterly tent aed.

  – Let’s not worry about that right now… Let me take you out to dinner, – Billy offered. Having frequented tless restaurants, he knew reservatio little to someone of his stature. Simply showing up at the door would secure one of the two or three tables reserved for celebrities, or they might even improvise a table for him.

  Kate’s clear eyes paused, seemingly reading his iions. At least, that’s how it appeared. She nodded as they ed up their discussion about the book he was writing based on the spy. It was still in the pnning stages, but he already had a clear idea of the chapters and how the story would unfold. He inteo use a Game of Thrones format, different characters’ perspectives in each chapter. It would include six chapters from Jack Dawson, six from Rose, four from Rose’s fiancé, four from the Titanic’s owner—who insisted on going down with the ship—and both a long prologue and epilogue, fog oanic’s creation and its demise.

  No fshbacks. The Titanic would serve solely as the framework, and Cameron would bring the story to life on the big s.

  – Do you think they’ll let us in? – Kate asked nervously, notig the crowd outside. A man anizing the entrance waved them through upnizing Billy. A few cameras fshed from a distance, and Billy aowledged them with a nod, allowing some additional photos to be taken. It was an unspoken rule, and he respected it.

  – I ’t believe it! It must feel so unfair to people, – Kate said, amused. There was no point in being angry about the minor perks of fame.

  – It’s no big deal. People find it enjoyable when we’re here. It’s like dinio someone you admire. I uand the se. All we have to do is reciprocate with a kiure, and the rest doesn’t matter, – Billy replied, winking at her.

  -Well, I’d rather wait in li not outside, – Kate quipped.

  ...