novelnext Chapter 136 Taking advantage of a crisis
Chapter 136 Taking advantage of a crisis
Chapter 136 Taking Advantage of a Crisis (Bonus Chapter for 24000 Monthly Tickets)
Three o'clock in the morning.
In the mayor's office on the third floor of Pittsburgh City Hall, Leo Wallace stood in the shadows, holding a cell phone.
His thumb hovered over the dial key for a long time.
This was a call he didn't want to make, but had to make.
Leo pressed the dial button.
"Beep—beep—"
The long wait echoed through the office.
The call was finally connected on the sixth ring.
"Leo".
Douglas Morganfield's voice came through, heavy with sleepiness and an undisguised annoyance.
"I gave you my private number so you could call me when you have good news, not to listen to you raving at 3 a.m.
"Anti-monopoly lawsuit."
Leo's voice was hoarse.
"We can't delay any longer, Douglas."
"I don't care what methods you use, you have to win, and you have to win quickly."
"I know you have the ability; you have one of the top legal teams in the country, and you have the power to ask them to do this."
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
Morganfield seemed to have sobered up a bit.
Even through the phone line, Leo could sense that he was scrutinizing this sudden request.
"So urgent?"
Morganfield's voice became playful, and his sleepiness vanished.
"Let me guess, has the wind shifted over in Washington?"
"Is it that no one is answering your phone? Or did the people who promised to protect you suddenly remember they have other appointments?"
"Your voice sounds quite hysterical right now, Mr. Mayor."
Leo ignored his probing, but did not refute it either.
"I want to see you," Leo said coldly. "Now, I'm coming to you."
"Now?"
Morganfield let out a short laugh.
"No, Leo. You have no right to demand this now, at least not now."
"I have my morning routine, and I won't break it for anyone, especially a desperate politician who goes crazy at 3 a.m.
"Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, Allegheny Hilltop Club."
Morganfield provided the time and location.
"Don't be late, I don't like waiting."
"Click".
The phone hangs up.
Leo threw his phone on the table.
Roosevelt's voice rang out in the darkness.
"Morganfield smells blood; he won't help you for nothing."
"I know," Leo said, looking out at the dark night. "But he had no choice; he had also invested in the port project."
"No, Leo."
Roosevelt corrected him.
"You didn't have a choice before because you had Sanders backing you up, but now you're a discarded pawn."
"To abandon a pawn, that's not cooperation."
"So, if he rejects you or offers a price you can't accept by 9 a.m. tomorrow—"
Roosevelt paused for a moment.
Do you have any other plans?
Leo did not answer.
He just stood there quietly, his figure almost melting into the shadows illuminated only by the faint light of the emergency lights.
He neither nodded nor shook his head.
But in that deep darkness, his eyes shone with an astonishing light.
The next morning, at the Allegheny Mountain Top Club.
Leo pushed open that familiar door right on time.
The curtains in the cigar room were drawn back, letting in the morning sunlight.
Morganfield, dressed in a white workout outfit, was sitting on the sofa.
He was the only one in the room.
-
There was no lawyer, no assistant.
Leo walked to the window, his back to Morganfield, and looked down at the city awakening in the morning mist.
"I want to end the lawsuit," Leo said, getting straight to the point.
"Win the case within two weeks through a simplified judgment."
I heard the sound of a lighter lighting a cigar behind me.
"This is difficult, Leo."
Morganfield exhaled a puff of smoke, his voice languid.
"My legal team is indeed very capable, but the court has its own procedures. To win a case directly through summary judgment within two weeks, or to force the other party to withdraw the case, requires the use of unconventional judicial resources, and I would have to incur a huge favor."
"This is not just a matter of money."
"This is a matter of face, a matter of political capital."
Leo turned around and looked at Morganfield.
“You also have a stake in the port,” Leo said. “If the project falls through, your fifty-year concession will be worthless, and your land development plans will also be ruined.”
"That's right."
Morganfield nodded, readily admitting it.
"I will lose a sum of money, maybe tens of millions, maybe one or two hundred million."
"But, Leo."
