Professor Victoria Hayes's office was nothing like Aiden expected. He'd anticipated academic—books, papers, university awards. Instead, it looked like a startup's war room: whiteboards covered in business models, tech magazines scattered everywhere, and a wine bottle marked "Emergency Use Only."
"You're punctual," Victoria said, not looking up from her laptop. "I respect that. Close the door."
Aiden obeyed, suddenly aware he was alone with arguably the most attractive professor on campus. Victoria was thirty-two but could pass for twenty-five—striking features, impeccable style, and an intensity that made students either terrified or infatuated.
She closed her laptop and studied him. "So. Aiden Schols. Campus legend. Poor scholarship student to millionaire in four weeks. Everyone has theories about you."
"What's yours?"
"That you're either brilliant, criminal, or incredibly lucky. Possibly all three." She leaned back in her chair. "Show me your portfolio."
He pulled out his phone and handed it over, watching her scroll through his investments. Her expression shifted from skeptical to impressed to calculating.
"This is sophisticated. These aren't lucky guesses—you're identifying emerging trends before the market recognizes them." She handed back his phone. "Where'd you learn to invest like this?"
"Research. Pattern recognition. Intuition."
"Bullshit. I've been doing this for ten years. Nobody develops this level of insight without mentorship or insider knowledge."
"Then I'm an anomaly."
Victoria smiled slowly. "I like anomalies." She stood and walked to her whiteboard. "I'm getting divorced. Did you know that?"
The abrupt shift caught him off-guard. "I'd heard rumors."
"My soon-to-be-ex-husband is Richard Hayes. CEO of TechForward. We built it together, but his name is on everything. The divorce settlement gives him the company." Her voice stayed level, but anger simmered underneath. "Seven years of my strategic work, my business development, my networking—gone because I didn't protect myself legally."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'm done being sorry." She turned to face him. "I'm building something new. A startup incubator focused on underrepresented founders—women, minorities, first-generation entrepreneurs. People like you, Aiden. People the traditional VC world overlooks."
"That's ambitious."
"I don't do small. But I need seed funding. A partner who understands both the business side and the struggle of being underestimated." She crossed her arms. "I want you to invest."
Aiden's enhanced business analytics kicked in automatically, processing her pitch, the market opportunity, her track record. The incubator could work. More than work—it could be revolutionary.
"How much?"
"Five hundred thousand for 30% equity and equal partnership in decision-making."
Half his current liquid assets. For a venture that didn't exist yet with a professor he barely knew. The old Aiden would have panicked.
"What's the timeline?"
Victoria's smile widened. "Six months to launch. I have the business plan, the network, and the expertise. I just need capital and a partner hungry enough to take risks."
"Why me specifically?"
"Because you understand being overlooked. Because you're making moves that make established players nervous. And because—" She moved closer, and Aiden caught her perfume, expensive and subtle. "You're someone I can work with. Someone who won't try to control or diminish me."
The system pinged a warning about mixed professional and personal interest, but Aiden ignored it. Victoria wasn't flirting—or rather, she was, but it was secondary to genuine professional respect.
"I want to see the full business plan. Complete financial projections. And I want my own attorney to review any partnership agreement."
"Smart. I'd be disappointed if you said yes immediately." Victoria returned to her desk and pulled out a thick folder. "Everything's here. Take the weekend. Monday, we'll discuss terms."
As Aiden took the folder, their hands briefly touched. Victoria held his gaze.
"One more thing. People are going to talk about us working together. A twenty-one-year-old male student and his thirty-two-year-old female professor. Can you handle that?"
"Can you?"
"I stopped caring what people think around the time my husband took credit for my work." She opened her office door. "But I need to know you're serious about this. That you're not going to get distracted by campus gossip or the next shiny investment."
"Professor Hayes—"
"Victoria. If we're doing this, we're equals."
"Victoria. I don't make commitments lightly. If I invest, I'm all in."
She studied him for a long moment, then nodded. "Monday. 6 PM. My office. Come with questions or don't come at all."
Aiden left her office aware of the students watching, whispering. Dating rumors would spread by morning. The system pinged warnings about reputation management.
But as he reviewed Victoria's business plan that night, he couldn't shake the feeling that she was offering something more valuable than just an investment opportunity.
She was offering a glimpse of who he could become—someone who built empires instead of just accumulating wealth.
His phone buzzed. A text from Sophia: "Dinner's still on tomorrow, right? Fair warning: I'm going to grill you about your actual business experience."
Aiden smiled. Sophia tomorrow, Victoria on Monday. Two brilliant women challenging him in completely different ways.
The system had given him tools, but these women were teaching him how to actually use them.
And that, he was learning, was where real power came from.