Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Naming The Gang....
"Haha, interesting, you are truly an amusing man."
Alex smiled, already understanding with a subordinate like that under Simon, his next step would become much easier than he anticipated.
"You think these meagrely amount of taels of gold can bribe me? Impossible!"
"But I’ll tell you if you add five... no four more...it’s definitely possible!"
Antonio words were greedy, but his actions were even more greedy as he hastily stuffed another five taels into his pocket without any hesitation.
"Mr. Hartwell , release him," Alex commanded calmly.
Mr. Hartwell hesitated.
"Alex, is this a really good idea? What if he escapes?"
He spoke up, looking at Antonio nervously.
"Don’t worry. From what I can understand said, he definitely bears grudges against Simon. And with Jacob here, even if he attempted to flee, he would not be able to escape alive."
Mr. Hartwell nodded in relief and walked forward to untie Antonio.
"You hate Simon?"
"What happened between you two?"
Alex inquired, his voice stern and unquestionable.
Whenever Simon’s name was mentioned, Antonio’s expression turned ghostly.
"Hate is too light word for me. My sister used to be a flower like beauty, but he made her his concubine against her will!
"Each time I used to visit her, I saw her with wounds all over her body."
"My sister asked me to take her home every time. But I can’t beat him. If I was even a little strong, I would have killed him myself."
This anger had burdened his heart for years.
Assuming that he would die today, Antonio said everything freely, expressing his suffering and only now explaining his worst complaint in words for others to know.
"Alright. I’ll give you that opportunity to kill Simon. On the sixth of this month.
I’ll send my men to encircle him and you’ll strike with us," Alex stated calmly.
The plan was well calculated. If Antonio assisted in killing Simon, he would be bound to them forever, stuck on their boat with no ability to leave afterward.
"But I...I never killed anyone before. I don’t dare..."
Antonio stumbled at that, alarm creeping into his tone. His prior anger disappeared, replaced by hesitation at having blood on his hands.
Alex knee at once.
So that’s why Antonio knew so much about Simon but never acted because he was afraid, and didn’t have the heart to cross that last line.
Thinking of this Alex’s voice went cold.
"Jacob, you’ll assist him when the time is right."
"Okay," Jacob answered decisively, his words laced with determination.
Alex kept firing questions on Antonio one after another.
From the words of Antonio, he finally knew that Jacob’s old mother had been detained in a small house on Northern Lane of Ashford Village but without any food and water.
In a flash, the news hit Jacob like lightning.
"You damned Simon ! You imprisoned my eighty-year-old mother in that kind of house! She’s been two days without water and food...how could the old woman bear such harsh treatment?"
Jacob bellowed in a fury.
Before anyone could hold him back, he turned around and set off to run out of town, eager to dash back to Ashford Village and save his mother himself.
"No!"
But Alex blocked him hard.
"If you rush headstrong now, soldiers will catch you even before reaching there.
Not only you will fail to rescue her but you’ll also find yourself back in prison once again, and she’ll be hurt even more after that.
Alex saw the strength of Jacob but he also saw his foolishness as well.
The man was courageous, but without any basic sense, his actions would destroy everything.
That had to be held in check.
"Then what do I do?!"
Jacob’s panic engulfed him. He walked back and forth in the yard like an ant on a hot pan, not able to soothe his racing terror.
"Wait for Nathan to come back," Alex instructed calmly.
Jacob blinked. "Ah? You’re not Nathan?"
Alex’s lips twitched.
"No."
Jacob: "...."
——-
They waited for nearly an hour before someone finally knocked on the door.
"Sis, open up the door for us!"
Nathan’s voice could be heard from the outside loud and hasty.
Lucy rushed over and opened the door.
At once, Nathan walked in with well over a dozen men behind him, all of them walking with high spirits.
"Look, that’s our Boss!
"Why are you all just standing there? Come on greet the Boss!!"
"Yes, hurry!"
The two brothers, Tommy and Rory, pointed straight at Alex and invited everybody to greet him.
"Hello, Boss!"
"Hello everyone!"
"Boss!"
Voices cheered in chorus, dozens of them, all hailing Alex in respect.
The abrupt chorus stiffened his expression, and suspicion flashed in his eyes.
Nathan smiled and approached him.
"Brother Alex , these are the men I spoke to you about the past two days. They’ve all committed to following me."
Actually, he had been preoccupied a quite lately.
With Tommy, Rory, and a few others, he had traveled throughout Southside, recruiting followers.
This time, they were able to recruit a well over forty men.
Adding them to the small group they already had, their numbers now totaled over fifty!
Alex’s eyes widened slightly at the count. He had to admit, Nathan’s ability was beyond his expectations.
This guy really did have the makings of a Gangster boss.
"Good work", he said.
Nathan laughed proudly at his praise.
"They all follow me now, which makes you their true Boss above me."
"But we are having a little problem.....I’ve all these men but no name for us," he confessed. "Brother Alex , you’re the brain of tha gang.
Why don’t you come up with a name for the gang?"
He had considered it the past two days: names like Dragon gang, Skyfire gang, and Ironhold gang. But Lucy rejected them all as sounding dull and unattractive.
Alex held his head in thought, a small smile pulling at his mouth after thinking a lot about it.
"Why don’t we all call ourselves..."