The boardroom had grown heavy with silence again.
Not the quiet of exhaustion, but the kind that comes before a deal shifts in someone's favor.
Timothy leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers as his eyes moved from face to face, Zuckerberg, Altman, Pichai, Jassy, Srouji, Musk, Nadella, Krishna, and finally Jensen.
Each of them had put their cards on the table. Tens of billions of dollars in total commitments.
But Timothy Guerrero wasn't a man who stopped at accepting. He was a man who maximized.
"Gentlemen," Timothy began, his tone calm but carrying a faint edge. "And of course, Johny," he nodded at Apple's rep, "first, I want to say your offers are all… impressive. Truly. But let's be realistic."
He paused, letting the words hang.
"You're not bidding for GPUs. You're bidding for control over the future of AI. And that future runs through Aurion."
A quiet murmur rippled through the room.
