Empire of Shadows

For the past few days, the number of customers in the Golden Port Casino had decreased significantly. Rumors were spreading throughout the city, with all sorts of stories.

But all the rumors had one central theme—

The landscape of Golden Port City’s underworld was about to undergo a massive change.

People didn’t know when the casino would be attacked, and they didn’t dare to risk gambling there.

The poor business was like fate telling Bandy in another way that he had to do something.

Gorry had been very depressed these past few days, constantly getting drunk at home.

After all, as a father, not only had he been unable to help Stone at that critical moment, but it could also be said that he had forced Stone to make a terrible choice.

He knew his actions were the most correct, but that made him even more pained!

Only alcohol, nicotine, and even Maple Iris Grass could soothe his current pain.

“Go see your uncle, comfort him, and bring him back.”“Remember to tell him that you, me, all of us need him.”

Fleming nodded. Gorry also lived in the manor, in a separate house. It would take a few minutes to get there.

When Fleming pushed open the door, he could smell the strong scent of tobacco and alcohol in the room, along with some other strange odors.

Gorry was sitting on the floor, leaning against the leg of a sofa, looking exceptionally haggard.

He heard the footsteps, glanced up at Fleming, squeezed out a smile, and shakily raised his wine glass. “Come have a drink with me.”

Fleming looked at him for about ten seconds before walking over, snatching the wine bottle from his hand, twisting off the cap, and pouring it over his head.

A hundred-dollar bottle of wine poured over a person’s head was no different from cheap wine. Gorry closed his eyes, constantly opening his mouth to breathe, and constantly blowing away the alcohol.

After one bottle was finished, Fleming picked up another, opened it, and poured it on him.

The splashing sound of the wine falling on Gorry’s wet scalp gradually sobered him up a little.

“The family is facing the biggest crisis in its history. I know you’re in pain for losing Stone, and I’m in pain too!”

“He was my good brother since we were kids, always taking care of me. I’m more angry and sad than you are!”

“But I know that now is not the time to let anger and sadness defeat us!”

“We still have to face challenges, face responsibilities, and there are many things waiting for us, Uncle Gorry.”

“You should pull yourself together. We have to defeat Lance and then get Stone back from their hands.”

“If he is still alive, he would definitely not want you to be like this.”

Gorry’s eyes were very red. “I killed him.” In his last words that day, he had almost told his son in plain language, “You shouldn’t continue to live.” It was very cruel!

Fleming bent down, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him up. “So, did he sacrifice himself for your current pathetic state?”

“Can you fucking not make his death so wasteful?”

“Can you think about how we can get revenge on Lance?”

“Does sitting here and getting drunk do anything for revenge?”

“Are you planning to let him die in vain?”

A series of questions made Gorry’s mentality change slightly. He looked at Fleming’s angry eyes. The two looked at each other, not backing down.

After a while, he straightened up and wiped the remaining wine from his face. “You’re right. I should pull myself together, at least not let him die for nothing.”

“I’m going to change my clothes.”

Fleming nodded and walked to the sofa to sit down, at the same time having someone clear away the trash on the table.

The words he had just said were not entirely artificially created. That was also his true thought.

His relationship with Stone was better than his relationship with anyone else, because Bandy and Gorry were very good brothers, so their children naturally played together since they were young.

Stone might not be so outstanding in his studies, but for children with their background, whether they had good learning ability was not important at all.

Stone took good care of Fleming and had always protected him.

He was also very sad to hear the news of Stone’s death.

But he knew that now was definitely not the time to be sad!

More than ten minutes later, Gorry, who had already changed his clothes, came down from upstairs. His wet hair was draped over the back of his head, which made him look a lot more energetic.

“I’m going to his villa to get some things back.”

Stone also had his own villa in the Bay Area. He also lived in the manor, but sometimes he would also live in the villa.

After all, he was still a “young man.” He also had his own needs and private life. He couldn’t just bring a different girl or several girls to the manor every few days.

His elders, Bandy, Gorry, and other family members lived here. This place was “sacred.”

So he would do those things in his own villa. Most other people also had such villas, including Fleming.

Fleming nodded. “No problem. I’ll go with you.”

The two got in the car and quickly drove out of the manor. At first, they were a little worried that they would be suddenly attacked, but after a careful search these past few days, they found that Lance didn’t even have any lookouts.