Morganfield's eyes sharpened.
"For the Morganfield family, this money is painful, but it won't cost them their lives. I can afford to lose it."
"But what about you?"
"If this lawsuit drags on, if Murphy loses the primary, if the litigation continues..."
What will you lose?
"You will lose your mayoral position, you will lose all your political future."
"You could even go to jail for dereliction of duty."
"This is an unequal gamble."
Morganfield stood up and walked over to Leo.
He was half a head shorter than Leo, but at this moment, his aura completely overwhelmed the young man.
"The situation has changed, child."
"A month ago, you were a rising political star with $500 million in bonds and the endorsement of a senator. At that time, you were qualified to talk to me about cooperation and win-win situations."
"But now?"
"Washington has abandoned you, the party wants to purge you, and Sanders can no longer provide you with any more support."
"You're a discarded pawn now."
"It's a drowning dog that only I can save."
Morganfield reached out and straightened Leo's collar.
"At this level of risk, the original price is no longer sufficient."
Leo looked at those well-maintained old hands.
What do you want?
"It's very simple."
Morganfield smiled.
"Apart from the port concession."
"I need two more things."
He raised the first finger.
"First, the exclusive underwriting rights for all municipal bonds issued by the City of Pittsburgh for the next thirty years."
Leo's pupils contracted sharply.
Exclusive underwriting rights.
This means that every penny borrowed by the Pittsburgh city government will have to go through Morganfield's hands.
He will control the city's financial lifeline; he can determine the city's financing costs, and even decide what projects the city can and cannot undertake.
This is almost equivalent to handing over fiscal power.
"second."
Morganfield raised his second finger.
"I've seen your second phase of the revitalization plan; it's very ambitious. You're going to renovate three large communities and build business centers and schools there."
"I want the priority development rights for all the commercial and supporting facilities in these communities."
"And the property management rights for all future municipal engineering projects and their supporting facilities."
Morganfield is turning the revitalization plan into his real estate development project.
Leo originally intended to use these business centers to support local small businesses and use the property revenue to subsidize community welfare.
If this condition is agreed to, then the so-called "revival" will become Morganfield's "enclosure movement".
Those newly built commercial streets will become Morganfield's rental property.
Slums will indeed disappear, but they will be replaced by expensive upscale communities.
This is a complete betrayal.
He betrayed the voters who trusted him and all his promises.
"These are your terms?"
Leo's voice was very soft.
"These are my conditions."
Morganfield sat back down on the sofa, picked up a cigar, and took a puff.
"That's fair, Leo. I saved your life, and you give me a part of this city."
"As long as you nod and agree to sign these two supplementary agreements."
"I will do everything in my power to help you win the lawsuit."
"At that time, you can take the victory to support Murphy, and you can continue to be your mayor and enjoy your power."
"And I'm just getting back a little of the interest I'm entitled to."
Leo looked coldly at Morganfield and asked, "So, even if I hand over the city's financial future and land to you, you can't guarantee a sure victory, is that right?"
Morganfield flicked his cigarette ash, speaking as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Leo, in this world, especially in court, no one can guarantee an absolute victory. Even the best lawyers can only increase the odds, not predict the future."
These words completely extinguished the last vestige of hesitation in Leo's heart.
If he agrees.
He does have a chance of surviving.
But he will no longer be the mayor of Pittsburgh.
He will become Morganfield's puppet, a rubber stamp responsible for signing documents.
Pittsburgh will be renamed "Morganfield".
"There are limits to compromise, Douglas."
"Leo spoke up."
"For my goals, I can give you the concession rights to the inland port. Because that's incremental, a resource we created together, and I have the right to use it to gain space to survive."
Leo's gaze swept across the documents on the table, then fixed intently on Morganfield's face.
"But the underwriting rights for municipal bonds, the land for community business centers—that's the city's stock, the foundation of Pittsburgh, the bottom line for its 300,000 citizens."
"Sacrificing local interests in exchange for a greater victory is called compromise."
"But if you hand over even the core foundation, then it's not a compromise."
That's called surrendering.
"That's called slavery."
