Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt

Chapter 387: Chapter 182: Rupture

Leo watched Evelyn.

The arrogance radiating from her filled every inch of the study.

She stood there, her gaze filled with certainty, and her condescending posture stung Leo.

He felt the muscles in the back of his neck tighten. He wanted to shout at her, but he knew that any loss of emotional control now would be seen as weakness.

Leo steadied his breathing.

Instead of exploding, he slowed his movements.

He looked down, carefully smoothing the wrinkles on the hem of his suit jacket. His fingers found the loose button and fastened it with unhurried composure.

He wrapped himself once more in the dignity of his office, forcing his tense muscles to relax, adopting the air of a man who wouldn’t flinch even at the edge of an abyss.

Once he was done, Leo looked up, his gaze cold.

"You think you’ve already won."

His voice was steady.

"Evelyn, you certainly have guts. You calculated the exact moment the capital pool would dry up, you calculated the weakness of those Mayors, and you calculated that I would have to jump in and clean up their mess for the sake of votes and for that teetering alliance."

Leo walked to the desk.

He planted his hands on its surface and leaned far forward, his young face closing in on Evelyn’s, crudely shattering the safe distance between them.

"In your model, I’m a rational actor. I’m supposed to bow to you, take your money, and hand you the keys to power, all to protect my political alliance, to save Murphy’s Senate seat, and for the so-called ’greater good’."

"It’s perfectly logical."

"Any other politician would have accepted your terms without hesitation. After all, sacrificing the interests of a few peripheral cities to secure core power is a bargain they’d find more than acceptable."

"But, Evelyn, you forgot one thing."

Leo slowly straightened up.

He was a head taller than Evelyn.

Now, he used this height advantage, tilting his head down slightly to look askance at the woman before him.

It was an extremely aggressive posture.

"To be able to build an alliance like this in the fractured Rust Belt, to bring the Mayors of cities like Erie, Scranton, and Johnston to the same table..."

"Wasn’t done through betrayal."

"If I were the kind of man who’d readily sell out his allies for a promotion, I would have knelt the moment Morganfield extended an olive branch. I never would have made it this far, much less be standing here negotiating with you."

"So, you miscalculated something."

"What?" Evelyn frowned.

She didn’t like the look in Leo’s eyes. It held none of the fear she expected; instead, it burned with a wild flame.

"You miscalculated. I’m not a proper politician."

Leo stared into her eyes.

"If you think that just because you’ve taken these cities hostage, I have to let you climb on our backs and crown yourself emperor..."

"...then you’re wrong."

"I’ll kill the hostages myself."

Evelyn was stunned for only a moment before her expression turned indifferent.

"Kill the hostages?"

There wasn’t a ripple of emotion in Evelyn’s voice. She looked at Leo as if he were a gambler bluffing at the negotiating table.

"Leo, do you have any idea what you’re saying?"

"This isn’t just about hundreds of millions in defaults. It’s the collapse of the entire Industrial Revival Alliance."

"The moment those cities discover their notes have become worthless paper, Murphy’s electoral base will implode. Your political credibility will be reduced to zero. You’ll be torn apart by angry voters, and you’ll go down in history as the eternal sinner of the Rust Belt."

Evelyn looked at Leo.

"Do you dare?"

"You’ve poured so much blood and sweat, made so many deals, to build this alliance."

"Are you willing to destroy it?"

"Try me."

Leo replied coldly, his gaze unwavering.

"Do you think I’m sitting here for the sake of some title as Alliance Leader? Do you think I give a damn about my political future?"

"Evelyn, you underestimate me."

Leo turned, walked to the window, and looked out at the manor grounds.

"I’m a man who clawed his way up from the bottom. I know what it’s like to have nothing. If I lose, the worst that can happen is I go back to washing cups in that coffee shop. I don’t care."

"But I will never allow my city, my allies, to become the private property of someone like you."

"You want to threaten me with liquidity?"

Leo spun around, his eyes fierce.

"Then I’ll make sure the Rust Belt has no liquidity."

"I will use all my executive power at City Hall to block all settlement channels between Pittsburgh and outside cities. I’ll freeze all redemptions on those notes in the name of financial security."

"I will bring the entire system to a grinding halt."

"You want to be emperor?"

"Then I’ll burn the palace to ashes so you don’t even have a chair to sit on."

Evelyn looked at Leo.

She had met greedy men, hypocritical men, and vicious men.

But she had never met anyone like this.

Someone willing to choose self-destruction just to avoid being controlled.

This completely defied her business logic.

In her world, maximizing profit was the only truth. No one would choose a lose-lose outcome for the sake of so-called "dignity" or "control."

It was irrational.

It was even anti-rational.

But looking into Leo’s unwavering eyes, she knew he was serious.