They were safe, but this was not good news. This meant that Lance believed that he could deal with the Kodak Family without using extreme measures.

Lance’s confidence, the more confident he appeared, the more dejected these people’s emotions became. That visible confidence was like saying, “You’re all dead!”

Although there were ridiculous situations where seemingly powerful enemies could only throw a light punch in the end, Bandy always believed that Lance would not be like that.

When Fleming’s convoy arrived at Gorry’s villa, he walked straight to the study. There was a safe in the study, and he knew the combination.

And Fleming was waiting for Gorry in the living room.

He thought it might take a while, but Gorry came out of the study as soon as he went in, his face wearing an expression that Fleming couldn’t describe.

“They’ve been here. They took something from the safe!”

At first, Fleming didn’t react, but he soon realized that the “they” Gorry was talking about could be Stone and Lance’s men. He didn’t believe it at first, but soon he chose to believe Gorry’s judgment.

“You… how are you sure?”

Fleming quickly went up to the second floor. In Stone’s study, he saw the opened safe.

“Only Stone and I know where this safe is, and only we know the combination.”

“It’s been opened, and the things inside are gone. And look, it doesn’t look like it was forced open.”

Fleming glanced at the safe door. Not to mention any pry marks, there wasn’t even a single scratch on it!

The safe was hidden behind a bookshelf. You had to first open the bookshelf, then trigger two mechanisms, and then you could pull open the bookshelf to reveal the safe behind it.

If you didn’t know how to find it, those people would definitely have made a mess of this place, but it looked very neat here.

They weren’t sure if Stone was dead or not, but he must have said something.

“I’m going to kill him!” His expression was a little distorted. He had been so depressed for Stone’s “death” these past few days, but now he found that Stone might not be dead, and he had even fucking confessed!

Fleming also realized that something was wrong and immediately had him go back with him.

Twenty minutes later, the two entered Bandy’s office. Bandy was on the phone.

This was the only thing he could do for the family these past few days. In the past, he had been proud of knowing those socialites and politicians. He knew this councilman, that representative.

He even knew a senator.

But now, facts proved that in the face of a great disaster, these people were useless.

He saw the two of them and raised his hand to signal them to sit down first, but his attention was still on the phone. “…The presidential election only cost 30 million. I have at least 20 million going into your hands every year.”

“This money is enough for a person to participate in a presidential election in two years, and now you want to abandon me!”

“…That’s your business. My only request now is…”

Fleming sat in the chair opposite him. He knew that this was a call from Golden State, and on the other end of the line must be a senator.

Originally, he was still thinking about Stone’s matter. He suddenly saw a significant change in Bandy’s expression, and then he said grimly, “I see. You guys think about it again,” and hung up the phone.

He took a deep breath, but his mind was processing a lot of complex information. Now he knew that Senator Cleveland was using the profits generated by the casino licenses in his hands to conduct some advance dollar diplomacy.

So the pressure on his backer’s side was also very great. He had said it very directly on the phone that it wasn’t that he didn’t want to help, but that he was completely unable to.

Moreover, that senator was not the only one to whom Likalai State transferred benefits. All the Socialist Party states in the Federation were transferring benefits to Congress.

It was just that some states he got a larger share, and some states he got a smaller share.

Even if Bandy was finished, he could still get a share of these benefits. It was just that he would no longer be the one taking the lion’s share.

To deal with Lance from Congress was simply impossible.

Thinking of this, he was full of anger. All the funds from these years had really been fed to ungrateful dogs.

Then he looked at Fleming and Gorry sitting opposite him, took a deep breath, and was just about to comfort Gorry when Fleming said, “Stone is not dead.”

Bandy was stunned for a moment, and then a look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face. He also had genuine feelings for Stone. If this nephew could live, that would be for the best.

“How do you know this news?” he took a cigarette. The ashtray in front of him was full of cigarette butts and ashes. “Do you have a spy in the Lance Family?”

Gorry said with an ugly face, “He took Lance’s men back to his villa and took some things away.”

Bandy, who had already lit his cigarette, held the posture of lighting a cigarette. If it weren’t for the fact that the flame would tremble slightly, some people might have thought that time was standing still.

He stared at Gorry with wide eyes, as if asking—

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

(End of a Chapter)