Copy & Paste Power in Modern World

Adam looked at Bruno and said, "First, I am saving your life."

Bruno blinked.

For a second he looked more confused than afraid. Then he looked down at the white slip again, as if the answer might already be written there.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

Adam did not answer that directly.

"Write Gonda’s number first," he said.

Bruno hesitated, but only for a moment. Then he took the slip, borrowed a pen from the desk, and wrote the number down.

Adam waited until he finished.

"Now listen carefully," he said. "You will go to Gonda and tell him I contacted you. You will not mention this company. You will not mention this office. You will not mention anyone here. Do you understand?"

Bruno stared at him.

He was clearly trying to follow the path ahead and failing.

Adam saw the confusion on his face and spoke before Bruno could ask another wrong question.

"If you want a deal with me, then remember the first rule," he said. "Trust. I am trusting you right now, so you will trust me too."

Then his eyes hardened.

"Even after you already broke that trust once."

Bruno stood up at once and lowered his head again.

"I am sorry," he said.

Adam raised one hand and stopped him.

"I do not forgive people that easily," he said.

Then he looked at Kenji.

"Hit him," Adam said. "Wherever he hit you, hit him back."

Bruno’s head snapped up.

Kenji froze.

For a second he looked between the two of them as if he had heard something wrong. He had not expected this, and neither had anyone else in the room.

Adam did not repeat himself to Kenji.

He looked at Bruno instead.

"Let him do it," he said. "Or I will deal with you myself."

That was enough.

Bruno did not move.

Kenji rose slowly. He was still holding his stomach a little from the earlier blow, and his face showed how uncomfortable he was with the whole thing. Even now he did not really want revenge. He only wanted the situation to end.

Adam saw the hesitation and kept his voice flat.

"Do it."

Kenji stepped closer and drove one hard punch into Bruno’s stomach.

Bruno folded slightly and let out a rough breath, but he did not fight back.

Adam let the silence sit there for a second.

Then he said, "Good enough."

He turned to Bruno again.

"Now share your number with Kenji. From this point on, he is your handler. If you need to pass anything to me, you pass it through him. If I have anything for you, it will come through him."

Kenji looked startled by that, but he said nothing.

Bruno nodded immediately. He took out his phone, and a few seconds later Kenji had the number saved.

"And one more thing," Adam said. "Whatever proof you have of me, erase it. Every number, every note, every trail. If I find even one thing left behind, I will know."

Bruno swallowed and nodded again.

Adam watched him for a moment and then let his gaze go colder.

Now it was time to give him fear and hope together.

He stood up, walked around the desk, and stopped directly in front of Bruno.

"If you had listened to me the first time," he said, "Gonda would already be dead."

Bruno’s eyes widened.

Adam did not stop.

"Instead, you delayed everything, got greedy, and made mistakes. In the end, I had to use someone from your own side."

At that, the memory of Bobula passed through the room at once.

Bruno’s face tightened. So did Rafi’s. Toma looked away for a second.

Adam leaned a little closer.

"Still, you did one thing right," he said. "No one knows this business is our front. That saved you. If Gonda had known about this place earlier, your condition would be much worse than it is now."

That part was mostly a bluff, but Bruno believed every word.

Adam could see it.

Then he stepped back.

"It is not too late for you," he said. "Our organization is interested in the economy here, not the underworld itself. We do not care about ruling dirty streets. We care about getting our feet into the economy, and for that we need people who can open and close the right doors."

He tapped the stick lightly once against the floor.

"That is why I came to you first."

Bruno listened without blinking.

"Now you have come back to me," Adam continued, "so I am giving you that chance again. If you betray me, you will be punished. If you stay loyal, your reward will be twice what you think it is. You cannot imagine how high you can go from here."

Bruno kept staring at him.

Fear was still there, but now greed had returned too.

That was good.

Adam wanted both.

"And stop worrying about Gonda," Adam said. "We will handle him. You are our main partner now. We trust you. I will deal with Gonda."

That last line nearly shook Bruno more than the threat had.

For the first time since this conversation began, something close to hope rose in his face.

"Go," Adam said. "There is nothing more for you to do here tonight."

Bruno nodded quickly. Then he turned, went to Shinju, Sera, and Davin one by one, and apologized in a rough, embarrassed voice before moving back toward the door. Rafi and Toma followed him without speaking.

The room stayed silent until the door closed behind them.

Only then did Kenji turn back toward Adam.

"Sir... Wil..." he said quietly. "I’m sorry. This happened because of me."

Adam wanted to say many things.

He wanted to tell him it was not that simple. He wanted to tell him that the real mistake had started much earlier, with choices Kenji did not even know about. He wanted to tell him that fear and inexperience were not the same as betrayal.

But any long answer would only create more questions.

So Adam stayed silent.

Shinju stepped forward instead.

"I had a lot of doubts about you before," she said. "I won’t ask anything now. The dream we had is still the same, and you are the one who put it in front of us."

She lowered her head slightly.

"Thank you."