“Here’s your money!”
In the office, a man with slicked-back hair sat in a chair, holding a stack of cash.
The man across from him had already stood up, his face wearing an obsequious expression, head bowed and back bent.
The nameplate on the desk read “Pepe Finance Company.” This was a loan shark company.
Loan sharking was also illegal in the Federation, but many people, especially gangsters, were in the business.
The profits from loan sharking were high, and the risks were low. Anyone with a bit of capability was very fond of this business.
Even among ordinary people, some loan-sharking activities existed.
For instance, lending a sum of money to friends or relatives and then demanding interest significantly higher than the maximum rate supported by Federation law.
However, personal loans and interest between individuals were considered private actions and not entirely loan sharking.
The illegal part under Federation law referred to corporate behavior, specifically the act of profiting from high-interest loans as a business.
The man with the slicked-back hair stared into the other man’s eyes. “In one week, I want to see the money, principal and interest, in front of me. Otherwise, you know the consequences!”
The borrower nodded and bowed hastily. “I know, I know. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely pay back the money with interest!”
The slicked-back man nodded in satisfaction and placed the money on the desk, letting the other man take it.
On the surface, he was the boss of this finance company, but in reality, he was just a minor player.
Behind the finance company stood the Kodak Family, specifically Stone and Gorry.
Bandy had always been committed to legitimizing the family, so they certainly couldn’t run these illegal businesses themselves, at least not directly.
Through indirect control, they firmly held many finance companies. The main job of these companies was to provide funds for gambling addicts who had lost money and were eager to win it back.
They would sit in the casino’s lounges. The old gambling addicts knew where to find them when they needed money.
And the new gambling addicts, through introductions from dealers or staff, also knew where to borrow money.
If a gambler wanted to borrow a larger sum and even had collateral, these finance companies would drive them to the company office to get the money, and then drive them back to the casino, waiting for the money they had just obtained to eventually return to the hands of the Kodak Family.
This was a cycle, a loop, constantly harvesting every penny of wealth from the pockets of all gambling addicts.
If they encountered someone who couldn’t pay back, it wasn’t too much trouble. As long as their family still had a house or other assets, there was always a way to squeeze something out.
Even if not a single bit could be squeezed out, wasn’t the person themselves worth money?
And a lot of money at that!
In the end, the gambling addicts would find they had lost everything. Some would choose to end their own lives to pay for the mistakes they had made.
Others might fall into a slump and become one of the many homeless people seen everywhere.
The Kodak Family had never been associated with kindness. It was just that Bandy was very cunning. He knew how to hide their wickedness, making them appear, if not white, at least not black.
The phone on the desk rang at the right time. He picked it up, and his casual expression became slightly more serious.
“Yes… yes… I know. If there’s trouble, I’ll report it immediately.”
“Okay, I understand. Okay, okay… okay, goodbye.”
The call was from Stone’s assistant, telling them to be careful lately. Bandy suspected that Lance might continue to target them.
But now, the defense of their casinos was already very strong. At any moment, they could deploy over a hundred armed men to protect the safety of the casinos.
As long as the casinos didn’t fall, the Kodak Family wouldn’t fall.
Correspondingly, the defense of their other businesses was weaker, but it didn’t matter. Unless these businesses were completely cut off, they wouldn’t cause too much trouble for the family.
Stone’s assistant had told him to be wary of strangers and to call for help immediately if he encountered trouble, not to think he could solve it himself.
After hanging up, he shook his head. He wasn’t too interested in the battles of the higher-ups. Right now, he just wanted to run his own business well.
Although the lion’s share of the profits was ultimately taken by the Kodak Family, he could still earn a handsome income from this job.
He pressed a button and had his secretary let in the next borrower.
Their finance company offered loans for a maximum of two weeks, but most were for one week.
After one week, the principal and interest had to be repaid. Otherwise, they had plenty of ways to make those who couldn’t or wouldn’t pay choose to agree to pay.
Two young men walked in from outside. The slicked-back man gave them a second look.
In truth, most of the people who lost at the casino and still wanted to gamble were middle-aged. Young people were rarer.
For two young men to come in at once made the slicked-back man a little surprised.
But since they were here, business had to be done.
“Did they tell you how the interest is calculated before you came in?”
One of them nodded. “We know. 5% per day, 10% per day if overdue.”
