"Sentinel?" Amelia asked with narrowed eyes as she clicked open the software uploaded on her laptop by Ethan.
"A security software I developed. The one responsible for finding those vulnerabilities in your systems in just a couple seconds."
Her neutral expression cracked just a little and her lips parted slightly, but she quickly masked her reaction with a controlled breath.
"You built your own vulnerability scanner?"
Ethan chuckled. "Scanner? Ms. Rhodes, please. Sentinel is a lot more than just a vulnerability scanner."
"Sentinel is a tool that automates security assessments, detected vulnerabilities in real time, and offered clear, actionable solutions."
Ethan enjoyed the change in her expression as she went through the software and saw its capabilities.
He leaned back in his chair, the chibi avatar mimicking him as always. "What I sent you is a watered-down demo, nothing even close to the real deal. But it's enough to show you what it's capable of."
"You-" Amelia stuttered as she searched for the right words, "you built this?"
Her surprise was justified, after all, even though sentinel was not at the state Ethan imagined yet, it was years above anything cyber security softwares of 2010 could offer.
"Of course," Ethan replied with a smile before adding, "and I'm offering Google first bid on it."
"What happens if we say no?" She asked quietly.
Amelia did this to gauge their standing in this negotiation, she wanted to see exactly how many options OmniTech had which'll help them know exactly how much advantage they could gain in this.
But as always, OmniTech proved he was as much a cunning businessman as he was a tech genius.
Ethan smiled before replying "then Sentinel goes to someone else. Amazon, Microsoft. The options are endless, Ms. Rhodes. I'm offering Google first pick and it's not because I have no alternatives."
Her lips pressed into a line. "I'll take this to the board."
"Great," The chibi avatar gave her the biggest smile yet, "I'll give you a month to go through everything the demo version has to offer, we'll negotiate then."
"You'll hear from us," Amelia gave a nod.
"Perfect," Ethan said with a smile. "I'll send over the remaining vulnerabilities. Looking forward to your call in a month."
With that, he moved his cursor to the end call button and ended the call before immediately sending a PDF of the remaining 15 vulnerabilities and their fixes.
As soon as the file was sent, Ethan closed his laptop with a snap and exhaled deeply, the adrenaline slowly wearing off.
He leaned back in his chair again, letting the silence of the room settle in for a moment.
The, he suddenly started chuckling which soon turned into a full blown laughter. Taking his phone, he turned on the screen and brought his phone closer to his face.
On the screen was the confirmation that his offshore account had received the payment from Google.
"This is just the beginning," Ethan's stopped laughing, while he continued looking at the screen "be ready Nathaniel and Olivia, you took everything from me in my last life, this time I'll make sure you lose everything."
He clenched the phone tighter causing a crack to appear on its already broken screen.
Ethan let out a sigh before relaxing his grip on the phone, "let's not get ahead of ourselves."
"There's no way I'd be able to face Nathaniel with just $5.7 million" He muttered with a chuckle before standing up, "first thing's first, let's set-up a foundation."
The 5.7 million from Google was capital. Capital that'll be used to setup OmniTech Corp, capital that'll ensure his rise to the top.
Pulling out a notepad and a pen from his work desk, he started jotting down ideas.
For the next thirty minutes or so, Ethan continued writing down his ideas without even realizing the passage of time.
A few more minutes later, he stopped writing and moved back a bit he looked over his what he wrote on the notepad.
The page was filled with bullet points and scribbles. He laid out plans to get OmniTech registered, every branch that'll be under that umbrella and most importantly, every single person that'll be useful to him.
Making sure he had gotten everything, he tore off the pages before setting them on fire.
The pages had a couple of future events that he wouldn't risk anyone finding out.
"Alright, let's get started" Ethan muttered and reopened his laptop.
If he was going to work with big companies, setting up a legitimate front was a must. Although, he still had no plans of putting himself out there just yet.
But he had the perfect person to be the face of the company, Lillian.
Lillian was still hesitant in working with him but that was mostly due to the lack in confidence in herself.
Ethan had a simple plan for her though, he would get her involved in this as deeply as possible, thereby making it impossible for her to back out.
Finally stumbling on an offshore company registration company located in the British Virgin Islands, he started setting up OmniTech Corp.
He chose this because it allowed him to stay as anonymous as possible.
Ethan immediately began the process, filling in all the details required. Another thirty minutes passed and Ethan was done with the processes.
It cost it twenty five thousand dollars, which amounted to not even 0.5% of the total capital.
A soft ding, sounded from his phone as he received an email in his encrypted inbox. He skimmed the message, noting the attached PDF files — incorporation certificate and nominee agreements.
"All set," he leaned back.
Since he paid the premium fee, his shell company would be setup in 48 hours.
All he needed to do now was convince Lillian to become his COO.
_______
Lillian stood in the kitchen of an apartment she shared with Aria, humming as she prepared Lunch.
Today was her day off and she also had no classes so she could relax.
The sound of hurried footsteps caught her ear as Aria rushed to the kitchen with Lillian's ringing phone in hand.
Aria waved the phone with a grin on her face. "Lillian! Your boyfriend's calling!"
Lillian turned, flushed instantly, and snatched the phone. "He's not my—ugh, give me that!"
Aria just laughed, leaning on the counter with a teasing grin as Lillian answered.
"H-Hello?"
"Hey," Ethan's calm and composed voice came through. "Are you free to talk?"