Mateo "The Heir Ascending" E-Book

Axel Trippe

• Herausgeber: epubli
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 113

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

There are stories in which change happens slowly. Step by step. And then there are stories like this one. When Max Veith, the shadow tycoon, stepped down in secret, nothing remained but a rumor. No official obituary, no grave, no closure. Just a secretive retreat—orchestrated, planned, disguised. But the world sensed it: something had happened. Volume I ended where all order threatened to collapse. Financial markets reeled. Political systems flickered. Nations sought direction. No one knew where the growing uncertainty was coming from. No one mentioned his name—and yet it was his absence that had an impact: Max was gone. Mateo remained.

Leseprobe

Table of contents

Mateo - The rise of the heir

I. THE DEPARTURE

Chapter 1 - The last daysChapter 2 - The death of MaxChapter 3 - The final burial

II. THE CLEANSING

Chapter 4 - The blacklistChapter 5 - DohaChapter 6 - The Berlin case

III. THE NEW PLAYING FIELD

Chapter 7 - The invisible takeoverChapter 8 - The man from GenevaChapter 9 - The last voice

IV. THE CRISIS

Chapter 10 - GazaChapter 11 - The Shadow PlatformChapter 12 - Operation Cassiopeia

V. THE SEVEN KEYS

Chapter 13 - The CircleChapter 14 - The UnknownChapter 15 - The Shadow State

VI. THE HEIR RULES

Chapter 16 - The absolute majorityChapter 17 - New YorkChapter 18 - The throne without a name

Part VII - The resistance of the world

Chapter 19 - The coalition of the losersChapter 20 - The Revenge of the SilverChapter 21 - Caracas ProtocolsChapter 22 - The Shadow UnionChapter 23 - The storming of Tbilisi

Part VIII - The consolidation of power

Chapter 24 - The closing mechanismChapter 25 - Shadows over AstanaChapter 26 - The uprising in LagosChapter 27 - Reset in Seoul

Part IX - Complete control

Chapter 28 - Zero point Tel AvivChapter 29 - FlorenceChapter 30 - Completion

Imprint:

Reader and Book Club Information

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Images were generated according to specifications using AI.

Some locations were described using AI.

Foreword to Volume II - Mateo: The Rise of the Heir

There are stories in which change happens slowly. Step by step. And then there are stories like this one.

When Max Veith, the shadow tycoon, departed in secret, nothing but a rumor was left behind. No official obituary, no grave, no closure. Just a secretive retirement - orchestrated, planned, camouflaged. But the world sensed it: something had happened.

Volume I ended where all order threatened to crumble. Financial markets reeled. Political systems flickered. Countries searched for orientation. No one knew where the growing uncertainty was coming from. Nobody mentioned his name - and yet it was his absence that had an effect: Max had disappeared.

Mateo remained behind.

First a pupil. Then a confidant. And finally: the heir.

But an heir is not automatically a ruler. There is a dangerous line between takeover and domination.

Volume II tells the story of this dangerous transition.

It is not a classic ascent, not an epic of glory and splendor. It is a cold, precise, world-embracing process - initiated from the shadows, guided with discipline, rigor and clarity. Mateo does not enter the stages of this world - he transforms them. Quietly, unrecognized, but inevitably.

He begins with loss: Max dies - this time for good. The island, once a place of retreat, becomes a burial ground. Mateo is left with billions in assets, control units, key people - and a responsibility beyond imagination.

The reader accompanies him through a new world order:

Mateo doesn't just take power - he reshapes it.He rebuilds, infiltrates, changes, takes over. And every step triggers reactions: Uprisings, setbacks, new alliances. From Doha to Seoul, from Tel Aviv to Cape Town - every place becomes a touchstone for his control.

Volume II tells of this world tour of power.

But even more: the volume shows that Mateo thinks not only in structures - but in people. Max's past, the memory of their years together, his values, his weaknesses - all of this lives on.

Mateo realizes that his strength lies not only in systems, but in his bond. In his loyalty. In his understanding that rule does not come about through violence - but by preventing chaos.

Volume II ends where the world surrenders.

Not out of weakness. But out of realization: there is no alternative. Mateo has not won - he has taken on what no one else was able to carry.

