Dark Lord Seduction System: Taming Wives, Daughters, Aunts, and CEOs novel Chapter 438

Chapter 438: Grooming a Perfect Heiress

"Exactly. Building One is the critical path—we pour resources into getting the labs operational within 18 weeks. Building Two can lag by 6-9 weeks. Building Three might not fit out for weeks. But the site plan accommodates the full program from day one, which matters for master planning approval and financing."

"What about the architecture itself? BioLa’s brand is all about transparency and innovation. Their marketing shows lots of glass, open labs, visible science."

"Which is mostly bullshit for recruiting purposes," I said bluntly. "Real research labs are closed environments with strict contamination control. You can’t have floor-to-ceiling glass on a BSL-3 lab. But we can give them the impression of transparency."

"How?"

"The collaboration building is 70% glazed. Entirely glass on the campus-facing elevations. We put the cafeteria, the lobby, the big meeting rooms—all the spaces that photograph well—in glass boxes. The research building behind it is more closed, more controlled, but from the street view you see transparency and openness."

"Architectural sleight of hand."

"Marketing alignment. We give them the brand image they need for recruiting while building the functional environment their scientists require. And we do it within budget because we’re not wasting money glazing spaces that need to be opaque anyway."

Madison was typing rapidly. "I’m taking notes. This is—Peter, this is exactly the kind of strategic thinking Daddy wants to see. Seeing past the client’s stated requirements to understand their actual needs."

"That’s development at the highest level. Anyone can build what the client asks for. The best developers build what the client actually needs, even when they don’t realize they need it yet."

"Okay. Okay, I think I’m starting to see the full picture. But I still need to work through the construction phasing, the cost model, the sustainability framework—"

"We’ll do it together. I’m clearing my schedule for the next two weeks. Every evening, we work on this. I’ll teach you construction sequencing, cost estimating, LEED certification strategies—everything you need to not just complete this assignment, but to blow your father’s expectations out of the water."

"Peter..." Her voice caught slightly. "Thank you. Really. I know you’re busy with the hotel acquisition and Liberation Holdings and everything else, but—"

"Madison." I cut her off gently. "You’re my queen. Building your empire is building our empire. There’s nowhere else I’d rather invest my time."

"I love you," she said softly.

"I love you too. Now, before you go—what did you tell your father about the leverage structure? About who developed the BioLa strategy, you did as I told you, right?"

She was quiet for a moment. "I told him it was you."

I closed my eyes. "Madison."

We were the one who saved the BioLa deal from going to Darlus Construction. Found the leverage structure that got Torres Development that twenty-percent-plus return everyone’s celebrating.

The equity partnership model, the milestone payments, the whole financial strategy—that was me and ARIA working through the numbers until we found the angle nobody else saw. Then we dug out the Darlus dirty, and we supplied to Madison.

I told Madison to tell her father she did it alone. Take the credit. Build her credibility. Establish herself as the strategic mind her father needed to see.

She didn’t listen. Told him the truth instead—that I created the solution. Sent her regards from me like we were business partners instead of teenager and girlfriend.

But that’s fine. Because the real play here isn’t one deal. It’s the two-week challenge he just gave her. Complete project development plan for the BioLa campus. Site selection, master planning, cost modeling, construction phasing—everything.

Madison thinks it’s a test. It is. But not the one she thinks.

This is my opportunity to groom her into the heiress I need her to be. Me, Madison, and ARIA—we’re going to create a project plan that doesn’t just meet her father’s expectations. We’re going to blow past them so hard he realizes his daughter just became the most dangerous weapon in his company.

Every evening for two weeks, I’m teaching her everything. Architecture, development economics, construction sequencing, strategic positioning.

All the knowledge downloaded into my head, all the computational power ARIA brings, all of it focused on turning Madison Torres from trust fund princess into the transformational leader who’ll build her family’s $2 billion company into a $20 billion empire.

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