"Silas, I'll be honest with you. We made a killing on Wall Street this time. I wanted to buy you a gift, but nothing felt quite right.
Take this. Buy yourself some good whiskey, and pass out bonuses to the boys.
You guys always go above and beyond for me."
Silas and his men usually helped her out of loyalty and rarely charged for small favors, but those small favors added up.
Because of that, Mira always found excuses during the holidays to hand out generous bonuses, knowing how hard it was to support a large security crew.
It was also an investment in her own safety; people worked harder and stayed sharper when they were well compensated.
"If you put it that way, I can't refuse," Silas said with a grateful nod.
Before going to sleep, Mira called Master Ellis to let him know she was safe and texted him a photo of the Ghost-Needle.
He took one look at it and said, "Stay put. I'm heading to Aethelgard right now."
Mira instantly knew the situation was far more serious than she had realized.
They rested until the late afternoon before gathering in the suite's living room to map out their next moves.
Mira made it abundantly clear that their Wall Street profits were to remain strictly confidential.
Flaunting their new wealth would only paint a target on their backs, so everyone firmly instructed their assistants and bodyguards to keep their mouths shut.
The next item on the agenda was Mira's commission. According to their initial contract, she was entitled to ten percent of their profits, and this time, the returns had been a staggering fifty times their initial investment.
That meant each family had netted around five billion dollars, which would put Mira's cut at five hundred million per person.
The moment the math was done, Ethan immediately prepared the transfer, but Mira stopped him.
"We're friends, and the numbers are astronomical this time. Taking five hundred million from each of you is simply too much.
But you have to understand, I started planning this Wall Street operation months ago.
I ran countless simulations, mapped out every possible market fluctuation, and exhausted myself preparing for every disaster scenario.
Only after all that did I lock in our final strategy.
The truth is, I'm not some magical oracle."

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