Pretending to Be an Untouchable Crime Boss-Chapter 398: James Bellini.
Linda did not know what to say or even how to react to the situation in front of her because even though she had been through many terrible things in her life and had learned how to stay calm in dangerous moments, she was never good at lying to people, especially not when the person sitting in front of her came with a reason that sounded honest and good.
It was much easier to lie when the other person was greedy, selfish, or only cared about themselves, because then Linda could simply tell herself that they deserved it, but this was different because the woman sitting in front of her was talking about helping people, about using money to support others, about making sure children, poor families, and sick people had a chance to survive, and that made it much harder for Linda to think clearly.
And of course Linda had no idea that James had ever donated money to anyone. Nobody had mentioned it before.
That was why Linda could not stop herself from thinking about it.
If James had really been donating money, then how had nobody noticed? How had nobody talked about it? How had someone like James managed to send large amounts of money to different organizations without people asking questions or realizing where it came from?
Though the answer was easy. Of course it was Dani.
Dani knew how to make money travel through different accounts, businesses, fake names, and shell companies until nobody could tell where it had started or where it had ended. If James wanted money to reach an organization without his own name being connected to it, Dani could make it happen with almost no effort at all.
Of course, Linda didn’t know about Dani, but all of it made her think about one more thing, the most important question of all.
How the fuck does Olivia know that it was James who donated the money?
In Linda’s mind, it was impossible to know when the money went through different companies, different banks, and of course under different names, and she was sure there was no way James had used his real name to donate that money, because that would be a fucking joke.
"Well, I don’t know who James Bellini is, but you can enlighten me." Linda said as she leaned back in her chair. It was obvious she could not just openly tell a civilian that she actually knew who he was and that they were working together. "If he is a rich businessman, then he probably already abandoned the city, just like many of them did after the operation against criminals started. You know, half of our billionaires and millionaires ran away. Billionaire Hill is full of empty mansions now."
It was true. Linda was not lying about that. The government had even made statistics and forecasts about what would happen to the economy if a large part of the rich left the city.
The solution was simple. Freeze all of their bank accounts and take everything they owned inside the city, and that was exactly what they did.
Still, Linda’s words were mostly bait for Olivia, because there was no way she was going to say out loud that James was a criminal or a drug lord. Because if she did, she would be putting herself into a criminal case as well.
An organization that accepted millions from a criminal and more so now asking to let him use more of his money.
"It... it doesn’t need to be hidden anymore." Olivia’s voice was strange, shaky, almost breaking yet she forced a small smile.
"Hide?" Linda asked cautiously.
"The fact that James Bellini... that he’s the most powerful criminal in the city. That he works with the government... and with you." Olivia’s eyes locked onto Linda. "I don’t want to be disrespectful. I really don’t, but Linda... people are asking questions now. Everyone who knows him, everyone who depends on him... they’re all asking the same thing. Where is he? Why isn’t he helping them? They’re waiting for him more than they’re waiting for the government. Whole neighborhoods whisper his name. Thousands of people... silent, just waiting for him. That’s why I’m here." Olivia leaned back in her chair, her hands curling into fists."I’m talking about James Bellini, the one who helped thousands of people with his money. And those people don’t give a single fuck if that money was bloody or not. What they care about is the fact that he helped.... after all, money is money, don’t you agree?"
The last sentence was obviously a jab at Linda, a jab at the whole government and the corruption. And it was the blunt truth, not just a jab, Linda herself stole money, and she didn’t care where it was supposed to go... to help poor people, to a children’s hospital, or anything else. No, she didn’t care. And now Olivia said it exactly.
It doesn’t matter what kind of money it is... money is money, after all.
But the most important part for Linda wasn’t the personal attack. No, it was the fact that Olivia was talking about thousands of people who were waiting for James. And that meant they could potentially become members of the family, soldiers in a war. And thinking about William’s fucked-up plan... now it just became even worse.
"How are you sure the money came from James?" Linda’s tone shifted immediately.
"The man who brought the money had a gun on him, with an engraving that said ’Bellini.’ He gave us the money in cash... and a little extra by check." Olivia’s voice was certain, and that made Linda think.
What if... it wasn’t even James who gave the money, but one of his men? Linda knew James had handed out a lot of money to his top men. Maybe it was all a mistake... or maybe Olvia had misunderstood it, thought there was nothing to do about it and well Linda day was far for over so she needed to be quick with it.
"James has suffered a lot of losses, and right now he’s helping his own. So I don’t know when he’ll step forward, but I’ll try to help with the donation if he wants to."
"Losses?" Olvia asked immediately.
"Yeah. A lot of his men died... a lot of them are still under the rubble. Even he was injured. So, right now, there’s chaos everywhere. But when the time comes, I’ll tell him about you."
