In his decades of life, Robert had never felt so ashamed as he did now.
He felt like a clown on the stage, pitiful, ridiculous, hateful and disgusting. No one wanted to live like this, but he had no choice.
In Gotham City, there are few people who dare to deceive Falcone, and even fewer who survive. Robert is one of them.
The reason for survival is not luck or connections, but talent.
It sounds ridiculous, but it is the truth. Falcone was impressed by Robert Downs' talent in finance and made an exception to spare his life.
Nomadic people have a traditional culture - training hawks. Falcone is a leader among them. In his opinion, training hawks is the same as training humans. If you want to tame the hawks soaring in the sky, you must torture their bodies and wear down their souls. Only when the soul and body are on the verge of collapse will the hawks choose to surrender. The same is true for humans.
Robert knew Falcone's purpose very early on. He was unwilling and angry, but there was nothing he could do. In Falcone's world, there was no chance for Robert Downs to rise.
After many unsuccessful resistances, Robert chose to give up and make a living in the sewers, trying to reduce his presence as much as possible, hoping that time would erase Falcone's memory.
Half a year passed like this, and Luke Xiao came to him and asked him to join ShowMe. A few days later, people from the Elliot family found him and offered him a better salary. That same night, Falcone's people showed up and beat him up, shattering all his dreams.
It's not a good feeling to have your dreams shattered. Robert has experienced it twice and doesn't want to experience it a third time.
"Mr. Sidney, the data on this contract is very different from the previous one. Did you get the wrong one?"
Sidney ignored Robert, looked at Luke with a smile, and asked,
"Mr. Xiao, what do you think of the contract?"
Luke scanned the employees who had their pistols exposed, and after a while he hissed,
"30 million dollars, 60% of the shares, worthy of being from Gotham, so ruthless!"
Sidney laughed heartily.
"Don't get me wrong, Gotham City is a city with simple folk customs. The people there are warm and hospitable. They never bully others, nor do they like being bullied. The main reason they carry guns is for self-defense. As you know, the security in Metropolis is not good, and there are always people floating in the sky. I feel uneasy without a gun."
Luke sneered, "Your Excellency has a sense of humour!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the door was violently thrown open, and Alexander Rhodes and seven or eight sturdy-looking men rushed in. Some of them carried submachine guns, some carried rifles, and some carried rocket launchers.
These people stood behind Sidney, looking at the opposite side with murderous intent.
The atmosphere froze instantly!
Sidney scolded his men a few times, asking them to be less aggressive, and then introduced them.
"This is Alexander Rhodes. Next to him are Tommy Church, Justin Cook, and Harrison Codd. Mr. Xiao, these names are familiar to you, right?"
Charlie's face changed drastically. Just as he was about to stand up, he was hit on his right foot and gasped in pain.
Luke looked at Sidney deeply.
"Your Excellency has a good trick!"
Sidney waved his hand nonchalantly.
"Do you have any questions about the contract?"
The four of them were silent, and the atmosphere was somewhat depressing.
"Since you don't have one, then just sign. Once you sign, you're one of us. If you run into any trouble in the future, call me and I'll help you solve it."
Things had developed to this point, so there was no point in saying anything else. After signing and stamping, and completing the process, Luke stood up and left, and Charlie and Will quickly followed.
Robert hesitated for a few seconds and followed.
Sidney showed the contract to everyone, as if he was showing off his work.
"See?
A brat is a brat, and it's easy to take him down with a little trickery. Ross, you'll be ShowMe's man from now on. Keep an eye on that guy, you know what to do."
"Don't worry, Mr. Sidney."
Alexander grinned and said, "I have the most experience dealing with this kind of pretty boy. If he dares to run away, I will make sure he regrets being a man."
Everyone was amused, and the room was filled with weird laughter.
…
After leaving the hotel, the anger on Luke's face disappeared. He asked Charlie and the other two, who had grim expressions, to return to the company, while he took a car to the park two blocks away.
Not long after, Emily came over with an energy drink in her hand.
"Drink?"
"I like juice, coffee, and wine."
"Forget it, I'll drink it myself."
Emily sat on the bench and took out a USB drive from her pocket.
"This is what you wanted."
"How's the effect?"
"I can see the face and hear the voice."
"That's good."
Luke put away the USB drive, opened his hands, and fell silently. The moment his fingers touched the girl's shoulder, he shuddered inexplicably.
"It's just an arm around your shoulder, is that that serious?"
Emily sneered, "I'm not Ivan Donald. If you want to take advantage of me, you'd better be mentally prepared."
"Yeah?"
Luke blinked, ignoring the icicle on his thigh, and without hesitation lowered his right hand, rubbing it vigorously a few times.
"you..."
The girl was furious and struggled a few times, but failed to break free, so she let him do it.
"What were you thinking? You knew Sidney was Falcone's man, yet you still wanted to negotiate with him. It's become like this now. Those people must be laughing at you behind your back."
"Pretty soon they stopped laughing."
Emily asked in a serious tone, "Are you really going to attack Falcone?"
"It's not that I wanted to deal with him, but he just happened to run into the muzzle of the gun."
"What's the meaning?"
Luke didn't answer, but instead asked, "Do you know why wolves are afraid of tigers?"
"The tiger is stronger."
"Wrong. Wolves are afraid of tigers because tigers eat wolves. Businesses in the world are made up of people, but their essence is wolves and tigers. Some businesses are wolves, some are tigers. Tigers eat wolves. It's the law of nature, survival of the fittest. If you want to avoid being eaten, you can only evolve into a tiger. And the prerequisite for becoming a tiger is to eat a group of wolves or kill a tiger."
"Falcone is the tiger I want to devour."
Emily said worriedly, "Think it over carefully. Falcone is a Gotham City gangster with connections in business, politics, and even the military. Don't get yourself into trouble."
Luke smiled and said, "Don't worry, I've already done my part. All I have to do now is pour a glass of red wine, lie on the sofa and watch the show quietly."
"That's easy to say, but that's Falcone. He's not just any criminal. The FBI has been trying for over a decade and still can't catch him."
"The FBI is useless mainly because of the judicial process you followed. Using the law against Falcone is of course useless. Things outside the law are different."
Emily mused, "You mean Batman!"
"Batman can't do that. He's too principled to do something like that."
"If it's not Batman, who else could it be? It can't be Superman!"
Luke shook his head and laughed. "Fool! The best way to kill a tiger is of course humans. When thousands of people rush into the forest with torches, no matter how ferocious and violent a tiger is, it can only hide in its cave and tremble like a cat."
"Talent is the most powerful species!"