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Although Arthur was only Senator Williams’ “unfavored” younger son, it didn’t mean Senator Williams disliked him.
In fact, if not from a work perspective, Senator Williams still had a certain preference for this younger son, because of his mother.
Men always have this strange and complex mindset, especially some successful Federation men. They want their wives to be both like their sexual partners and like their daughters.
It’s not to say they are perverted in their sexual preferences; this is just a change brought to them by “success.”
Most males of intelligent animals are like this; it is also a way to show their strength.
So although Arthur would not become the next “Senator Williams,” no one would excessively look down on him.
However, they wouldn’t pay too much attention to him either. After all, he couldn’t inherit the core power and wealth of the Williams family.
Out of respect for Senator Williams, he had a place in this circle.
He looked in the direction of the person who had spoken, and the thought of competing with the other party was instantly extinguished. The one who spoke was Fleming.
Fleming’s surname was Kodak. In this city, they were known as the “richest family.”
The Kodak family had been working hard to launder their reputation, although everyone knew it was impossible to completely wash it clean. Because if one day they really did, completely, without any black-market business, without a single criminal in the family…
Then the moment that day arrived would also be the moment they sent themselves to the guillotine!
They had established the “Gambling Table Dynasty” of Golden Port through violence, and what protected this special honor was not their gentleness, nor their humility and politeness, but the guns held in the hands of their gunmen, and the bullets that were already loaded, which could be fired at any time.
Fleming was one of the next core heirs of the Kodak family. In recent years, the Kodak family’s active efforts to clean up their image had also led the local high society to begin accepting them. Although everyone was rotten to the core, at least on the surface, they didn’t want people to think they were messing around with gangs.
Seeing someone step up, Arthur smiled and raised his hand. “There’s no one more suitable than you here, Fleming.”
The man he referred to smiled demurely, but everyone could read the arrogance hidden beneath his peaceful smile.
Perhaps on other issues, he couldn’t easily show certain traits, but when it came to competing over who was richer, most of the people here were no match for him.
Fleming walked to Arthur’s side and put an arm around his shoulder. “Then it’s settled. I have a ready-made villa in the Bay Area that Shayna can live in.”
The others remained silent. Their battle of wealth with Eric was only because the rumor was getting more and more intense, and they were unwilling to let an outsider marry their local opera flower.
But to say how many people here truly liked Shayna, there really weren’t many.
These playboys might change different sexual partners every day—young, beautiful, mature, charming. In a city with a permanent population of over a million and a human trafficking trade, as long as they had money in their pockets, they could get everything they wanted!
Fleming got this opportunity. A group of people followed him out of the room and saw the ivory-white convertible in the parking lot outside the opera house.
Upon seeing this car, someone still couldn’t help but whistle.
“Twenty thousand dollars. Eric is really willing to spend. I remember he doesn’t have that much money,” someone muttered in the crowd.
Although the mayor didn’t actively intervene in Eric’s spending, they had been together for six years and knew each other’s situations inside out.
Two thousand dollars a month in pocket money was the limit for Eric. With his attitude of not even daring to speak loudly in front of the mayor, it was impossible for him to ask the mayor for more money.
As soon as he had spent most of the money he had, he would significantly downgrade his consumption.
He never had, or at least no one had ever heard of him having, the habit of saving money. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been situations where he had no money at the end of the month and had to borrow from others.
For him to be able to take out so much money at once this time, it was hard not to imagine where this money came from.
Shayna circled the car. The fiery red roses on the seat also made her particularly mesmerized. She looked at Eric with a face full of pleasant surprise. “Can I sit inside and try it?”
Everyone has something they can’t resist. She had long been tired of that stiff car, which had no personality and was not modern at all, unlike this car. Even just a screw made one love it from the bottom of their heart.
Her salary was not enough to support her buying such a convertible, and her family would not spend so much money just because she wanted a convertible.
Eric had given her many things, but only this time did she feel that Eric had finally become smart and had given her something that truly touched her heart.
She smiled sweetly and said “thank you” to Eric, which made Eric’s heart bloom with joy. He directly opened the driver’s side door. “Beautiful lady, this is your moment!”
Shayna got into the car, touching here and there, seeming very satisfied.
At this moment, another group of people had approached. Fleming stood at the front. “It’s just a car!”
His voice was not quiet, and it immediately made Eric turn his head to look at him impatiently. “Just a car, you say it so lightly, but why did you give me this opportunity?”
The lackeys beside him also started laughing, which actually prevented his momentum from falling into a disadvantage.
Fleming took out a cigarette and lit it. He didn’t even look at Eric, but at Shayna who was sitting in the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel. “How can you just have a car?”
“You should still be living in Priliccia, right?”
