Chapter 145: Big Stick and Carrot

A white private helicopter with the Adams family logo slowly landed on the roof of the Bank of Brighton building. Christo bent over, holding onto his hat and clothes with each hand, and walked down the helicopter against the strong wind. He followed the building management staff all the way to the top floor meeting room of the bank.

When Christo pushed open the door to the meeting room, there were already three other people sitting there: Edward, Lawrence and Louis. Christo walked up to his seat in two steps. He looked at the three people in front of him and said without any preamble: 'I asked you here today because of a loan from Brighton Bank. I hope I can get a satisfactory answer from you!'

While saying this, Christo gestured to his secretary to distribute the documents to the other three people, saying, 'This is the document I received yesterday about the company's business. It says that yesterday, a Chinese man named Zhou Ming came to handle the loan business for Wharton Insurance Company. He wants to use the company's 3,000 properties as collateral and borrow US$700 million.'

Christo paused here, and after looking around at Edward Lawrence and Louis, he said, 'I know that all three of you have alliances with that Chinese person, but I hope you will all not forget that you are the patriarchs of the three families of Kennedi, Lawrence and Lowell, and then only partners with that Chinese person.'

Christo added, 'The Kendalline Lawrence and Lowell families are also important pillars of the Brighton consortium. Your actions of helping that Chinese person are a betrayal of the consortium and your ancestors. If you continue to be obstinate, I can hardly guarantee what I will do. Do you understand?'

Faced with Christo's barrage of aggressive questions, Edward said, 'Of course we understand, but now the money has already been handed over to Zhou Ming. Are you going to try to recover it through the banking system, Mr. Christo?'

"I would be happy to do so if I could, but I came here today specifically to remind you of this through this matter, to tell you what to do if you encounter this kind of thing. And one last thing, I don't understand why Zhou Ming needs to take out another loan after seven hundred million dollars? And the figure is also 700 million dollars?' Kristal looked at the two completely different documents in his hands and asked curiously.

'According to the Chinese man's explanation, he was trying to solve the debt problem of Brook Investment Company. With this loan of 1.4 billion dollars, he was able to completely eliminate the debt of Brook Investment Company,' Louis replied.

'But as far as I know, the Chinese man still owns the title to the last 3,000 properties that he pledged as collateral, so why can he apply for a loan in Wharton Insurance's name? Haven't Brook and Wharton merged yet?' Christo asked.

Edward Lawrence and Louis both laughed at Christo's question. Finally, Edward said to Christo, 'It seems that you don't know that Zhou Ming has already bought the title to the last 3,000 properties that Brook Investment Company owns.'

Christo was stunned for a moment because he really didn't know this news. It seemed that the guy Brook had also betrayed him.

But what made Christo feel even more chilled was that the three of them, Edward Lawrence and Louis, knew this news, but he was the only one who still didn't know. The implications behind this made him feel solemn.

Christo took a deep breath and finally waved his hand, deciding not to talk about this for the time being. He then asked Edward Lawrence and Louis, 'In fact, the news you are talking about is not important. What is important is that you still agree to give Zhou Ming a loan this time? Just like the first time, when you knew full well that his mortgaged assets were not worth 700 million.'

Edward Lawrence and Louis all nodded and said yes. Just as Christo had said earlier, the first loan to Zhou Ming was as much as 700 million in principal, and it was originally with the Brighton Bank. The account manager would never dare make the decision on his own, and he even took the initiative to call Christo to tip him off. But by that time, before the manager could return to reject Zhou Ming, Edward and the others had already approved and disbursed Zhou Ming's loan through their own channels.

Christo nearly smashed his desk when he heard the news, but he remained calm. He knew that it would not help matters, and after learning that Zhou Ming had another loan, he finally could not sit still and called a meeting with the three of them.

Christo sneered, his eyes scanning back and forth between Edward Lawrence and Louis, and finally asked, 'Do you think that just because you are also a director of Brighton Bank, you can challenge me at will and make loans without regard for my opinion?'

'I think Mr. Christo may have misunderstood. We didn't mean it that way. We just..."

