In the early morning, Lance was woken up by the ringing of the phone.
He scratched his head, sat up from his bed, rubbed his face, and then picked up the phone. “This is Lance.”
“Mr. Lance, Francisco wants to go to Summuri!”
The voice from the receiver was a little familiar to Lance. It took him a few seconds to realize that this was one of Francisco’s uncles from his own family.
Not all of Paul’s brothers and sisters were bad people. There were two or three who were okay with Francisco, and this was one of them.
He vaguely remembered that Alberto had introduced this person to him at a dinner party once.
“Why does he suddenly want to go back to Summuri Island?” Lance had just woken up, his brain still in a cold start state, his brain matter still in a solidified state.
Only after it was fully started up could it spin at high speed, and his thoughts could become faster.
Francisco’s kind-hearted uncle sighed. “I asked around on the island. Last night, Alberto failed to assassinate Christopher. They have been killed.”
“Shit!”
All the sleepiness in Lance’s body disappeared. “What about Christopher?”
“How is he?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Lance, Christopher was seriously injured, but his life is not in danger.”
When Alberto had insisted on going back, he had had such a premonition. This guy was probably, in the truest sense of the word, gone and not coming back.
But he had to go back, and persuasion was useless. Lance had already told him that regardless of whether he succeeded or not, he would die on Summuri Island.
If he failed, it would naturally be like now, being killed by Christopher’s men.
If he succeeded, the people of the four major families would kill him. They would not allow such a thing to happen, where a person who had betrayed the orthodoxy could kill their banner and still leave the island alive.
So he was a dead man.
But people are like this. Even if they have already anticipated the worst outcome, they will still fantasize about a “what if.”
What if the development of this matter exceeds everyone’s expectations, and even in a desperate situation, a way out can be found?
People will always involuntarily think this way. This is human nature.
Lance had also thought, what if Alberto had a reliable connection on the island, and after killing Christopher, he could hide, hide for a period of time until the storm passed, and then he would find a way to leave Summuri Island. What if it worked?
It was not until this moment, when the news of Alberto’s death came, that he let out a heavy sigh.
The result of the matter coincided with a rational prediction. There was no what if, no if.
Lance took a cigarette from the cigarette case on his bedside table and lit it. “Why is Cisco going to Summuri?”
Francisco’s kind-hearted uncle explained, “The funeral home over there said that he has to go over to identify Alberto’s body.”
Hearing this, Lance couldn’t help but ask, “This is obviously a trick of Dover’s. How would the funeral home know Cisco’s phone number?”
“Is he stupid or crazy?”
The kind-hearted uncle gave a bitter smile. “We’ve all tried to persuade him. He actually knows too. He said what he wants to do is just to bring the person back from the island.”
Hearing this, Lance sighed again. “Let Cisco take the call.”
After about seven or eight minutes, the phone was answered again. “Uncle Lance…”
“I already know everything. This is Dover’s trap. If you go, there is a high probability that you will, like Alberto, not be able to come back.”
“If you don’t want everything he did before he left to be wasted, to waste his efforts and good intentions, what you should do now is to work hard to develop, and then find an opportunity to get rid of Dover.”
“Instead of taking a boat back to be killed by him!”
“He will stand in front of your and Alberto’s bodies and tell people that he is the most suitable heir to the Pasoretto family!”
Hearing these words from Lance, Francisco couldn’t help but let out a low roar, “I will kill him!”
Lance sneered. “Anyone can talk big. When dozens of guns are pointed at your head, you will cry like a child!”
“I won’t!”
“You will, you know this. You are as afraid of death as an ordinary person. When you get off that damn boat, you will find that you are surrounded by Dover’s men.”
“You won’t even have time to realize your ideal. You will be riddled with bullets, and then, with Alberto, you will be thrown into the sea to feed the sharks.”
“In the end, you will only have your bones, broken apart by the fish, scattered everywhere.”
“You can’t do anything, except to make Dover look even greater in the eyes of those people. You can’t do anything.”
Francisco suddenly fell silent, because he knew that what Lance had said was all right.
He was not a fool. His brain was actually very smart. Otherwise, Paul would not have always asked him to study hard.
Paul had discovered that he had a smart brain, had sent him to school, trying to have a “college-educated ruler” appear in the family. But it was a pity that he had died too early, which had caused all of this to not become a reality.
But this would not change the fact that Francisco was a smart person.
If before they might not have cared who had illegally entered the island, then after Christopher had been assassinated, the four major families would definitely strengthen the management of this part.
They would put a lot of pressure on the organizations that were engaged in smuggling. With a moment of carelessness, all the organizations would be subject to a purge. The four major families never played by the rules on their own turf.
