Chapter 48: Elements of Chaos.
"How much is that?" Joseph immediately asked, and Pablo just grabbed his chin, thinking about it for a while, like up until this point he didn’t even care about it.
"In total, around 310 million I think, maybe a bit less." he said, and as he looked at Joseph, he realized that he might have said it earlier. "But he’s been doing it for a long time now trying to be under the radar, and now that you came out of prison, he decided to go all in on it."
The had ten yers and just no going all in... fuck wrong with them.
"Ahh... Pablo, 310 million plus 500 and what we found in the first is almost 900 million, plus what we left with, more than a billion." Joseph said, and now it was clear that they weren’t broke but had enough money that they could use to bribe, make connections, and even start production on a small scale.
"It is, but that 310 million will be around 250 or a bit less because we need to move it through different accounts, shell companies to easily access it, and what we have found is the same thing, all 500 bills and the gold we need to sell." He said, and it made sense, there is a lot of laundering they need to do, and the actual money is not a billion but far less, maybe 800 million.
Though Joseph seemed to get lost in his thoughts as he was writing down numbers on the paper. "If we can make a good deal with the DSA, there is a chance they can clear our money and even give good money for the gold, so we don’t need to sell it for cheap on the black market."
"Isn’t that too much?" Pablo asked back because it was no more deal but a fucking alliance with the DSA.
"It is, but we live once, and I don’t give a fuck about anything anymore, so why wouldn’t we shoot our shots?" James asked as he looked up at him, and Pablo realized that all these plans, even the family too, were just a chance in Joseph’s mind. Almost like a revolver with one bullet... no, it’s more dangerous, like a handgun with a full magazine, and you can only survive if the gun jams... and Joseph was now relying on the small chance that the gun was going to jam.
Which Pablo couldn’t just let happen without saying anything.
"I disagree." He said, and to be truthful, up until this point he had just followed Joseph without any disagreement. "This family supports people who are ready to die for you, and the number will grow to a thousand if things play out well. But now we are playing on a small chance that the deal will work. Not just that, but I was already betrayed by the government and an agency once." He was different and James felt it. "We can’t trust them, nor can they trust us. But now you’re not just talking about a deal, you’re talking about an alliance with them. If they clean money for us, that’s just outrageous to even think about, not to mention how they could control us with it. That’s not a mafia... it’s a tool for them. And I am not going to be a tool again for a government, Joseph."
The whole atmosphere between them changed in a second. Pablo, now from that yes man, turned into something that felt dangerous. His eye, the one that was still working, was filled with an intent to kill. Joseph felt it, even if it wasn’t directed at him, it was just a black hole, as was Pablo’s voice, which was full of determination and hatred for everything related to the government.
He wasn’t just betrayed once but was hunted like he was a fucking deer, he witnessed his mates being executed, and lived a life as a homeless for years.