Chapter 128: New York. 1933 CE

[Upstate New York]

A young man was standing in front of a rather lavish mansion. He was bringing a bunch of papers with him inside a suitcase, and he was wearing rather formal clothing. The young man took a deep breath, and walked up to the front door of the house.

He knocked on the door softly, and sooner rather than later, the door slowly opened, revealing a rather well-dressed man, he looked quite old as he had grey hair, he was a butler.

"I'm here to see Mr. Smith?" said the young man nervously.

The butler opened a book near the door, and read it quickly. He nodded at the young man, and spoke. "Certainly Mr. Stark, follow me."

The butler then guided Stark through the hallways of the house. It was beautiful to say the least, the architecture is nice to look at, a mix of Victorian and Greek style, he could see paintings depicting historical events, Stark doesn't even know how much is that.

At the edge of the hallway, he could see a painting of a man with violet eyes and a blonde woman, they were the owner of the house.

The butler stopped in front of a door, Stark could hear jazz music from the inside playing softly, and the butler knocked on the door.

"Master Smith, Mr. Stark is here." he stated.

Stark could hear a hum from the inside. "Come in."

The butler soon opened the door, and Stark could smell the smell of paint entering his nostrils. He entered the room, and saw that a man was painting in the middle of the room. The surroundings were messy, filled with finished and unfinished paintings laying on the ground.

The man continued to paint as Stark entered the room. The butler closed the door behind him, and he gulped in nervousness.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Stark." the man said, not looking at Stark at all, he had a faint British accent. "It's quite a cold day, isn't it?"

"Ah… Y-Yes, quite cold…"

The man hummed. "You want some tea?" he offered, pushing the tea tray beside him a little bit to Stark. "Help yourself, if you want."

"Thank you…" Stark said, and poured himself a cup of tea.

"I've read your proposal Mr. Stark." continued the man, still painting. "But how do you know I'm looking to invest in the technology industry?"

"Oh, A friend of mine told me about it, Joseph Manfredi."

"From the crime family?" the man questioned, whistling. "I didn't know you were involved with those men."

"I assure you, I am not Mr. Smith." Stark coughed. "He's just my friend."

"Good then." Smith said, stopping to paint as he grabbed himself a cup of tea also. "I admit Mr. Stark, your proposal is tempting… this… Stark Industries you're talking about has a lot of potential…"

Stark's eyes gleaned for a second, but Smith continued.

"But… you are still young Stark," he said. "You may be smart in terms of science, but you have no experience in business, if I didn't count the selling fruits you used to do, but at the end of the day, you are still a seventeen year old man."

"Mr. Smith, I promise you, I am fully capable of–"

"And I don't doubt it." Smith smiled. "But others will."

Stark became silent and sighed. "Then… forgive me to take your time, Mr. Smith."

"I'm not finished Mr. Stark." Smith said sternly, making Stark stop in his spot. He drank his tea, and looked at his painting once again. "There's an Engineering conference in Geneva next year, did you get invited?"

"Oh, I did…" Stark said calmly, a bit disappointed for some reason. "But I can't afford the trip."

"Well, I will be accompanying a friend of mine to the conference." Smith said. "I want you to come with us."

"Excuse me Mr. Smith… you want me to come with you?"

"Yes." Smith hummed. "Also, about the Stark Industries, I will not invest now, it is early for you, you should learn more from your colleagues, get more connections, talk to me again when you are twenty one years old Stark. For now, I'm bringing you to the conference, I'm sure you'll learn something there."

"I– Thank you, Mr. Smith…" said Stark gratefully.

"No problem Stark." said Smith. "I can see you're quite ambitious with your career, and I will watch it with great interest. Now, Benson?"

The door opened, revealing the same butler from before.

"May you please escort Mr. Stark to the outside please?" said Smith. "If he doesn't have a ride, use the car."

"Certainly, Master Smith." said Benson, and Stark followed him, leaving Smith alone.

He sat down in front of his painting again, sigh, and continued to paint.