Shayna looked over here. She got out of the car with some embarrassment. “Yes, I still live in Priliccia.”
“Do you have a garage?” Fleming asked. “This kind of convertible is most afraid of rainy days. If you forget it outside and don’t put up the top, you could raise fish inside by the time you find it.”
After hearing this, Shayna’s expression changed slightly. The house she lived in now belonged to her father, and neither her father nor her mother were here.
That detached house did have a garage, and it was not small, but she had already had the garage converted into a training room.
The interior was soundproofed, and a wooden floor like a stage was laid. She would practice singing or dancing inside.
In other words, she now had no place to park this convertible.
Just as she didn’t know what to do, and Eric was about to teach her how to manually raise the convertible top, Fleming suddenly said, “I have another villa in the Bay Area. It’s never been lived in, everything is brand new.”
“It has a private swimming pool, a sports court, and a very large garage. You can not only store this car in it, but you can also store many cars!”
“Since it’s empty anyway, as long as you give me one dollar, I’ll rent it to you.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to get close to you. I just look down on an outsider nouveau riche trying to take away our opera flower with twenty thousand dollars.”
Shayna’s face was a little flushed. She was a bit excited!
She liked these excellent men surrounding her, vying for her affection. Only in this way could her status and value be reflected.
“The idol of all the city’s young people,” someone had already started to praise her like this. Isn’t this a part of the life she longed for?
If she could have a higher status and more wealth, that would be even better.
She glanced at Eric without a change in expression. Eric had never been placed on her “menu.” An illegitimate son who couldn’t see the light of day, even if the mayor favored him, he could only be a marginal character in the future.
And they couldn’t see how much the mayor favored him!
And over there, Fleming, and the others, they were the “future” of this city. In fact, the question of who to choose was never a question from the beginning!
No matter who she chose, Eric could not possibly appear on the candidate list.
Perhaps before the rumors spread, she might have considered it, but the moment the rumors arose, she no longer considered it.
Shayna’s shy appearance almost made Eric drool, but the thought that her shyness was not because of him made him unable to suppress his anger!
“Wouldn’t it be inappropriate? I’m afraid someone will misunderstand…”, with a feigned reluctance, Shayna’s “tea art” skills were present, but not high. However, in this era, it was enough.
The feeling of machismo also made Fleming feel good. He laughed heartily. “It’s fine, it’s just a villa. If you want it, Shayna, I can give it to you!”
Shayna’s eyes flickered, and she finally shook her head. “I’m not that greedy, Fleming. I’m already very grateful that you’re letting me live there.”
Watching his goddess be moved by someone else’s generosity was equivalent to Eric spending twenty thousand dollars to be an accessory to the crime!
The ivory white, which was originally gentle, now seemed a bit dazzling!
He walked around the car to the front of Fleming and the other locals. The lackeys behind him also followed closely.
“Do you have to oppose me?” Eric could no longer suppress his anger!
They had been targeting him all this time. He sent one thing, they sent two.
He sent jewelry, they sent a whole set of jewelry.
Now he had finally gotten Lance to secretly open the casino, gathered twenty thousand to buy a car, and had indeed made his goddess happily say “thank you.” He hadn’t even had time to suggest that Shayna drive him for a spin and express his feelings again on the way.
And this bastard Fleming just had to butt in!
In front of a detached villa in the Bay Area with a private swimming pool and tennis court, a twenty-thousand-dollar convertible… indeed didn’t seem like much.
His eyes were burning with fire. Fleming was taller than him and looked down at him with a condescending gaze. “It’s not that I have to oppose you, but that you just don’t get the situation, Eric.”
“This is Golden Port!”
His words were not fully explained, but they were fully understood.
Golden Port belonged to these political forces and the Five Families. It was not Eric and his uncle’s Golden Port.
It wasn’t that they had to oppose Eric, but that Eric was challenging their decency!
If there were no rumors outside, Eric could pursue Shayna as he wished. No one had targeted him before.
But now the rumors were known even to the ordinary people on the street. This was no longer an act driven by a young man’s hormones, but a battle to defend the honor of the locals against the outsiders!
Both sides had reasons they couldn’t lose, and reasons they had to win.
Hearing Fleming say such a “familiar” sentence, Eric grabbed his clothes and cursed “Fuck”!
However, the next second, it’s unknown who suddenly shouted “Outsiders, get out of Golden Port” while throwing a wine bottle over, which directly hit Eric’s head.
His whole person was buzzing, and wet, hot blood flowed down from his forehead. He touched the wet, hot substance, and the scarlet color was shocking in the night.
The scene was deathly silent for two or three seconds.