A satisfied smile appeared on the slicked-back man’s face. “How much are you looking to borrow?”
“Do you have any collateral?”
The other young man nodded. “Yes.”
The slicked-back man’s curiosity was piqued. “What is it?”
“If it’s something good, I can give you more money!”
“Gold watches, gold, gems, things like that are best. They’re easier to sell and hold their value well. I can give you a good price.”
The other young man smiled and reached into his pocket. The slicked-back man also leaned forward with a curious look, until he saw a dark, gaping hole pointing at him. He cursed “Shit” and slowly raised his hands.
The phone rang again, shrilly piercing the air, but he just glanced at it and let it continue to ring.
Stone hung up the phone. He felt that something was not right. He dialed another finance company, but still, no one answered.
Even the finance company that had just answered a moment ago was not picking up now.
No matter how stupid he was, he knew something must have happened.
He slammed the phone down, paced back and forth a few steps, and decided to go out and see for himself.
He told Gorry about it. Gorry didn’t object. Although doing so might be a bit risky, as someone who managed the family’s gray-area businesses, he couldn’t always be in a safe environment.
Gorry thought it was appropriate for him to see some danger.
The car soon arrived at the nearest finance company. The people who were supposed to be guarding the door were gone.
Stone cursed, parked the car, took out his gun, and gently pushed the door. It swung open.
A smell of blood wafted through the room. His face turned very grim. After checking the room with his men, they found some bodies in the lounge and the manager’s office.
The people in the finance company had all been killed. Even more troublesome, the cash and the IOUs were all gone.
He kicked over the slicked-back man who had died in his chair and picked up the phone to dial Gorry’s number.
“How is it?”
“Did you find anything?”
Stone suppressed the fire in his heart and said, “They’re all dead. The money and the IOUs are gone.”
Gorry was silent for a long while before saying, “I see.”
“You see?” Stone repeated, but it was a question. “Aren’t we going to do something?”
“We have over a dozen finance companies in total. This hit means we’ve lost a lot of money again. Everyone is laughing at us!”
“Give me a group of men. I’m going to the Empire District right now to kill Lance and end this.”
“And then?” Gorry asked. “Then I’ll lead men to go and retrieve your corpse?”
Stone’s face was contorted with a ferocious expression. In all his life, he had never felt so suffocated.
“Then what do we do?”
“We do nothing and just watch that worm that crawled out of nowhere chew away at our mansion bit by bit?”
Gorry frowned. He felt that Stone’s state was not right. “You come back first. We’ll discuss it and then decide.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t do nothing. This is just a part of what we have to go through. When you look back on these things in the future, you’ll find your impulsiveness laughable!”
Stone wanted to curse, but the man on the other end was his father. In the end, he slammed the phone down hard, said “Let’s go,” and left with his men.
As for calling the police?
Someone would handle that for him.
When he returned to the villa, Bandy, Gorry, Fleming, and some of the family’s core members were all there.
They were discussing how to respond when Stone came in. Lance’s reckless punch had hit them before they could even recover.
This also made them realize that the name of the Five Families, or rather, the Kodak Family, didn’t work very well on Lance.
In the past, just bringing up these names was enough to make some small gangs compromise. But now, it had been met with a more violent counterattack.
Stone walked over to Fleming and sat down. He didn’t have much respect for his somewhat “cowardly” Uncle Bandy, and he had many complaints about his own indecisive father.
In the family, he only respected Fleming, because Fleming was very smart and could always think of a way to solve problems.
Fleming patted Stone’s leg. “We were just talking about the revenge plan.”
“We’ve roughly located the Lance Family’s bars. Also, I’ve received a very important piece of information. Their liquor comes from an abandoned ranch outside the city.”
Stone was stunned for a moment, and then a look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face. “What are we going to do?”
Bandy remained silent throughout, letting his son take the lead. His original intention was for Fleming to not get involved.
But now it seemed that his chosen successor had different ideas on this matter.
“We are legitimate businessmen. When we encounter illegal activities, the best option is to call the police!”
Stone was stunned. He had taken off his pants, and this is what Fleming had to say?
He was a bit annoyed. “We can get revenge ourselves.”
Fleming said with a smile, “We cannot give up the use of violent means, but we also cannot rely solely on violence.”
“The Bureau of Hazardous Materials has great authority. Lance can deal with the police department, but he can’t deal with them!”
(End of Chapter)