MTLNOVEL Chapter 250: New to the Team
The next morning came with cracking news!
The government was not done with their initial regulation against cryptocurrency.
From Business Everyday, the anchor delivered the news and his voice throughout was flat and practiced, barely disguising the subtle tone of state-sponsored disapproval beneath the careful inflection.
"And in Washington, the Department of Financial Integrity has announced a formal classification review of decentralized virtual currencies, citing growing concerns over capital flight, tax evasion, and the absence of centralized oversight. This comes just weeks after the Federal Banking Advisory issued an internal memo urging major institutions to avoid exposure to 'untraceable or unregulated digital commodities,' specifically naming Bitcoin and emerging forks thereof."
The ticker at the bottom of the screen rolled on, bright red against the gray-blue tones of the newsroom feed:
BREAKING: Treasury Considers Sanctions on Firms Holding Unregistered Digital Assets.
SEC Demands Transparency Reports from Crypto-Heavy Portfolios.
White House: "Digital Coins Pose Unprecedented Risk to National Economic Stability."
The good news was that it was far from a ban.
The bad news was that it wasn't nothing.
This still smelled of danger; one that could put Darren Steele and his company which was barely a year old in huge economic trouble.
The TV news turned mute as the major employees of Steele Investments entered the main conference room. Amber light poured through the large west-facing windows, catching the faint flecks of dust that floated in slow spirals near the dark wood table, around which six people were already gathered.
Rachel sat nearest to the door, blazer draped over the back of her chair and a legal pad full of half-legible scribbles at her elbow. Her dark curls were pinned back today, a no-nonsense bun that only half matched the easy confidence with which she leaned back, tapping her pen against the table's edge.
Kara was a few seats down, legs crossed, one boot resting on the edge of the leg support bar. She had a laptop on her lap but wasn't really using it, her gaze instead fixed lazily on the news broadcast as she took slow sips from a tall thermos with a black skull sticker near the top.
Amelia sat closer to the center, posture neat and straight, one ankle tucked behind the other. Her glasses reflected the glow from her slate as she made quiet updates to the project tracking document, pausing only to glance toward Sandy now and then, her eyes full of thoughtful calculation.
Sandy Meyers, as ever, wore her composure like fine silk. She'd arrived early and taken her usual place at the left-hand side of the table, folders neatly aligned, coffee untouched. Though her expression was calm, her foot tapped occasionally beneath the table. She was thinking. Hard.
Simon Wilkes was mid-laugh, leaning slightly toward Miranda, who was already shaking her head.
"I'm telling you," Simon said with an animated voice, "once the Eastern Corridor rail clears its dispute with the freight union, we'll have our steel imports down twenty percent in six months."
"You said that last month," Miranda replied with an eye roll. "And last I checked, they just added two new lawsuits."
"They'll settle," Simon said, waving a hand. "They always do. Just as Vance and Daisy. Those lawsuits can't hold up an entire coast's construction economy forever."
This was the familiar hum of voices, the occasional scrape of a chair, the smell of ground coffee and ink that defined this group.
And despite the flashing headlines above them, there was a calm in the room that only came from shared wins, sleepless weeks, and the mutual respect of people who knew their lanes and stayed sharp within them.
Then the door opened, and Darren walked in.
As usual... silence. Decorum.
He wore a navy suit today — one of the understated Italian cuts that leaned toward simplicity rather than spectacle — with a charcoal shirt underneath, unbuttoned at the collar.
He didn't feel like wearing one so there was no tie for today.
His eyes flicked across the room as he entered, catching each face in turn. The slight creak of the wood under his shoes was the only sound that followed his entrance until he stopped at the head of the table.
"You've all seen the news," he said simply.
Kara groaned and tipped her head back. "Can we pretend we haven't?"
Darren didn't respond to that, though he might have found it amusing.
"This is pressure," he said. "And it's only going to get worse from here."
Rachel folded her arms. "They haven't banned anything. And it's not even regulation. It's just... posturing."
