Chapter 96: This Guy Is Really Ruthless
The bar doesn't open in the morning, but procurement and other departments, including security personnel, operate as usual. Sean and his crew only come in during business hours. Moreover, Sean and his brothers are still in the hospital, and it's uncertain if they are still overseeing the bar.
Erick led Henry to the office, where the administrative staff had just finished replacing the glass door with the help of a renovation company. The workers were just leaving. Erick invited Henry to sit on the sofa, wearing a forced smile, anxiously waiting for Henry to produce the hard drives.
Henry asked, "Charles explained everything to you on the phone, right?"
Erick nodded. "Yes, very clearly. I'll have the finance team transfer his ten percent share to you shortly."
Henry continued, "And what about our matter?"
Erick replied, "Whatever you say goes."
Henry said, "The issue between Charles and me started because of you. Doubling his compensation shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Erick was taken aback. He had expected Henry to demand conditions similar to those given to Charles, but doubling it? He had seen ruthless people before, but this was on another level!
Gritting his teeth, Erick said, "One million eight hundred thousand and twenty percent of the shares. Fine, I'll give it to you. And those three external hard drives..."
Henry smiled. "But I already said yesterday, if you marry Victoria, this debt will be written off."
Erick breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, How could I forget that?
Henry then asked, "You know better than I do what's on those three hard drives, right?"
Erick smiled awkwardly.
"And the trap you set for me last night."
Erick tensed up again.
"Here's the deal," Henry said. "If you don't want the contents of those hard drives made public, you can take the gold bars, cash, and bank cards from the safe. But the remaining seventy percent of the bar's shares and all the money in the current financial accounts will be mine."
Damn, this guy is cutting off my livelihood and trying to kill me!
Erick stared at Henry in shock.
"What's wrong?" Henry asked calmly.
Erick, looking distressed, said, "Brother, name your price for the money, but this bar..."
Henry interrupted him, "This bar is your livelihood, but it will also be your grave someday. Can't you see the current situation? Cracking down on vice and crime will become a norm. Engaging in these dirty deals in the bar will eventually ruin you and everyone connected to you. I'm actually saving you, giving you a chance to clean up and move on. As for this bar, I'll turn it into a genuine entertainment venue for the public."
Erick thought: You impoverished country bumpkin, a recently released convict, preaching to me?
"Brother," Erick said, "Running a bar isn't easy. You need to grease the wheels everywhere. It's not just about settling things with the underworld. If you miss any aspect—culture, health, security—you can't keep it open. And without a solid backing, high-spending customers won't come. Relying solely on the public to sing karaoke, you'll be closed in three days. I'm not against you making money. If you think the shares are insufficient, I can give you more. But running a business isn't just about risking your life."
Henry said, "How I run the business is my concern. If you agree to my terms, we are even."
Erick smiled wryly. "Actually, the other seventy percent isn't entirely mine; there are other stakeholders."
Henry asked, "Who are they? Are they all on those three hard drives?"
Erick's face stiffened.
"Brother," Erick said, "You're indeed tough and a daredevil. I'm afraid of you because I value my life. But if you push me to the brink, I'll take someone down with me, even if it means mutual destruction. Let me tell you, some of the bar's visible shareholders are untouchable. The ones with secret shares are even more so."
Henry smiled slightly. "Why would I provoke them? You sowed the seeds of trouble. I'll just copy the videos from the three hard drives and visit them one by one. Who do you think will eventually want you dead?"
Erick stared at Henry for a long time, then asked, "What do you really want?"
Henry calmly said, "Take the items from the safe and leave, now, immediately! Otherwise, you won't even get those."
Henry's strategy was not to push too hard but to leave Erick a way out. The safe contained millions, enough for an ordinary person to live comfortably for life. But Erick was no longer an ordinary person. He was more concerned about what he was losing than what he could take away.
Just then, the administrative staff knocked on the door. Erick let her in, and she informed him that two uniformed officers from the district bureau were waiting in the lobby to see him.
Erick asked her to leave and then turned to Henry, saying, "You see, out of nowhere, people from the district bureau come to investigate. This will happen frequently. If you don't have connections in the district or even the city bureau..."
Henry interrupted, "That's not your concern. You need to decide whether to accept my terms or wait for me to collect the debt another way."
Erick hesitated and said, "I'll go meet the police officers first?"
"Go ahead."
After leaving the office, Erick didn't head straight to the lobby. Instead, he detoured to the finance office, asked the accountant to leave temporarily, and called Ruby. He knew Jason couldn't handle this.
"Aunt," Erick pleaded, "Can you talk to someone at the city bureau? Henry is too ruthless. If he just wanted some money, it wouldn't matter, but he's trying to take my bar. He's tough and reckless; the underworld can't handle him. Only the police can."
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