As long as Francisco was smuggled over, the moment he got off the boat would be the moment he was finished.
As for going through the official channels and taking a cruise ship?
This was a good idea, but similarly, there would definitely be people from the four major families, and even Christopher, at the docks. After they saw Francisco, he would also not live for more than twenty-four hours.
He could figure these things out. It was just that the pain of losing Alberto had made him have an impulse to vent.
This was like people often using words like “fuck” when they feel hurt, but this does not mean that they are really going to have sex with someone, especially when the objects are of the same sex.
Now that he had vented enough, he should also calm down.
“What should we do, Uncle Lance?” his voice was filled with a sense of confusion, unable to see the future.
Lance took a puff of his cigarette. The lit cigarette butt seemed to make the dim room a little brighter. “I will bring their bodies back.”
“As for Dover, after I have solved some of the matters at hand, I will deal with him.”
Francisco also knew that this was the correct and only choice. “Thank you, Uncle Lance.”
“You’re welcome. Paul has helped me, and Alberto is also my brother. I should bear these.”
“You should be careful recently, pay attention to your safety. Since Dover plans to lure you over, it means he wants to make a move on you. You are in a dangerous period.”
“If you need anything, whether you are short of people, or short of banknotes, weapons, or anything else, just give me a call.”
“Before he left, he asked me to take good care of you.”
“Okay, I see, Uncle Lance.”
“If there is anything you need, I will tell you directly.”
“Yes, that’s it for now.”
“Goodbye.”
Lance hung up the phone and leaned against the head of the bed, smoking, his mind full of everything Alberto had done in the past.
After thinking for a long while, he shook his head. “This idiot.”
He took another puff of his cigarette, stubbed out the cigarette butt in the ashtray, walked to the window, and opened the curtains with a rustle.
The light from outside shone in. The morning sun was not dazzling, golden, brilliant, shining on his face, on his body through the window.
He looked down at this prosperous city, at the people who had gotten up early and were already walking hastily on the street. The city was waking up bit by bit.
At 8:30 in the morning, Lance had already finished his meal. He had asked Tom yesterday and had gotten the current residential information of the sixteen liquor merchants besides him in New Golden City.
Originally, he didn’t really want to fight for the position of rotating chairman of the industry committee. It sounded like a very glamorous position, managing these people.
But in fact, this was not a comfortable job.
In the past, Lance had also had many titles, what director, what committee member, all kinds of things.
When he was at a low level, he felt that having these titles was very meaningful, proving that he was a successful person.
At that time, the business card he had printed had more than a dozen such titles, and they had been carefully selected, occupying half of the space on the business card.
He had even seen a business card with the back also filled with titles.
But as his career grew larger and larger, and the level he came into contact with grew higher and higher, he found that the higher you went, the less people cared about those titles that had no practical meaning. The higher the level, the simpler the business card, or rather, the side you showed to society.
Many times, it was just a person’s name.
Gradually, he also understood that a core heir of a major family, even if he had no titles or positions, people would not look down on him.
But if it was just an ordinary person, even if he had a title as thick as a phone book, those high and mighty people would not look up to him because of it.
One’s own strength is the root of everything, not those ethereal titles.
Moreover, being a rotating chairman itself was not an interesting thing. You would be bogged down by the affairs of this committee. It was not good to manage, and not good not to manage.
Behind these brewing enterprises were definitely the senators in Congress, or some heavyweight politicians in the political arena, whose interests were bound together.
Their demands were often not ordinary demands. Compared to being a “manager” or a “ruler,” this rotating chairman was actually more like a person who provided services.
This position was not so good, and Lance had no intention of fighting for it.
But now that he was being propped up by that Joseph, if he didn’t fight, it would be a “show of weakness.”
Whether it was the Federation or other countries, as long as it was a capitalist society, they would never play the set of courtesy, righteousness, benevolence, wisdom, and faith with you. If you show weakness, they will definitely step on you!
Lance no longer had any room for retreat. He had to stand up now!
Tom had also come over early in the morning. “I heard what happened on Mr. Rao’s side. How did you get involved with them?”
Lance briefly explained the reason. Tom shook his head after listening. “From what you said, they are indeed not very magnanimous.”
He then took out the information he had investigated and gave it to Lance. If someone else were to get these materials, there was a high probability that they wouldn’t be able to. Only someone like Tom, with a deep background, could get them.
“What are you planning to do now?” he asked.
Lance, while looking at these materials, said, “Joseph wants to use me as a target to attract fire. Then I will do as he wishes and fight for this rotating chairman.”
After hearing this, Tom also nodded slightly. “The senator has also heard about this matter. If you can do it, he will be very supportive.”
Just as Lance had said, now it was no longer just a small matter of who would be the first rotating chairman. It had already risen to a higher level.
