"..."
"So what you mean is that the reason he looked down on us is because he has already aligned himself with Senator Kennedy?"
After everyone took Alex's message and read it, the room fell into a long silence. In the end, the first to speak in anger was Alfred Gerard, the one who had been humiliated by Killian earlier.
"That is not my opinion. It is the truth, Gerard. Watch your tone."
"You're becoming irrational."
After hearing Gerard's angry, almost accusatory tone, Alex answered sharply as well.
"Enough. I think what we should be concerned about now is what we do next."
"If he really has latched onto Senator Kennedy's tree, then unless you can persuade the man in Washington, anyone else who comes at him will just be delivering themselves as food."
Seeing the two beginning to clash, Francis Henry stepped in and changed the subject.
And just as expected, after hearing Francis Henry's words, the two men stopped arguing and both calmed down.
After all, this was the problem they would have to face first. No matter what, they needed a solution.
"Investigate first. Use our connections and find out whether he has really reached a deal with Senator Kennedy."
"If he has..."
"Then we deal with him through legitimate means. We absolutely cannot let him dominate the field alone."
"Otherwise our companies, and every one of us sitting here, will be forced out. And what happens after that, I'm sure everyone understands."
When he said the middle part, Alex was grinding his teeth so hard they almost cracked, but he still forced the words out.
After all, they were only executive presidents. To put it bluntly, they were the front-facing representatives pushed out to handle things.
If the company remained stable and profitable, then naturally everybody won and everybody made money.
But if the company collapsed, and especially if the losses were catastrophic, then every one of them sitting here, along with their family members, would end up at the bottom of a lake.
It was precisely because they stood so high that they understood how ruthless the true powers behind the curtain were.
Those people did not care about right or wrong.
They did not care what you did.
They only cared about one thing, whether or not you made money for them.
Compared to those real figures, even the President was little more than an ornament.
"In that case, no matter what, Killian has to die."
After hearing Alex's words, Gerard spoke viciously.
Of everyone present, if there was one person who wanted Killian dead the most, it was absolutely him.
After all, what happened that morning would have been a huge humiliation for anyone, let alone someone like him, the president of a listed company.
"So how do we do it? Send an assassin?"
"If Kennedy finds out, we won't even need the people behind the company to act. We'll be the first to fall."
In response to Gerard's suggestion, Francis Henry, who still retained some rationality, immediately asked.
"No need. I secretly cultivated a gang boss. I only ever deal with him through a single private line, so no one can trace it back to me. And now, he already controls all of New York. If he makes a move..."
"Killian is dead."
Gerard spoke with a sinister grin.
After hearing Gerard say that, the others wisely chose not to ask further.
After all, who among them did not have some underground force of their own?
And Gerard had practically made it obvious.
There was only one person who currently controlled the biggest gang in New York.
And as for that man's ability, everyone here knew it well.
He was ruthless, daring, and had fought his way up to the throne of the underworld through his own strength. Even with Gerard's support behind him, reaching that position was still no easy feat.
And so, this meeting ended with Gerard's arrangement.
...
Meanwhile...
Bang!
With a sudden deafening crash, inside a villa, a man over two meters tall and weighing more than four hundred pounds stood there like a lion, glaring ferociously into the distance.
On the floor opposite him, a subordinate in a suit had collapsed weakly, staring at the man in sheer terror. He wanted to beg for mercy, but he was also afraid that even making a sound might provoke the other party into slapping him to death.
So he could only tremble on the ground.
"You're one of Alfred Gerard's people planted by my side, aren't you?"
"Do you know how long I've endured and held myself back just to gain that old bastard's support?"
"Heh. Truly senile. A businessman who cannot even understand his own place actually wants me to go after someone protected by a senior senator."
"Does he really think I don't know what he's planning?"
"The moment I finish the job for him, the next second some so-called good citizen would report me, and I'd be the one dragged out to take the fall."
"But... it's about time anyway."
Ignoring the man crawling on the floor, the underworld king of New York, the crime lord Kingpin, stared into the distant sky and spoke in a low, deeply aggressive voice.
For him, after using Alfred Gerard's influence to seize control of all of New York's underworld gangs, Gerard had completely lost his value.
And next... he would begin washing himself clean, then run for senator, mayor, perhaps even president.
Sooner or later, he believed, both the underworld and the world above it in America would belong to him alone.
He would become a true emperor in every sense of the word.
"Drag him out. Feed him to the dogs."
Then, after giving the subordinate on the floor a cold glance, Kingpin waved his hand.
Immediately, two burly men entered from the doorway. Ignoring the subordinate's desperate screams for mercy, they expressionlessly hauled him up and dragged him away like a dead dog toward the "processing plant."
And it was at that exact moment, as the curtain by the window shifted, that a shadow suddenly appeared there in the previously empty room.
"Is everything ready?"
Kingpin showed no surprise at the black figure. He simply asked calmly.
"Heh. If I'm the one handling it, you can relax. As long as the money is right, you're my god."
"This flash drive contains all the records of AbbVie Biopharmaceutical's underground secret experiments."
"Heh. Even I felt a little shaken reading through it. I never expected that these people wearing glasses could be even crueler than professional assassins like us."
"You know, the people involved tried to destroy this thing before they died. It wasn't easy to get."
In response to Kingpin's question, the figure only laughed lightly and then complained.
"Your fee has already been doubled. It's in your account."
"But I need you to do one more small thing for me. When it's done, I want to see him."
Kingpin replied calmly, as if none of it surprised him at all.
(End of Chapter)
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