Empire of Shadows

The mayor could continue for two more years, and he wanted to acquire more political resources before he left King's Harbor City.

As one of the engines of federal economic development, King's Harbor City attracts a lot of attention.

As long as this attention exists, the political achievements he leaves behind will be repeatedly mentioned.

Like all former mayors who expanded the docks, people will always repeatedly mention the first and second mayors who expanded the docks, talking about how much they contributed to King's Harbor City.

So much so that even if some of them have died, their children can still enjoy the benefits of these political legacies and live well.

He also wanted these things, but while continuing to expand the docks could bring more economic benefits, it would be difficult for him to gain political benefits from it.

Always be the first and second, never the third or later.

So he planned to put some effort into expanding the city. Currently, the permanent population of King's Harbor City is about 1.1 million, but the Federation doesn't often keep accurate statistics, and the statistics are often inaccurate.

He plans to expand the city's permanent population to over 1.5 million in two years, which requires expanding the city circle while providing more jobs for the new permanent residents.

So recently, his supporters have been vigorously planning the expansion of the city, including the funds invested by Mr. Chuboff, which will also be used for the basic construction of the city expansion.

In fact, this amount of money is very small, but it doesn't matter, he will find a way to continue to squeeze oil from this imperialist.

While he was thinking about expanding the city and how to attract more permanent residents, the phone suddenly rang. It was the imperialist calling.

As long as Chuboff is not in front of him, he will only call the other party an "imperialist" instead of "banker Mr. Chuboff."

"Is there anything I can do to help our great banker?" At the moment he answered the phone, although his expression did not change, his tone changed significantly.

Enthusiastic, gentle, and impeccable.

"I want to see you."

The mayor looked at his schedule, "3:30 p.m., you have ten minutes." Then he hung up the phone.

After agonizingly waiting until three o'clock, Chuboff had already arrived outside the mayor's office.

Half an hour later, the mayor's secretary notified him that he could go in, and he finally saw the mayor standing by the window smoking.

The mayor walked over with a smile, grabbing his arm, "Actually, you could have said some things on the phone." The meaning of this sentence was: don't fucking bother me if it's nothing important.

No one knows what Chuboff's inner emotions were, but they must have been complicated. After spending so much money, he was still just a marginal figure.

He sat on the sofa, and the mayor didn't even have the secretary bring him a cup of coffee. Anyway, there were only ten minutes, and there was no time for him to drink coffee.

"The thing is like this..." He explained the matter, but he emphasized that after his people went to the warehouse, there was no wine in the warehouse. He had been scammed by Arthur.

After listening, the mayor looked at him with a strange expression, "Why didn't you say so at the time?"

At that time... Mr. Chuboff had gone to the warehouse with Arthur at that time, and also spot-checked the wine, confirming that there were no problems with the wine before signing the contract and releasing the funds.

But there was a problem in the receiving process. It happened to be raining heavily that day, at most a thirty or forty minute time difference, and a warehouse of wine was fucking gone!

Moreover, at that time, he had not yet joined the mayor's camp, and was afraid that this was Arthur's way of extorting him, so he passively responded.

As a result, once he became passive, he remained passive.

From the mayor's point of view, this was a manifestation of being afraid of being extorted. If he had directly called the police or exposed it at that time, it might not have been so difficult to handle.

Although he would still be extorted, at least the tough attitude he showed in not wanting to pay for the extortion would make that bastard Arthur not dare to extort him casually.

Not just Arthur, but others as well.

"What do you want to do now?"

Mr. Chuboff's teeth were about to bleed, "I... I hope you can be the middleman and let me and them make things clear."

After listening, the mayor thought for a while, "Making things clear is not difficult, but you won't get the money back."

"Didn't you mortgage the loan to him..."

"Two hundred and fifty thousand." Mr. Chuboff added.

The mayor nodded noncommittally, "Now the price of this batch of wine may be worth four hundred and fifty thousand to five hundred thousand. You make up the difference and consider it as you buying the batch of wine. I can help you say something about this matter, and it's over."

Mr. Chuboff stared at him with wide eyes, "But I..."

"There's no 'but,' Joe, you have a contract, you have a signature, even if you go to court, you won't win."

"And you wouldn't think that me saying a few words for you would make them give up at least two hundred thousand in profit, would you?"