And so the world looks into a new order - faceless, but structured. Without a name, but with an effect.

What follows is not peace.What follows is the next phase.

And it begins where Volume II ends: In the shadows.

In the center of control.

In the name of the one who was once only an heir - and has now become the order itself.

Mateo - The rise of the heir

The return of the dying man

The sky over the island was cloudless as the boat approached the jetty. Not a breath of wind rippled the sea, not a sound disturbed the devout silence that had settled over the water like a promise. Mateo was already standing on the shore. Barefoot. The sand was cold, despite the sun. His eyes searched for the man they hadn't seen for years and yet could never forget.

Max was sitting on the wooden bench of the boat, his hands folded in his lap, his face gray, sunken, alien - and yet unmistakably himself. It was not a majestic image. Not the appearance of a king. It was the last walk of a dying man whom even death could no longer deny a glow. His body was marked by cancer, his shoulders slumped, his hair thin, his skin pale. But the eyes - they were awake. Clear, unbroken.

Mateo didn't make a move. He waited. The captain of the boat - an old man without a name - wordlessly helped Max onto the jetty. The tycoon held on to the railing. His movements were slow, almost mechanical. But his gaze rested on Mateo. Unrelated. Long. As if he wanted to memorize every detail of the face that would now outlive him.

"You're really here," Mateo said quietly.

"I never left," Max replied - in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.

They stood opposite each other, not two steps away. And were silent. No hugging, no breaking down. Just a look that said it all. The farewell had long since grown in them - over years, over silence, over actions.

Later, in the villa, they sat on the terrace. They looked out over the sea, the light of the setting sun colored the sky red. Max drank tea, shivering slightly. Mateo handed him a blanket, but Max shook his head.

"No longer necessary," he said.

"I don't want you to go."

"I'm not leaving. I'm just going to stop breathing."

At nights, Mateo read to him. Old letters. Notes. Memories. Max didn't talk much. But he listened. Sometimes he smiled. Once he cried - silently, without making a sound. And only said: "I never had a son. But I chose you."

Mateo - The rise of the heir

Chapter 1 - The last days

On the first evening, Mateo said nothing. He just sat there - next to Max, who was wrapped up in a blanket in the leather armchair. The glass doors to the terrace were open, the wind barely moving the heavy curtains. A tray with tea and soup stood untouched on the side table. Max stared into space. Mateo waited. Then finally, quietly:

"You still owe me answers."

Max blinked. "You know more than you think you do."

"But not everything. Not the most important things."

"The crash?"

Mateo nodded.

"You staged it yourself," he said, almost as a statement.

Max's breathing was shallow. His gaze never left Mateo's. "Yes."

Silence. Just the distant sound of the surf.

"Why?"

Max lowered his head. It took time for the words to come: "Because they would have killed you otherwise. Not me. You."

Mateo's voice remained calm. "Who?"

"Those who thought I had become too powerful. You were my successor. You had become visible - through me. And therefore vulnerable."

"But you controlled them all beforehand."

"Not all of them. And not completely. In the end... I was tired at the end."

"Was it a real attack?"

Max looked at him. For a long time. Then a silent nod. "They really wanted to kill me. I was too dangerous for them. I manipulated the trail, but the attack really came."

"So you really almost died."

"Yes. And I was ready to. But then... I changed my mind."

"And left me behind."

"No, Mateo. I was protecting you."

Mateo stood up. Went to the glass wall, looked out. Night had fallen. Only the sea shone silver in the moon.

"Do you know how often I wished it had been different? That you had just stayed with me?"

Max didn't answer. His breathing had become heavy. But his eyes - they stayed with Mateo. Unmoving. Awake.

"I want to know everything," Mateo finally said. "Not just about the crash. Everything. What you did. What no one ever found out."

Max was silent for a long time. Then he said: "What I'm about to tell you won't make you any taller. Only clearer. Harder, maybe."

"I'm ready."

"Then listen. And don't interrupt."

What followed was a stream of memories, confessions, fragments. Max spoke of evenings in Geneva when he had provided central banks with discreet bridging loans - not out of mercy, but because he secured control for every dollar. He told how he had bought into the world of platforms that shape opinions, control digital spaces and polarize societies - without it ever becoming public. He had channeled more than thirty billion dollars via straw men and hidden funds into takeovers whose names everyone knew today - without knowing who really controlled them.

