Chapter 16:

"Good morning young master", Veronica said, Ace had just arrived in the lobby and she was already waiting.

"Ace please, I pretty much see you more than I do my own grandmother", Veronica grinned at that, and pivoted, walking straight through to the elevators, and pressing the button that would directly send one to the waiting floor. Ace made small talk with her while they were waiting, asking about her family and how they were all doing. Veronica was not married but was dearly devoted to her nieces nearly as much as she was to her own work. She was always happy to talk about them and it was one of the few things that could make her remove the facade and show emotions, even if she only did so in private settings, usually only with Ace and Samantha.

"We are here, and she is waiting for you in her office, remember, you have half an hour tops. And good luck, not that you will need it.", she said, with an encouraging smile.

Samantha was sitting in a leather chair, on the other side of a rich, mahogany desk, that probably cost more than the average car. Ace smiled and sat down facing her, exuding a calm confidence, of someone that knew they would get what he wanted. It would not work on his grandmother, she had taught him that after all, but it would not hurt to try. He smiled and greeted her, "I have come here with a proposal that could benefit us both.", he went straight to the point, dancing around would only annoy Samantha, even if she did not show it.

"And what may that be, dear grandson?", accentuating the last word, as if to remind him of his place in the familial hierarchy. The attempt had no effect on him, he had expected it, and just rolled with the punch, readying for his counter attack. "Videogames of course, more specifically, streaming."

"Hmmm, continue", Samantha was not stupid, she had ensured to dedicate a specialised team that informed her on new up and coming pop culture, and videogames and streaming were a large part. She knew that the world moved on and that being stuck in the Stone Age would only hurt the company's profit. This meant that she knew what he was referring to, and Ace had to avoid an awkward conversation informing her of how he could make money out of playing games for other people.

"Well, I believe that I have more than enough skill to become someone that would not bore out his viewers with atrocious gameplay, and as you very well know, charisma is not a problem. If I grew an audience, I would also be able to de advertising for the company, for a small fee of course, which would help with any products that were targeted to the specific demographic. It's a win-win for both of us honestly"

"Yes, you are right, if you are doing half as well with your games as you are with your studies, then it would be fine. And charisma is obviously not a problem, you are my grandson after all. However, what I am most worried about is the security of the whole affair, the fans and the harassment that they may cause."

"Ok I understand, the last one is an issue with a simple solution, I will just not show my face, it may impede some of the engagement with the audience but overall, it should not be a big issue, and I can always use a face cam later on if I so wish. As for the security, well it will always be an issue, but you could simply have various safety measures, and even if they did hack my computer, there is no information they could find out, I made sure of that. I only use my personal laptop and phone for research, as I am sure you are aware, the only things I have done are install a game and software, at most, they could break the computer, and since money is not really a problem…"

"Hmmm, ok, I will discuss it with my advisors, and I will give you an answer, I assume you were smart enough to do some research so you can just leave it here with me, ill look over it."

"Thanks, Samantha, have a nice day, are you coming home today, we are supposedly living together you know?"

"No, I will sleep in the office."

Ace smirked at this while leaving, if most people heard this they would think of a poor white-collar worker, but Ace knew better. The top floor of the skyscraper was a suite constructed for the 'madam', and she usually just stayed there when she had work to do, which was usually the whole year.

*********************

Ace went home, he was slightly tired so he just laid on the sofa and put on a movie, he rarely did this, but it was a good way to relieve himself from all the stress, which would help him sleep without the nightmares getting any worse than they already were.

*********************

Ace stretched his fingers and wrists and began playing, a simple symphony that would help him relax and warm up before playing some of the more difficult songs he wished to practice. His piano had come some time ago, and when Ace could, he spent some time playing, he had learnt of the limitations when he wished to play some specific songs, so he also ordered a guitar, a simple, black Gibson Les Paul Studio. It was gorgeous in its simplicity, it sounded just as good as the piano, if not better, and Ace had already built his calluses from his street calisthenics workouts. He also had dexterity from games and playing the piano, which helped when learning to first use the threat of the guitar correctly. He had loved his time playing both instruments, and while he was picking them up faster than anyone had a right to do, he had limited time so he was still an amateur. Nevertheless, he loved music so he hoped that he would be able to learn to play both adroitly, maybe even join an orchestra or band in the school.

He had already made a plan for the remaining weeks before school, he would practice all he could in both games and music while studying anything that caught his fancy, he would keep up with his workouts and do any work that Leilah set for him. This would please his grandmother greatly, and Ace hoped that it would be able to bias her opinion on the subject of streaming, even if he knew it wouldn't. He was looking forward to streaming but not as much as school, it was going to be fun, he already knew anything they would teach so he just had to worry about acing tests and living life to the fullest, all the while ensuring to not do anything that would come to the attention of his grandmother, that would be bad.