"You see posturing, Rachel, but I see them laying the road," Darren replied. "They're positioning. The second enough people hold crypto in public ledgers, they'll pull the switch on oversight laws and call it a defense against financial subversion."
"Which it isn't," Simon muttered. "It's a defense against freedom."
Darren ignored the commentary and continued. "We've been cautious, yes. But Bitcoin remains our top-tier future asset. It's our keystone. That means these moves threaten us more than most. If they go after offshore holdings, we're vulnerable. If they target exchanges with newer compliance demands, we lose liquidity windows. If they demand self-reporting? We're talking audits, investigations, delays."
A heavy silence settled.
Sandy broke it first. "I can already tell you have a plan, sir?"
Darren exhaled and tapped the table with two fingers. "I think I have an idea of a plan."
He looked toward Simon. "Mr. Wilkes. Give me a status update on Steele Tech."
Simon straightened, excited. "Prototyping's nearly complete. We finalized the modular subframe design for our liquid-cooling miner racks. Early thermal readings are outperforming our target by twelve percent. If production starts in the next four weeks, we'll be ready to launch the subsidiary inside two, maybe three months."
"And projections?"
"Market's soft for boutique tech right now, but interest in home-rig efficiency has exploded. If we pair with the right distribution partners, we're looking at five hundred units sold in the first quarter post-launch. By the third quarter, assuming saturation grows, we'll be running profit positive at 2.3x production cost."
Darren nodded. "Good work."
He turned next to Amelia, whose fingers were already poised over her file.
"Amelia, what's going on with the warehouse in Nevarro."
"Locked and loaded, sir," Amelia said, voice smooth and clear. "Construction is twenty-two percent complete. The roof frame's up, foundation is sealed, and the inner chambers for refrigeration and secure shipping are ahead of schedule. With current pacing, it'll be ready for outbound packaging and shipment by the end of the third month."
"No delays?"
"None at all. Local inspectors were bought out early. We're clean."
Darren let the silence stretch for a moment, then sat back slightly in his chair.
"We're holding both."
Simon grimaced. "What?"
Darren looked up at him, stern. "We freeze both launches until the dust on this Bitcoin pressure settles."
Simon's mouth opened, shut, then opened again. "That's— look, I know the climate's rough right now, but if we wait, we risk losing the jump on the market. Steele Tech's designs are already being tested in private boards. Navarro's timeline was built to sync with the next distribution cycle."
Darren held up a hand. "And if we launch while the government's threatening sanctions and public inquiry? What happens then? A misstep now paints a target on our back. Bitcoin isn't just a holding anymore— it's our core asset. We need the breathing room."
Simon muttered something under his breath, but Darren didn't press. He gave the room a moment to settle before continuing.
"This is why we're expanding."
Everyone's eyes glistened with curiosity.
Darren cleared his throat. "Effective immediately, we'll be adding two new members to the team. First; because our public narrative has to be sharper than ever — we need someone who knows media, who understands pressure, and who doesn't flinch."
He glanced at the door as it opened again, and in stepped Brooklyn Baker, dressed in a fitted navy dress with gold accents at the cuffs. Her hair was down today, her usual sharp wit tucked neatly behind a professional composure.
"Meet our new Head of Public Relations and Media Management."
There were murmurs; some surprised, some intrigued. Rachel leaned back with a raised brow. Kara just grinned.
Brooklyn gave a nod to the room. "Hello everyone. Pleasure to be part of the Steele team."
Darren gave no pause.
"And second," he said, "we need our internal infrastructure ready for what comes next. Digital systems, encryption security, transaction obfuscation — we need to be ten moves ahead, not one."
He stepped aside slightly.
The door opened again.
And Ileana Popescu walked in, black turtleneck, fitted slacks, hair tied back. She said nothing, didn't smile, simply stepped beside Brooklyn and waited.
"Please welcome our new Chief Software Architect," Darren said. "Ileana Popescu."
This time, everyone was shocked.