Fleming was also a bit stunned. He looked back at the twenty-some people behind him with a questioning look, as if to say, “Which bastard was so cheap-handed”!
But… it was a bit too late to discuss this now. The next second, Eric, as if he had gone mad, punched Fleming in the nose.
That feeling, Fleming had never experienced it before!
It was sour and painful, and his nose started bleeding at once. A follower of Fleming, seeing him take a hit, rushed over with clenched fists.
Fleming also started swinging his fists. He had never suffered such a big loss in his life!
Eric’s lackeys were also numerous. He was isolated now, so he had the most lackeys.
At this moment, these lackeys had no chance to consider the pros and cons. If they didn’t join in, then they would have not only offended the local forces but also a part of the outsider forces led by the mayor.
The only thing they could do now was to charge forward!
A group fight broke out when no one expected it. Morris shrank his neck and retreated from the darkness.
Every time Eric came out, he would follow him. Lance had told him to try to stir up trouble as much as possible, preferably to make them fight.
There had been no chance before, but today, the atmosphere was just right. He specially threw the wine bottle he had prepared for a long time, and it successfully hit Eric’s head.
Now, it was time for him to hide.
Even the most elegant gentlemen have a more or less violent component hidden in their bones.
Eric, who had been targeted and felt oppressed all this time, began to fully release himself. He didn’t care about anything anymore. Anyway, he just grabbed one and beat him to death.
He knew he had taken many punches, but he couldn’t feel the pain. The only thing he wanted to do now was to make Fleming pay for showing off tonight!
The sound of police whistles and police sirens soon echoed through the night sky. In less than five minutes, several police cars arrived at once.
Outside the theater, a fight had already broken out—
It was mainly Eric and his lackeys getting beaten, but occasionally they would grab a few people and beat them up together.
The precinct chief of the Starlight District breathed a sigh of relief. He had been startled when he received the report!
If these young masters got into trouble in his jurisdiction, it would not be a question of whether he could keep his position, but whether he would die unexpectedly in some corner!
He directed the police to quickly separate these people, which was definitely a new experience for him and his subordinates.
These young masters, who were usually so high and mighty, could actually swear, and so dirtily!
They greeted each other’s families. Shayna stood aside, her face pale. She knew that things had gotten out of hand!
…
The mayor was socializing in the evening. This city was not really a monolithic block. There were also some dissatisfied capitalists and forces who had been locked within a rule-permitted range because they had no channels for advancement.
If they didn’t rely on external forces, then they would never have the possibility of advancing further in their lifetime.
They couldn’t choose the rule-makers of Golden Port as their backers, because these backers could not only be relied on but were also a huge mountain pressing down on their heads, which would not let them easily turn over.
Only those who could break the stalemate could bring them a promising future and hope.
The matter of the mayor going to see Director Dale was not kept secret. Of course, their official statement was that it was for the bombing case, to talk to Director Dale and hope he could resolve these issues as soon as possible.
But some people would think deeper. These two outsiders, could they possibly team up?
Director Dale, who had just arrived in Golden Port, had already felt the enthusiasm of the people of Golden Port. If he didn’t want to be drowned in the sea of enthusiasm, then he had almost only one way.
One is the number one person in the administration on the surface, and the other is the number one leader of a vertical law enforcement department whose power is still constantly being filled. Will the teaming up of these two people trigger some special chemical reactions?
People didn’t know, but for those who dared to speculate, it was already worth it for them to get acquainted first.
His personal secretary walked over, bent down, and whispered a few words in his ear. He stood up with a demure smile on his face. “I need to take a call.”
The other gentlemen naturally wouldn’t say no and all smiled and said, “Please, go ahead.”
After he left the conference room, his expression became calm. “Why did they start fighting?”
The personal secretary said softly, “I heard it was out of jealousy.”
“Eric was isolated and targeted by those people, and then he was probably provoked. Someone threw a wine bottle and broke his head, and then he made a move.”
The mayor’s serious expression suddenly softened a bit. “That is to say, he is in the right, right?”
The personal secretary nodded. “Theoretically, it was their people who made the first move.”
The two walked into a side hall. The mayor sat down by a chair and answered the phone. “You can speak now…”
“Your Honor the Mayor, the situation is like this…”
The call was from the precinct chief of the Starlight District police precinct. He listened to the end and then gave instructions, “Although it didn’t cause any serious consequences, and everyone knows each other, their behavior is indeed somewhat questionable.”
“How about this, lock Fleming up for a week, and let the others go.”
“Mayor…”, the precinct chief’s mind buzzed when he heard this. Wasn’t this trying to harm him?
But the mayor didn’t give him time to speak. “I still have social engagements. It’s settled!”
With a snap, he hung up the phone…
(End of this chapter)