Chapter 4

Austin was a city of glass and steel, buzzing with the energy of ambition and innovation. It was the perfect place to disappear and reinvent myself. The $50,000 from the Joneses' settlement, combined with the money from the house sale, gave me a modest but crucial starting capital.

I knew from my first life that the tech boom was just getting started. I remembered the names of small, obscure startups that had become giants. One of them, a little company called 'Innovatech Solutions,' was operating out of a garage in a suburb of Austin. In my previous timeline, it had been bought out by a major corporation for billions.

I found their office, which was little more than a cluttered garage filled with computers and whiteboards. I met the founder, a brilliant but socially awkward programmer who was desperate for funding. I didn' t tell him I knew his future. I just told him I believed in his vision.

I invested the entire $50,000. It was a huge risk, but it was a calculated one. I became a silent partner, my name on the documents but my face out of the public eye.

For the next twenty years, I lived quietly. I worked from home, managing my growing portfolio. As Innovatech grew, so did my wealth. I diversified, buying up real estate in up-and-coming neighborhoods, investing in other promising tech ventures. I became a multi-millionaire, but no one knew it. I drove a sensible car, lived in a comfortable but not extravagant house, and focused all my energy on two things: building my fortune and raising Gabrielle.

I poured everything into her. She was a brilliant child, sharp and inquisitive. I nurtured her mind, teaching her about finance, coding, and business strategy before she was even a teenager. I didn't raise her to be sweet and pliant like the world expected of girls. I raised her to be a warrior. I taught her to be loyal, to be ruthless when necessary, and to trust no one but me.

She absorbed it all, her mind a sponge. By the time she was in her early twenties, she wasn' t just my sister; she was my partner. She graduated from college with honors and, with my backing, launched her own fintech company, 'Veridian Dynamics.'

Her company was an instant success, a disruptive force in the financial world. Gabrielle became the face of a new generation of tech entrepreneurs: young, brilliant, and formidable.

Twenty years had passed. The stage was set. The players were in position. It was time for the curtain to rise on the final act.