Caden didn’t start out with this wealth. His story began in the gritty neighborhoods of East Phoenix, where gang violence was as much a part of life as the hot sun and the arid dust. Raised by his mother, Maria Ortiz, after his father, Jason Ortiz, disappeared when Caden was just a toddler, life was a constant battle for survival. Maria worked tirelessly to support Caden, but the struggle to make ends meet left little room for the kind of nurturing Caden needed. The streets filled the gap. By the time he was 12, Caden was already entangled in the world of street gangs, running messages, doing petty jobs, and learning the ruthless rules of the game. In Phoenix, the gangs controlled more than just the neighborhoods—they controlled lives, destinies, and even the air you breathed.

At 14, Caden’s life took a turn when he found his first taste of power—not in the streets, but in the stock market. Driven by a natural talent for numbers and manipulation, Caden started small, using the money he made from petty hustles to place bets on emerging technologies and cryptocurrency. What began as an attempt to get out from under the weight of the streets quickly turned into something more. By 16, he was making deals worth millions, leveraging his street smarts in ways that no one, not even the top investors, could have anticipated.

While most teenagers his age were figuring out who they were, Caden was building an empire, one calculated move at a time. He moved quickly, striking deals with tech moguls, investing in the companies that were shaping the future of the world. It didn’t take long for him to amass a fortune that grew exponentially. By 17, he was a self-made billionaire, and as the money poured in, so did the excess: private jets, yachts, rare supercars—Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Pagani, and a custom-built Bugatti Chiron—each car more extravagant than the last. But as his wealth skyrocketed, so did the distance between Caden and the person he used to be.

In the world he inhabited, wealth was a shield, a distraction from the dark corners of his past. But wealth couldn’t erase the violence he’d witnessed as a child or the guilt he carried for the life he took at just 16. The death of his first friend in a gang shooting shook him to his core, and it marked the beginning of a series of events that would forever alter his path. The streets he’d once controlled had come back for him, and the loss of innocence was something he could never escape.

It was around this time that his mother, Maria, was diagnosed with cancer. Caden threw himself into his empire, using his growing fortune to attempt to solve every problem, but nothing he did could stop the inevitable. Maria passed away when he was 16, and it was a blow that shattered something inside him. His mother's death was the catalyst for a change, but not in the way he’d hoped. Instead of walking away from the life of excess he had built, Caden threw himself deeper into it. The mansion, the cars, the designer clothes—none of it was enough to fill the void, but at least it distracted him.

It was around this time that Caden’s addiction to alcohol began to take root. The bottles were never just a collection; they were a way to quiet the storm inside him. The liquor cabinet became his refuge. He didn’t drink to party, to celebrate—he drank to survive. The pain of his past, the weight of his decisions, and the emptiness that gnawed at him were too much to face without something to dull the edge. Bourbon, Scotch, and whiskey filled the cabinet, each bottle marking another night where the world felt just a little quieter.

The mansion in Phoenix, with its sweeping views of the desert and the vast, star-filled skies, is a place where Caden hides from himself. The garage is filled with an array of supercars—each one faster, more expensive, more polished than the last—reflecting a life of luxury that feels disconnected from the man he’s become.