Harem Startup : The Demon Billionaire is on Vacation-Chapter 626: Executive Floor

Chapter 626 – Executive Floor

Lux didn’t wait. He headed toward the elevator.

He knew the stares.

He knew the whispers.

He was back.

And someone was about to learn exactly what happened when you poked the Prince of Greed too hard.

The elevator slid open. The interior was cool, shadow lit with gold trim. Lux stepped inside. Turned. Faced the doors.

His reflection in the polished obsidian metal stared back at him. He looked like a scandal wrapped in CFO credentials. Which, technically, wasn’t wrong.

The doors shut with a soft hiss.

[You are now ascending to: Executive Floor]

The system’s voice was smooth. Almost soothing. Lux exhaled slowly.

The numbers ticked upward. Floor 88... 89... 90...

Then...

-Ding!

The doors parted with a whisper of magic-imbued air.

He stepped out and immediately gagged.

"Ugh— what the actual hell," Lux muttered, recoiling half a step as the stench of burnt espresso and ultra-caffeinated desperation smacked him in the face like a cursed slap from an overworked barista god.

The air was thick. Swampy with overbrewed agony.

He covered his nose with one hand, eyes squinting at the oppressive mana density. The whole room radiated that signature Greed-coded frequency. Heavy. Calculated. Exhausted. Even the gold trim on the walls looked like it hadn’t been polished in days. Which was an infernal sin punishable by maiming in this tower.

And there he was.

Behind a desk that looked more like a war table than a workspace, buried in holographic projections and infernal finance charts, sat Lord Zavros.

The Lord of Greed.

Or, more accurately now? He looked like a caffeine-cursed, overworked corpse of a war strategist pretending to be a functioning demon.

Black eye bags hung like curses under his sharp, once-immaculate gaze. His shirt was wrinkled. His fingers tapped commands on four separate input screens at once. And his mouth? Muttering something low. Quick. Numbers or spells or maybe ancient economic calculations only older demons remembered.

He looked... wrecked.

Lux paused. Instinct told him not to move any closer.

Because he knew that chain. Knew the way it could snap out with a blink and bind him to that damned throne.

Zavros’ chain. Ledgerfang. A physical manifestation of Greed’s will. It could enslave even the most stubborn bloodline heirs to duty.

Yeah. No thanks.

Lux kept his distance.

"...Dad?" he called.

No response.

Zavros just kept typing, swiping, calculating like a man possessed. The hologram screens blinked and flickered. Contract reports. Market panic threads. Soul liquidity charts. Internal division memos. Red. Red. All red.

Lux winced.

"Dad?" he tried again, louder, inching a little closer, but still well outside the range of that cursed chain.

Still nothing.

Lux rolled his eyes. Then focused.

[Telekinesis Activated]

He aimed it at the room’s far window, lined with demonic steel, overlooking the pulsing city lights below. The latch clicked. The glass pushed open with a soft creak. Wind gusted in.

And finally, finally, that hellish espresso fog thinned.

The bitter, almost acidic scent dissipated a little. Lux could breathe again. His nostrils were still angry, but at least his lungs weren’t being roasted in third-wave coffee trauma.

That’s when Zavros looked up.

Slowly.

Blinking like someone surfacing from too deep underwater.

"Oh. Lux," he said.

Just that. Like it was normal. Like he hadn’t disappeared, like the whole damn Tower wasn’t in full meltdown mode.

"You’re here," Zavros added after a beat. "You good already?"

That voice.

Too calm.

Way too calm.

Lux’s stomach twisted.

"Yeah," he said carefully. "You don’t look really okay."

Zavros... laughed.

Not a joyful laugh.

A broken one.

Short. Croaky. Like a breath that forgot how to exhale.

"It’s hard to calm them down when they already believe in you," he murmured. "They thought you were dead."

He leaned back slightly. "The bounty. Some rumors swirled around. Some said warlords got you. Others said celestial hunters. I couldn’t tell them anything. Couldn’t say you were fine. Alive. Healing."

Lux stayed silent.

Because... yeah.

He got it.

"If they knew you were wounded," Zavros continued, "they might’ve taken the advantage. To kill you. To challenge your claim. You needed time. The mortal realm gave you that."

Again, Lux didn’t speak. Not right away.

It was logical. Even strategic.

But it didn’t feel like his father.

Because Zavros didn’t usually make emotional calls. He didn’t make sacrifices unless they had at least a 300% return rate.

"...Why?" Lux finally asked.

He stepped forward, slow. Measured.

Still avoiding chain range. But closer now.

"Why did you do it?" he pressed. "Why not just tell them I was in recovery? Or sell it as an investment delay? Why take the hit?"

Zavros met his gaze.

And something cracked.

"Because you’re my son," he said simply. Quietly.

Lux blinked.

"And because I already promised myself," Zavros continued. "That I’d become a good dad. I know it’s late. I know it won’t erase what I did... or didn’t do, but..."

He gestured vaguely at the chaos.

"I still want to try."

Lux... didn’t move.

His hands were still at his sides. His expression unreadable. But inside? Something shifted. Something tight. Conflicted.

Because yeah, he wanted to believe that.

Wanted to believe the man who had raised him like a cog in a golden machine could suddenly feel. Could regret. Could change.

But he’d also been the one tied to that chair. Trained. Conditioned. Pressured into brilliance.

So...

He didn’t trust easily.

Didn’t forgive easily.

But still...

Lux stepped forward again.

Closer this time.

And stopped just at the edge of chain range.

They stared at each other.

One old. One young. But both tired in ways numbers couldn’t quantify.

Zavros finally stood. He moved slowly, stretching out like a man who hadn’t left that chair in days. His bones cracked. His aura pulsed once, tired, yes, but still Greed. Still heavy.

Lux tensed.

Zavros looked at him, really looked.

"You built half this tower," he said. "The systems. The vault logic. The soul currency grid. It’s you, Lux. You’re not a backup heir anymore. You are Greed’s CFO. Somehow, now I have become your shadow."