Leo took a deep breath.
He raised his hand, straightened his collar, and forcefully slapped away the spot Morganfield had just touched, his gesture filled with disgust.
"So this is your definition of an ally."
Leo's tone was frighteningly calm.
"Taking advantage of someone's misfortune and kicking them when they're down."
"Douglas, you're a shrewd businessman; you know how to squeeze every penny out of him. But you're a terrible politician; you have absolutely no idea where the boundaries of power lie."
Morganfield frowned; he sensed the decisiveness in Leo's tone, not a bargaining stance.
"In that case..."
Leo took a step back, increasing the distance between himself and the oligarch, and also increasing the distance between himself and the abyss.
"Then let's not talk about it."
"What did you say?" Morganfield's hand, holding the cigar, froze in mid-air. "You're not going to talk anymore?"
"Yes, let's not talk about it anymore."
Leo turned and walked toward the door.
I will not agree to any of your conditions.
"The underwriting rights of municipal bonds belong to the citizens, and the land in the community also belongs to the citizens."
"I won't sell them to you, not even to save my own life."
Morganfield suddenly stood up.
"Leo Wallace! Do you know what you're saying?"
"If you walk out this door, you're truly doomed!"
"Without my help, that lawsuit will drag you down! Washington will abandon you! You'll go to jail, you'll lose everything!"
"Where do you think you can go? To Sanders? He doesn't want you anymore!"
Morganfield's voice was full of threat.
"You only have me now! Only I can save you!"
Leo stopped in his tracks.
His hand gripped the doorknob.
Turning back, he looked at the furious oligarch.
The once unapproachable and all-powerful figure in his eyes now seemed to be nothing more than a greedy old man.
"Only you can save me?"
Leo smiled.
That smile held a hint of madness, a hint of relief.
"Douglas, you've got one thing wrong."
"I came to you not to save my life."
"I'm giving you one last chance, so you can stay at this table with some dignity."
"Since you want to flip the table, since you want to watch me die."
Leo's eyes turned fierce.
"Then I'll die right here."
"But before I die."
"I will make sure this hill is blasted flat first."
"If I lose the case in the end, I will make public all the inside information about the port transaction, the draft of the concession agreement, and the evidence of how you used the radish tender to acquire land."
"I will send these things to the FBI, to The New York Times, to every competitor who wants to destroy you."
"I will admit my guilt, I will admit that I committed corruption."
"But I'll drag you down to hell with me."
"Your port dream, your business empire, your reputation, will all be buried with me."
Morganfield's face turned deathly pale instantly.
He suddenly realized that he had been pushing too hard.
He had cornered the wolf, and now the wolf was preparing to turn around and bite his throat.
"Leo, wait, we can discuss this further—"
Morganfield tried to salvage the situation.
"It's too late."
"Leo said coldly."
Keep your cigars for yourself.
"You better pray I can find a way to win, or you'd better prepare to hire your legal team again to fight this case for another three years."
"Bang!"
The door slammed shut.
Leo is gone.
Morganfield was left alone in the empty cigar room, his cigar still smoking, but he felt a chill.
The situation is out of control.
That young man he thought he could easily manipulate actually dared to take everyone down with him.
Leo walked briskly down the corridor.
His heart was pounding, and his palms were sweaty.
He knew that in that instant, he had not only rejected Morganfield, but he had also cut off his last escape route.
"Leo".
Roosevelt's voice suddenly rang out.
"Tell me the truth, do you have a backup plan?"
Leo didn't stop walking, not even for a second.
"no."
He shook his head.
"I have no backup plan."
Roosevelt was taken aback.
Immediately afterwards, a burst of wild laughter exploded in Leo's mind.
"Hahahahaha!"
"What a crazy kid!"
"You dare to extort the city's biggest crocodile with nothing but your bare hands?"
"We have nowhere to retreat now, Mr. President."
"Now we are truly all alone."
"No."
Roosevelt's voice carried an unprecedented fervor.
"Now, you are truly free."
"Since all the roads are blocked."
"Then let's go and poke a hole in the sky."
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