The cool autumn midnight wind swept across the neon-lit plaza of downtown Chicago, casting sharp, dramatic reflections off the glass facade of the Grand Horizon Towers. Standing near the VIP valet drop-off zone was Malachi Vance. He wore a faded charcoal hoodie with frayed cuffs, distressed denim jeans, and beat-up canvas sneakers, looking completely like a weary laborer taking a shortcut home after a grueling double shift.
In reality, Malachi was the reclusive billionaire founder, chairman, and sole majority owner of Vance Global Holdings, a multi-trillion-dollar corporate empire that owned the very tower he stood beside, along with dozens of skyscrapers across the globe. Tonight, however, he was simply enjoying a quiet, anonymous walk through the city streets.
As he stepped around a polished marble planter, the loose fabric of Malachi's rough hoodie sleeve accidentally brushed against the side mirror of an ultra-rare, matte-white Koenigsegg supercar parked illegally in the fire lane, leaving a faint, microscopic smudge on the pristine carbon-fiber housing.
"Hey! You blind, clumsy piece of trash! Get your dirty hands off my car!"