Edward tried to explain, but before he could finish, Christo interrupted and continued, 'But don't forget, the Adams family is the leader of Brighton Bank. I know that after so many years, you may have forgotten this, so I can call a meeting of all the directors of Brighton Bank to remind you.'

Christo's words suddenly became stern: 'But I think you all know the consequences of this board meeting, as long as you can bear it.'

This made Edward Lawrence and Louis a little shudder. As the core family of the Brighton Consortium, they of course understood the meaning behind the so-called Brighton Bank Board Meeting.

According to US antitrust laws, all corporate groups in the United States cannot form too monopolistic a trend. Therefore, overly large corporate groups will be artificially broken up. As the oldest consortium in the United States, the Brighton Consortium certainly understands this. Therefore, although Brighton Bank is the centre of the consortium, the funds are indeed dispersed and hidden in the hands of many other shareholders, so the assets on the table are not considered to be large.

These shareholders and directors, as members of various families, are the ones who control the vast wealth. They usually appear in their capacity as the heads of various companies. However, once these people are gathered together, they become the real Brighton Consortium.

I still remember that the last Brighton Bank Directors' Meeting was held 28 years ago, triggered by the assassination of President Kennedy. At that time, the conflict between the Adams and Kennedy families had reached the point where they wanted to split up. In the end, the head of the Adams family initiated the Directors' Meeting.

It was at this board meeting that the Adams family once again established its dominance over the consortium. The Kennedys were still in second place, but they had lost their influence within the consortium. Last but not least, the Balbo family, a staunch ally of the Kennedys, was asked to leave the consortium and ended up running a motel.

The reason for this outcome was simple: the Adams family had absolute control over the entire consortium, and the best option for the other directors was to follow their lead.

Under such circumstances, the outcome of the meeting will naturally be what the Adams family wants.

Perhaps one day the Kenney Lawrence and Lowell families will not be afraid of the board meetings of Brighton Bank, and they may even be able to turn the tables on the Adams family at board meetings. But that is definitely not the case now.

With this in mind, Edward Lawrence and Louis all shook their heads.

Seeing this, Christo smiled, because this was the result he wanted. He finally said, 'I think you all must have no objections now, so the loan to the Chinese must be rejected, and the Chinese person's account at Brighton Bank must also be found out. If his loan has not been spent, it must be frozen immediately!'

Hearing Christo say this, Edward looked up at him and said, 'Sir, if I were you, I would definitely not do this, because this approach will make us seem petty.'

'I don't think so,' said Christo, completely unaware of the mockery in Edward's eyes, or perhaps he didn't care if he saw it. He just wanted to regain the face he had lost from Zhou Ming. 'I just think it's called simple targeting, to let that Chinese person understand that there are some things he can't touch in his life.'

Christo paused here, and then looked at the three men in front of him, Edward Lawrence and Louis, and continued, 'The four families of Adams, Kennedy, Lawrence and Lowell have relied on intermarriage and trust for hundreds of years to unite them in an alliance. And the four of us were all very good friends 30 years ago, so I don't want a Chinese person to ruin our rare friendship.'

After saying this, Christo left, leaving Edward Lawrence and Louis alone in the meeting room. Louis laughed and said, 'It seems that Christo was also infuriated by Zhou Ming and about to go crazy, otherwise he would not have so easily moved the board meeting to scare us.'

Edward shrugged, 'There's nothing we can do about it. It's been thirty years since the last board meeting, and Christo has been the head of the Adams family for thirty years, which means he hasn't been treated like this for thirty years. Now that Chinese guy has forced him to give up Brook Investment, and the worst part is that it was a loan from Brighton Bank. In other words, it's taking money out of his pocket and forcing him to bow his head. How can he bear this?'

'And he really does consider himself the emperor of the Brighton consortium. He even talked to us about friendship and trust, and even threatened us in the future. Are we all so lacking in intelligence that we will fall for his carrot-and-stick approach?' Lawrence sneered.

Edward waved his hand: 'Actually, I don't think any of this is the most important. Right now, every step that Cristo takes is calculated by that Chinese Zhou Ming. It seems that the time is getting closer and closer to pulling the Adams family from the throne.'