"Why do you want to follow a sinking ship only to sink along with it? Does he have some dirt on you?" Marico laughed heartily as he continued to send out his testers to draw Andy into the conversation. Only once he was willing to talk would the conversation progress forward.
Marico stared intently at Andy's face as he walked side by side with a smile on his face and acted as if he had found out his secret.
"What does he have on you? Is it some woman you are keeping on the outside? No…you don't look like a henpecked man. It must be your previous dealings with him, isn't it? He must have the evidence on you." Marico's tone was joking but his words were crafted to prod the meat off Andy's bones. He was getting closer and closer to the truth which made Andy increasingly uncomfortable.
"Let's not talk about that. Look at the advantages of working with me. First of all, unlike the bleak futures of the three top families, my Windsor family will be dominating the business world in Byzantium city because of our new sugar business. You must have heard of it by now if not already tasted it. Windsor family is set to rise. My business is booming not just here but in many cities of the empire. If you are going to work for someone; then do so for the right person. Give me your loyalties and I can guarantee that you will get what you want."
Andy gave Marico a condescending look as if he didn't believe a word that Marico had uttered. He already knew the kind of trouble Marico was in. The other three families were intent on razing the Windsor family to the ground. This little arrest was probably only the beginning and they should have more in store to rattle this confidence that Marico still had.
Andy knew what Marico was telling him was the truth regarding the rise of Windsor family but that was only possible if the three families were willing to leave the Windsor family alone for some time. Given how impatient they already were, chances were that this was the last time Marico would be seeing his family.
In Andy's opinion, the Windsor family was the sinking ship; a ship that had steered into troubled waters and ended up hitting the rocks, puncturing its keel and waiting to fall to the lonely bottom of the sea.
Marico gritted his teeth and tried to sweeten the pot more to entice Andy into accepting the cooperation with him.
"Whatever the Hunter family is paying you; I can double it or more. All I have is money and it is not going to stop increasing anytime soon. You can demand as much as you want and we can come to an agreement that benefits the both of us. What do you say?"
This was Marico's last hope. There was nothing more tempting than money and if Andy still didn't come over to his side than it could only mean that he didn't think that the Windsor family was stable enough compared to Hunter family. Moreover, Andy probably didn't believe that the Windsor family would be able to take on Hunter family and come out on top in the future because the hegemony of the Hunter family in Byzantium city had left a shadow on his heart as well just like it had on every individual in Byzantium city.
Andy was a calculative person who knew what he wanted. He wasn't a fool who could be goaded into doing something that wasn't to his advantage. He could already tell that Marico was trying to pull him to his side and the benefits he had offered weren't too bad either. If the other party hadn't been the Hunter family, Andy might even have switched sides the instant Marico made the offer.
But the current condition of the Byzantium city was too chaotic. At one corner was the Windsor family that was destined to rise to the top of the pyramid but on the other corner was the coalition of the three top families of Byzantium city which shook Andy's confidence. He didn't believe that the Windsor family had it in them to ram past the obstructions being created by the other families.
As such, during this heated period when even the families involved weren't sure what the outcome of the war was going to be, he didn't want to make the wrong decision. He didn't dare to choose a side because if he ended up taking the wrong one then he would probably become the most pitiful victim in the entire situation.
Being a smart individual, Andy knew what he needed to do in order to not be crushed by the pressure from both sides. He had already anticipated that he would be dragged between the two opposing parties. The only thing he could do to ensure his own safety was to maintain his silence because the moment he chose a side, he would need to put his life on the line.
As such, when Marico made him an offer, he neither accepted nor rejected the offer outright because accepting would throw him in the middle of the quagmire while rejecting outright would turn him into Marico's enemy which would essentially be cutting off his future path.
Therefore, by not rejecting the olive branch extended by the Windsor family leader, he might be able to accept it at the most opportune moment; that is if the Windsor family ended up on top after the skirmish and their victory was in sight. Otherwise, he would have made the right decision by not helping Marico.
Like any greed filled human being, Andy wanted to secure maximum benefit for himself without shouldering the associated risk. Of course what he didn't take into account was that only timely help in times of crisis can be called a favor. When the tide turned and Windsor family came out on top, Andy might be just one of the many gunning to help the Windsor family.
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