Chapter 210: Giving Up Eighty Percent
The very next day, Davey received news about the two major families.
By that afternoon, the Van der Linde Gang incident had already made headlines in the Saint Denis Times. The paper was said to have been rushed into print overnight—after all, both families had operated in Rhodes Town for over a century and enjoyed considerable fame in Saint Denis.
More importantly, Rhodes was the closest town to Saint Denis, a place most citizens were familiar with.
Unsurprisingly, the news caused widespread panic. Many people began angrily condemning the government’s incompetence. How could something so vicious happen so close to Saint Denis?
If that was the case, how were ordinary citizens’ lives supposed to be protected?
Mac returned to the Land mansion with the transfer documents for the slaughterhouse.
With most of the Gray family’s guard force wiped out, Patriarch Tavish Grey understood all too clearly that his family no longer had the qualifications to take part in the covert struggle between Davey and the mayor. Under these circumstances, the position of sheriff in Rhodes Town could no longer belong to the Gray family.
The Braithwaite family had already been destroyed. Compared to that, losing their hold over law enforcement no longer seemed so important to the Grays.
Tavish had spent his entire life hoping for the downfall of the Braithwaite family. Yet when the day finally came, he felt a strange sense of sorrow. The two families had fought each other for over a hundred years. Tavish had grown up immersed in that rivalry, and now that it was over, there was only an emptiness left in his heart.
So when Mac came to purchase the slaughterhouse, Tavish signed the papers without hesitation.
On Davey’s side, without even meeting the mayor, he acquired the slaughterhouse and secured his own large-scale private moonshine production site. This meant that the hidden struggle had ended in Davey’s victory.
Even if the mayor viewed it as nothing more than a coincidence, he had to admit that, for the time being, he had no better way to deal with Davey.
“All right. Now we need to clean up this abandoned slaughterhouse,” Davey said with a smile to Mac and Stella in the grand hall of the mansion. “From what I know, it’s been deserted for decades. This won’t be an easy job.”
“Maybe we should hire some workers and have them clear the place out completely.”
After Davey moved into the mansion, Stella had moved in as well—ostensibly for work reasons.
Davey now needed to acquire numerous properties, on top of handling various matters related to the Land Security Company. Clearly, neither Mac nor John nor Uncle was suited to this kind of work. The only person truly capable of handling it—and familiar with Saint Denis—was Stella.
Naturally, Davey couldn’t refuse her request.
“Saint Denis never lacks workers, Davey,” Stella said seriously. “There are immigrants here from all over the world. You should consider visiting the labor union—it’ll be very helpful for future recruitment.”
“The labor union holds a lot of influence in Saint Denis. Many government officials, wealthy businessmen, and tycoons deal with them regularly. Maintaining a good relationship with them will be far more beneficial to your long-term development here.”
“Also, you might consider hosting a banquet before your moonshine officially goes on sale. This is a huge piece of cake, and a lot of people will want a share. If you don’t settle things properly in advance, it’ll be very difficult to get the moonshine business running smoothly in Saint Denis—you’ll face enormous resistance.”
Stella spoke from experience. She knew just how staggering the profits from Davey’s moonshine operation could be. Every source of funding for the Land Security Company came from this business.
Once it expanded into Saint Denis, she could hardly imagine how many American dollars it would generate.
Davey smiled.
“Of course. But all of this will have to rely on you, Stella.”
“You can help me spread the word. As for the moonshine business in Saint Denis, I’m willing to give up eighty percent of the profits to my partners. I think plenty of people will be very interested, don’t you?”
“But I want partners with real strength—not just any stray cats and dogs.”
“Eighty percent?” Stella exclaimed. “Davey, are you out of your mind?”
Not just Stella—even Mac, who had just taken a sip of his drink, sprayed it straight out.
“Davey, if you’re trying to do charity work, there’s really no need to go this far,” Mac said incredulously. “I’m sure there are plenty of beautiful ladies who also need saving. This is insane—I’m starting to wonder if I heard you wrong.”
Davey shook his head with a laugh.
“You don’t understand. Moonshine is an illegal business. That means it doesn’t receive any protection from the law. Do our accounts really need to be shown to anyone?”
“How much we earn, how much we distribute—it’s all entirely up to us. I won’t allow anyone to step in and audit our books.”
“So what if it’s eighty percent? Honestly, if it didn’t seem too absurd, I’d even say ninety percent. But that would just look fake.”
Only then did Stella and Mac fully realize what he meant. With the mayor, government officials, and wealthy elites all involved, they had almost begun to treat moonshine as if it were a legitimate business.
In reality, moonshine didn’t even require paying taxes—let alone having anyone audit the accounts.
After all, the US federal tax system at this time was nowhere near as strict as it would become in later years.
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