CHAPTER 125: NOT SO SUBTLE

8:25 PM.

Ethan walked down the stairs, dressed in what Athena had ordered.

He wasn’t going to deny it—Athena had a remarkable sense of fashion. Which wasn’t all that surprising, considering she never chose randomly.

Before picking what Ethan should wear, she had cross-referenced style algorithms, trending aesthetics, and subtle cues of wealth pulled from her endless pool of data. She mixed and matched until she had what she deemed the perfect balance.

What was surprising, however, was how she knew his exact measurements.

When he had asked, she told him without hesitation.

{When you first activated me, Ethan, I ran a full biometric scan,} Athena explained, her tone carrying that matter-of-fact precision she always had. {Height, weight, len...everything. Clothing measurements were part of that.}

Ethan blinked in a bit of surprise, his lips twitching. "So in short, you basically stripped me down and analyzed me the moment I activated you?"

{I would call it ’recognition of my master,’} Athena replied, clearly unbothered. {It was essential for calibration. How else would I call myself your assistant if I don’t know every single thing about you.}

"I see," he nodded as he continued down, soon reaching the bottom floor.

And that’s when Athena’s last preparation came into view.

The moment he stepped outside, he was faced with a clean black Audi R8 parked just outside the building, waiting for him.

How did he know it was here for him?

Well, Athena finally decided to reveal what the last preparation was as she said, {and that’s your ride.}

"What happened to being subtle?" Ethan said, his eyes twitching a bit.

{This is as subtle as I could allow,} she replied in a matter of factly tone, {any more subtle than this and you’d be better off walking or taking a taxi to the place.}

{Besides, wouldn’t it be fun to make all those who were jealous of your book smarts, get even more jealous of who you are now?} She added with a logic Ethan didn’t bother arguing with.

It wasn’t like he was going to suddenly announce that he was the owner of OmniTech.

This subtle show of luxury would just let their imaginations run wild as they guessed what he was presently doing.

Ethan’s lips curved faintly as he hopped into the driver’s seat, the scent of a new car hitting him.

Turns out, Athena had bought the car, done the signature digitally and instructed them to just deliver it in front of the building.

Evident by the file on the passenger’s side of the front seat.

"You do know that after tonight, I might not use this car in a while right?" He asked.

{It’ll remain parked here till whenever you come back to Boston,} she simply answered.

Ethan picked up the folder on the passenger seat, flipping it open with one hand while the other rested on the steering wheel. The paperwork was pristine, signatures neatly printed, and everything already processed. Titles, insurance, delivery receipts—all of it stamped and finalized.

"You’ve really thought of everything," he murmured.

{Of course,} Athena replied, her tone carrying the faintest trace of smugness.

He gave a low chuckle, closing the folder and tossing it back onto the seat before he pressed the ignite button and the car’s engine roared to life.

"Alright then, let’s go enjoy the night," he muttered before the car pulled away from María’s building, headed towards Franklin’s Bar and Grill.

-------------------

A few minutes later, Ethan pulled up at the location, the neon glow of Franklin’s Bar & Grill faintly reflected against the buildings around it.

The parking lot was already filling up, cars of every kind squeezed together—mostly modest sedans, a few hand-me-down SUVs, and the occasional shiny BMW that screamed ’dad’s money.’

The low growl of the R8’s engine cut through the chatter outside the bar. A group of his former classmates, already half-drunk and clustered near the entrance, turned their heads in unison.

The ones smoking immediately stopped and so did those talking.

The Audi drove smoothly into a free spot near the front, its headlights flaring once before it got turned off.

For a moment, all eyes seemed locked on the car.

But Ethan didn’t realize or even if he did, he wouldn’t care. Most of the ones standing around were people he rarely, if ever, interacted with so he wouldn’t bother himself with their thoughts or reactions.

Calmly he stepped out of the car, his polished shoes were the first to be seen before he actually got out allowing them full view of who was driving.

The whispers started almost immediately.

"Holy shit, who’s that?"

"Wait—no way... is that... Carter?"

"The nerd Carter? The kid who always sat front row with the books?"

"...Since when did he look like that?"

Well, so much for being subtle but all hope to be for that was thrown out the window the moment he Athena bought the car.

Though, as stated before, he didn’t really care what their thoughts were anyway. It was just that the night would quickly get annoying when they tried getting close to him to find out what he did.

But that could be easily handled, so he just continued forward, adjusting his cuffs on the way.

As Ethan crossed the lot, the murmurs behind him only grew. Some tried whispering, only to fail and let their surprise spill out loud enough for half the bar to hear.

"Bro, that really IS Carter."

"No way—look at the suit, man. He’s gotta be working for Wall Street or some shit."

"Wall Street? With that car? Try mafia boss."

"Shut up—he doesn’t even look like Carter anymore..."

"Ethan, you made it." A familiar voice was immediately identified through the murmurs causing Ethan to turn to his left.

There he spotted that annoying face again, Chad’s face.

He looked as if he and Ethan had been best buddies since their university days which couldn’t be any farther from the truth.

He stepped closer, about to wrap his arm around Ethan’s neck only to be stopped by a glare and a muttered warning.

"Don’t touch me."

Chad blinked in surprise, his forced grin faltering.

He let out a chuckle that sounded more like a cough, scratching the back of his neck as he withdrew his hand. "R-Right, right. No need for all that. Just messing with ya, buddy."

Ethan didn’t bother responding as he walked towards an empty seat, leaving behind a seething Chad.

"Just you wait," he muttered under his breath, "all this façade will drop when he arrives."

With that, he went back to his corner where his group was gathered, no one daring to mention what had just happened as they all waited for the actual important character to arrive.