"I never published, never claimed, never led. I was just the shadow. But it was my shadow, Mateo. Now it's yours."

Max spoke of the financial crisis. About how he kept the phones ringing off the hook in the days after the Lehman collapse. How he provided European banks with liquidity when the states hesitated. "Against collateral, of course. Real estate. Influence. Loyalty."

He was talking about Africa. Of an energy project that had supposedly failed - in reality, it had brought him a network of holdings that now dominated entire regions. And of a continent that was closer to his control than any corporation or government suspected.

"I have done things that would never be forgiven. And things that no one ever appreciated."

"How do you distinguish between the two?" asked Mateo.

"Not at all," replied Max. "I always just asked: does it serve the order?"

Then he spoke of guilt. Of a woman he could have saved - and didn't. Of a child whose foundation he had financed for decades without ever making contact. Of a betrayal that brought him wealth but cost him the life of the only person who had ever loved him.

"I wasn't a good person. I was just a necessary one."

Mateo looked at him. For a long time. "And now?"

"Now you're the necessary one."

It was almost midnight when Max asked for the book for the first time. Mateo brought it to him. Dark leather. No titles. Just an embossing: ⸻

"You'll have to do what's missing yourself. I couldn't prepare everything. But enough so that you don't go under."

"What about the projects that are still ongoing?"

Max closed his eyes. "You have to finish two right away. One of them is called Obsidian. You'll recognize it. The other... has your name on it."

Mateo froze.

"I have created something that could replace you if you fall. A fallback level. Not public. Not digital. But real. And dangerous. You will have to destroy it."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I love you. And because I know that love is not enough."

The hours passed. Mateo didn't ask any more questions. He just listened.

And Max went on talking. About a letter in a bank in Florence. About a last contact in Buenos Aires. About a property in Canada that never appeared in lists. Retreats. Safety nets. Traces just in case.

Early in the morning, Max said:

"You'll never know who you are until you know what you're willing to destroy."

Then it went quiet.

Really quiet.

And the last shadow left the world.

Mateo - The rise of the heir

Chapter 2 - The death of Max

The last hours passed as if through heavy glass. Time was no longer a stream, but a viscous, unyielding lake in which every breath, every movement sank. Max barely spoke. When he opened his eyes, his pupils slowly wandered around the room - as if he was saying goodbye, not just to things, but to every reflection of light, every shadow, every detail.

Mateo was with him. Without interruption. No nurse, no doctor, no voice from outside. The villa was hermetically sealed off, the entrances monitored, the staff dismissed. No one was allowed to see him like this - not the tycoon, not his father, not the human being.

He had retreated to the red sofa in the small reading room. The same room where Max had first told him years ago: "When I leave, you won't be alone. You will be me." Now Max was lying there, under a heavy blanket of dark cashmere, his hands on his chest, his skin as thin as paper. Mateo sat on the floor, his back against the sofa. His gaze went nowhere.

The windows were open. The sea breathed softly. There was a soft clink as Max fumbled for the glass on the side table - water, almost empty. Mateo stood up and poured more. Max drank. Just one sip. Then his hand dropped again.

"Have you ever believed in God?" Mateo asked.

"No," he replied after a while. "Only in consistency."

Silence.

"And you?"

"I believed in you."

A hint of a smile. Nothing more.

Then, almost inaudibly: "In the safe... there's a key. Not to a room. To a person. You'll find it when you're ready."

Mateo didn't answer. He knew this sentence would stay with him.

Night came slowly. And with it the silence. Max opened his eyes once more. Looked at Mateo for a long time. No more words. No sign.

Just that look. And then - nothing.

No breath. No trembling. No transition. Just the end.

Mateo remained seated. Hours, perhaps. Until the morning came. No drama. No call. No prayer. Just light. And the smell of salt and time.

He pulled the blanket up to Max's chest, stroked his forehead. Then he stood up. Opened the door. And said nothing.

He went out into the day. And knew that the world would never know exactly when their architect had died.

But it would feel that he was missing.