Success, Opulence and Power by Hebru Young (best novel books to read .TXT) 📗

she just apologized again and kept walking towards the bathroom. When she was out of sight, I nodded at one of my security guys, and they knew exactly what needed to be done. The security guys, one on his right and the other to his left, grabbed the punk by both arms, took him outside, and put him in their car. One of the guys came back and asked me what I wanted them to do with the guy. I told them to rough him up a bit and let him go. Word got back that the guy was the son of a retired Milwaukee Miners player whose father also frequented the Big Fish. I didn’t care who his daddy was—he should have taught his kid some manners. He was one of a few people we’d released after we snatched them. He, along with anyone else on Alex and Chris’s list, was going to die. If any of those guys were in protective custody, we were going to make sure their testimony would never be heard.

“Joe, what’s the legal strategy in a scenario where a victim testifies?” I asked.

“Well, it depends on whether the victim heard you give specific orders to have them kidnapped,” replied Joe.

“I don’t think so, no. I’m too careful,” I said.

“If a victim testifies, we can discredit them. We will find all the dirt on them and use it in court. That’s in the unlikely event we can’t find out who it was,” said Joe.

“I won’t let it get to that. We’ll have to nip it in the bud before it goes to court. We can’t take any chances,” I said.

Moments after Alex and Chris got in touch with their contacts, we had a list of names to work from. The guys had narrowed it down to four individuals, one in Europe and three in the Americas. Thinking about it now, it was a bit disconcerting to know that we had kidnapped so many people over the years, and we could account for releasing only four. Oh well, we do what we need to do. Sacrifices have to be made in business, and if people needed to die in order to maintain the status quo, then so be it. I had come too far—I created an empire— and jeopardizing this for the lives of a few would be senseless. The companies that I have built have contributed significantly to the Nation’s economy. Which raises the question of why anyone would want to bring me down. I, Alex, and Chris had amassed a significant amount of wealth over the years and become accustomed to a particular lifestyle. Even though we were all wealthy, we still had individual financial goals that we were still trying to achieve.

“So, as far as the four people on the list, I’m not even going to ask how our people remember who’s done what. If our people are documenting this stuff, they better make sure the information is encrypted. Anyway, I want those people taken care of. We can assume that if anyone on that list is missing, they have gone into protective custody. What this means is that we will have to take them out on their way to the courthouse,” I said.

It turned out that the baseball player’s son who had disrespected Laura at the Big Fish had died in a car accident. Reports stated he was driving too fast in a sports car bought for him as a birthday present by his dad. He lost control of the car, spun, crashed into a lamp post, and the car burst into flames. Ah well, it’s quite sad, and I can only imagine how devastated his family must be. However, that’s another person we don’t have to account for, so we’re down to three potential witnesses. That fact the kid’s father was a high-profile individual would have made it a tricky situation anyway. There would have been serious pressure on law enforcement to bring his murderer to justice, but luckily, we no longer have to worry about that.

It was settled: we were going to get rid of all potential threats for a better chance of beating my case. I wanted to move onto other business, and Joe didn’t need to be around for the next discussion. We had an opportunity to make a trip to Nasarawa to go over the logistics that would make the erratanite deal happen.

“Joe, I think I have enough information for the trial, and I am happy for you to carry on with the rest of the research. I will be taking a trip to the AU in a couple of days. You’ll be able to reach me on the comms. I’m sure you have things to do, so you’re free to go now. The guys and I are going to be here for a while going over travel logistics and other business matters,” I said.

“Sure Dom, I’ll head to the office to see what else Fredric has been able to come up with,” Joe replied.

“Okay, see you later. Call me if you need anything.”

We planned on flying Saturday morning from MKE with a stopover in Brussels to refuel the jet. From Brussels, we would touch down at Dahiru’s private airfield in Nasarawa. Dahiru would be at the airfield to welcome us, and with both of our security teams in place, we would be able to mitigate any problems that might arise. In the AU, Nigeria had become one of the safest places to travel to, however, there was news of robberies and kidnappings every now and then. I needed to make sure all company-related digi-docs I needed for my trip had been sorted out and sent to my inbox. I buzzed Brandon, asking him to come into my office.

“Everything sorted for the trip to Nasarawa?” I asked.

“Yes, Mr. Dominguez, I spoke to the staff at the house, so your luggage has been