"Was this really the right move, William?"

"Yes. Sophia was mentally unprepared for what she had witnessed, and we broke her even more. The princess, the queen, the empress of the underworld was broken by seeing families killed, by witnessing James turn into something different from what she believed in. And well, we used it to make her kill him."

"But he didn’t die." The voice came again. "James is alive. Multiple agents reported it to me who are with Linda. He is on the verge of death, but he can still survive it. More so now, Hector and the others will start a war. A war in the middle of a natural catastrophe. This timing is off, William. It can bring our end."

"Our end?" William laughed. "This is the new start. We can build ourselves up even more, grab the hope of the people, and for that road James needs to die. We can’t allow somebody to rule and behave like a little king. Nor anybody else."

There was silence for a bit in the Oval Office. The other man didn’t speak, but he knew he needed to ask the question.

"What should we do then?"

"We do how we planned it." William said as he drank a bit of whisky. "We are going to arrest everybody who worked with James. Linda, Benjamin, Thomas, Stephen, all of them. If they aren’t willing to give up, then kill them." William looked at the man. "And of course, call up the general and destroy the Bellini family."

"What are we going to tell the public?" the man asked again.

"That a criminal organization tried to use the catastrophe to gain more wealth, to use everything in their possession to make more money while the people were suffering, and we need to chop their heads down. Easy and simple."

"But we planned it for next month." The man’s voice came again. "This is too much, and the people will question us for why we are doing it right now. In the middle of a catastrophe, William. This will turn out bad."

"I do not care." William’s voice came. "I am the president of this nation, and nobody can rule their own little world. Send the special forces and arrest all of them, and if they refuse, then kill them. That is my order." William’s voice was strange.

Like if he got poisoned by something, like if he was acting out of his own personal will because all of this plan was a mess, more so a destruction of his own rule and what they had built up.

"What are you going to do?" the man asked, his voice low and full of hesitation about the order that William gave.

"In two hours I’m going to give a speech at the hospital that got damaged. I will give hope to the people. So do your job, Sebastian. Now leave."

Well, he left. He didn’t argue a single bit because Sebastian knew there was no sense in it, that something happened to William, maybe he lost his mind, but one thing was sure.

Sebastian was ready to notify somebody important about it all. So he made the call.

"Fuck, how can William be this dumb?"

"Good question, but we both know this was his plan from the beginning. But it got out of control, and James gained much more power than he thought he would. We both saw the Drug Trading Agency plan."

"Yeah, but it already destroyed half of the country, then came the tsunami, and he is doing all of this right now? When James could bring in a lot of money? Oh my god."

"What do you want to do, Darvik?" Gabriel, the well trusted commander of the Darvik forces, asked because, well, it was obvious they needed to do something.

Because James was a piggy bank to them, and they needed his money.

"Well, if I do something..." Darvik began slowly, a faint smile spreading across his face as he leaned back into the leather chair. "James is going to owe me greatly after this. Maybe a billion is enough?" he asked while glancing toward Gabriel.

"A billion... to save them?"

"To save him." Darvik corrected him. "And honestly, I think that is a fair deal." He crossed one leg over the other. It is pocket change in the long run. The Bellini network will move hundreds of millions constantly. A billion will mean nothing if William disappears."

"Wait." He stared at Darvik. "You want to kill William?"

"Yes." The answer came without hesitation.

Gabriel nearly rose from his chair in disbelief, staring at the man calmly eating a sandwich while discussing the assassination of one of the most protected political leaders on the planet.

"You want to assassinate the president of a sovereign nation... to save a mafia family?"

Darvik slowly wiped his fingers with a napkin before finally looking up.

"No." His voice remained calm. "I want to remove a corrupt president who turned his own nation into a private kingdom. "William stole billions. He preached sacrifice while his ministers bought mansions overseas. He cut food programs during the northern famine. He privatized emergency medicine contracts during the influenza crisis. He allowed entire industrial districts to collapse because his allies profited from reconstruction afterward." Darvik’s eyes sharpened. "Do you know how many people died while he gave speeches about patriotism?"

Gabriel did not answer.

"We fought wars to stop men like him." Darvik continued. "We buried soldiers because of leaders like him. Meanwhile, he sat in luxury while entire cities starved."

He leaned forward slightly.

"And now? Now he wants to eliminate James because James became too powerful. "Governments love pretending morality matters until economies collapse." He stood up and walked toward the window overlooking the dark city.

"You know what the funny part is?" Darvik asked quietly. "James is probably better for this country than William ever was."

"That sounds insane."

"Does it?" Darvik turned toward him again. "Unemployment under our administration is below four percent. Energy infrastructure is functioning. Nobody is starving. Every family receives electricity, water, and food access." His voice became colder. "William had decades and still failed to give his people stability."

"So your solution is what? A puppet government?" Gabriel asked.

"No." Darvik shook his head. "A controllable government. "There is a difference." Darvik walked back toward the table. "A puppet obeys every command. A controllable government simply understands mutual interests." He tapped the desk once. "And right now, our interests align perfectly with James Bellini."

The sheer scale of what Darvik was suggesting became suffocating.

They had overthrown cartels before. Assassinated militia leaders. Eliminated dictators in unstable regions.

But assassinating the sitting president of a developed allied nation during a national catastrophe?

That was not covert warfare anymore. That was the beginning of geopolitical destabilization.

And somehow, Darvik sounded completely prepared for it.

"Wait..." Gabriel muttered. "You have been planning this."

Darvik smiled slightly.

"Not planning." He corrected. "Preparing." "But here is the beautiful part." Darvik continued. "Under national emergency succession laws, if William dies, the acting authority temporarily falls to Linda."

Gabriel immediately looked at him. "And Linda already works with us."

"Exactly." Darvik spread his hands slightly. "No military coup. No constitutional collapse. No tanks in the streets. The public sees lawful succession during a tragedy. Stability."

"You are insane."

"No." Darvik answered calmly. "I am realistic. Activate every embedded asset we have. Sleeper agents, political contacts, intelligence operatives. I want William removed along with every senior official still loyal to him."

Gabriel hesitated. "Darvik... this could trigger international war."

"The Union President met with me two days ago." Darvik interrupted. "He gave full unofficial support."

"He what?"

"The earthquake changed everything. Logistics are crippled. Military mobilization is crippled. Economies are collapsing. Nobody can afford open war right now." He folded his arms. "Even if our involvement becomes public, the Union will politically shield us."

"And if retaliation comes?"

"Then the Union crosses the border with us."

The silence afterward felt heavy. Not because Gabriel doubted him anymore.

But because he realized Darvik was telling the truth.

This was no longer an assassination.

It was a coordinated geopolitical restructuring hidden beneath the chaos of a national disaster..

"This is the perfect moment to reshape power." He said quietly. "This is truly a new era and it is all thanks to James Bellini."