"Don't imagine me as too great, I can't do that, otherwise I would have been the Federal President long ago!"

"Think about it!" He finished speaking, shook his head, and then glanced at his watch, "I have another meeting later, so..."

This meant he was being asked to leave. Mr. Chuboff stood up somewhat confused, said goodbye, and stiffly left the mayor's office.

Regarding the "difficulties" encountered by Mr. Chuboff, the mayor didn't feel much. In recent years, it was not uncommon for foreign capitalists to collapse and go bankrupt in the Federation.

Some capitalists with even larger volumes than Mr. Chuboff were eventually forced to have no way out. A small banker, being extorted, could only endure it. Otherwise, what else could he do?

Of course, he would also make a call to Councilor Williams, asking him to take good care of his son and not scare away those foreign investors. This would not be in his best interest.

However, from the mayor's own point of view, his handling was not a problem.

If he asked Arthur to return the money to Mr. Chuboff and not pursue the whereabouts of the wine, that would be unreasonable.

Moreover, this was only Mr. Chuboff's side of the story. Who knows if Arthur himself moved the wine.

Even if he really needed to take action in the end, he would appear as a savior at the final crucial moment.

Not like now, a phone call, sitting down and saying a few words, and thinking about solving this matter.

Returning to the villa like a walking corpse, Mr. Chuboff sat on the sofa and couldn't figure it out. After finally having some money in recent years, he wanted to squeeze into the federal upper class.

As a result, his huge wealth rapidly shrank. If it shrank but he successfully entered the upper class, that would be fine, considering it the price he paid for it.

But the money was gone, and he was still a marginal figure. He couldn't understand it. Didn't everyone say that the Federation was a... fair and just country?

Why were the things he encountered not fair at all?

The assistant stood beside him, constantly accompanying him, very worried about Mr. Chuboff's condition.

In the past, even when facing extortion from Arthur or others, he would show a spirit of not being afraid of difficulties, but today's events seemed to have collapsed him all at once.

He sat on the sofa like those senile old men with no income, looking ahead blankly, not even noticing that his hair was messed up.

It wasn't until after seven o'clock in the evening that he came back to his senses.

"What time is it?" he asked.

The assistant quickly said, "It's seven eleven." The assistant was very worried about Mr. Chuboff's condition, after all, he was old, "Do you want something to eat?"

Mr. Chuboff shook his head, "No, I can't eat."

He looked back at the assistant, "Do you think... if there is someone who can solve this problem and minimize my losses, who should that person be?"

"You'd better find some from the Imperials. I have completely lost trust in the Federals now."

"They let me sit at the table not because they want to share the food with me, but just to take a few less steps when serving me on the table!"

Countless figures flashed through the assistant's mind. There were quite a few successful Imperials living in King's Harbor City, but it could be said that there were almost none who could match Mr. Chuboff.

Some other successful people were just people who opened factories, and having a few hundred thousand in assets was already considered very successful.

Their wealth was not comparable to Mr. Chuboff's, and their social influence and access to the upper class were even less than Mr. Chuboff's. He couldn't think of anyone who could help him.

But suddenly, a figure appeared in his mind.

Seeing the change in his expression, Mr. Chuboff asked softly, "Who is that person?"

When Lance heard that Mr. Chuboff wanted to see him, he was a little curious.

Last Saturday at St. Naya Cathedral, he just greeted him, with no intention of talking.

Now he suddenly wanted to find him, why?

He couldn't figure it out, but he still agreed.

Since it was too late today and he also had things to do, it was scheduled for the afternoon.

In the morning, he had to go to the company and also to see Mr. White. He had Officer Bredon contact him, wanting to see him.

Currently, Lance's information was still bound to him, so it was difficult for him to refuse this request.

During this time, he also felt more clearly how much convenience a legal Federal identity brought him!

Those who hold power will first confirm whether you are a Federal before they talk to you about cooperation.

So he would not easily lose his current identity. He must be a native-born Federal!

The next morning, Lance handed the list of informants to Elvin and left the company.

When he arrived at Mr. White's house, Mr. White was weeding in the yard.

Mr. White was a little confused when he saw the car stop, but when he saw Lance, the confusion turned into shock, and then into joy.