A hidden contest between the seventeen wineries and the forces behind these wineries.
Lance took out a few documents from inside. “Excluding me, there are only sixteen. I will vote for myself. In other words, as long as half of the people stand on my side, I will definitely be the first rotating chairman.”
Tom nodded. He agreed with Lance’s point of view. He liked to communicate with people like Lance who had a quick mind and could also provide him with some ideas.
After communicating too much with those fools, he felt that his own brain was about to fail.
“Although Joseph is a petty person, he has connected with the other three people and has already stated his position that he wants to support me.”
“So, I just need to persuade four more people, and I will be the first rotating chairman.”
After hearing this, Tom was stunned for a moment. He hadn’t thought about this matter carefully at first and just felt that it was very difficult.
Seventeen wineries, including Lance, at least more than half of the people had to support Lance for him to become the rotating chairman. This was too difficult.
But now that he had analyzed it this way, this matter was actually not difficult at all!
He began to cooperate more proactively with Lance’s work. He took out two documents from inside. “The relationship behind these two wineries and the senator’s side is still okay. you should be able to persuade them.”
“Then the remaining two, how do you plan to choose?”
Lance looked and looked, and then took out three more and placed them on the table.
These three wineries, in terms of scale and the supporters behind them, were not the best choices.
The scale was very small, and the supporters were not like Senator Cleveland, who was clearly a rising congressman. They were just very ordinary, the kind who would mostly be notified how to vote.
Even if they were not marginal characters, they were pretty close to that level.
Tom was a little surprised. “Why choose them?”
“Because they are very weak?”
Lance shook his head. “For those large-volume wineries with strong characters supporting them…” his hand tapped on a file, a winery that produced brandy, and hidden behind it was the president’s cousin.
In fact, everyone knew that the president’s cousin, on the surface, was the owner of those wealth, but in fact, he was just the manager of that wealth.
That wealth all belonged to the president.
Most mature politicians would have someone hold their wealth on their behalf. Some were family members, for example, cousins, or nephews.
The connection of blood made their interests one, so there was no need to worry that they would put their own money into their own pockets.
There were also some who were wives, family members. This more intimate relationship was also safer, but doing so also had a drawback, which was that it was easy to be attacked by public opinion.
So the first lady basically would not engage in purely commercial activities. They would mostly run some private charitable foundations, which had both a good reputation and could also get actual benefits.
Tom had thought that Lance would choose to cooperate with the winery supported by the president, instead of those weak ones.
A strong alliance would definitely be able to deter the other small wineries.
Lance’s view was different from his. “These wineries with strong support are not short of an ally like me at all. And if I want to persuade them, I need to pay a greater price.”
“Maybe I can persuade them, but I will lose my profit, and this is not what I want.”
“To persuade these small wineries is actually much easier. I don’t even need to pay any price. I just need to give them a promise, and they will stand on our side.”
“This is not a shareholders’ meeting. What is being compared is not the number of shares on both sides.”
“The major shareholders have more voting rights, and the minor shareholders have fewer voting rights. One major shareholder can be worth ten minor shareholders.”
“What is being compared here is the number of people. No matter how much of a share they can get in this project, they all represent one vote.”
After hearing this, Tom nodded and said, “A very mature point of view. I haven’t thought that much.”
He had many other things to do and could not just focus on serving Lance.
With Lance helping him to improve his position in Senator Cleveland’s team, he had also been given more work and responsibilities. This was a huge promotion.
“Anyway, if you need anything, give me a call!” he pointed at Lance. Lance immediately continued, “We are friends!”
This made Tom unable to help but laugh. “It’s good that you have mature ideas. I won’t give you any random advice.”
He stood up, and Lance then also stood up. He took the initiative to hug Lance. “We are friends!”
Lance nodded, and then he didn’t say that he would see him off. “I still have to look at these materials. If you need me for anything, also give me a call.”
“I can’t give you anything else, but money, gunmen, no problem.”
Tom nodded and turned to leave, while Lance began to browse the situation of those small wineries.
In fact, there was nothing to study. At a little after ten o’clock, he already had a target for his first visit.
A “small” winery with an annual output value of about 20 million before it stopped production.
In terms of the scale of the enterprise, this output was indeed not high. Now, they could only produce a little over a hundred million of wine a year.
The Lawrence Farm produced more than this much wine a year. This time, the supporter behind him hoped that he could get a little bit from it, not a large amount. This was an opportunity.
At eleven o’clock, Lance knocked on the door of the winery’s representative. They were also staying in a hotel, but it was not Lance’s hotel.
The winery’s representative was a little surprised by Lance’s sudden visit, but he still let Lance in.
(End of a Chapter)