Yvonne went home, and Alex let Louis take the three super soldiers away.
Alex was just happy to be done with it all. He hadn't wanted to get mixed up with any of this. Although he wasn't very happy with Riley, he didn't want any trouble because he really preferred to mind his own business.
If it hadn't been for Yvonne's role in this, he wouldn't have gotten involved at all.
He felt a little conflicted. Although he was worried about Yvonne, she seemed to be quite capable of solving her own problems, and she was someone he admired.
**
"Mr. Naysmith, the super soldiers we sent out have been captured," said the voice on the phone. "I hadn't expected Yvonne to be so difficult to handle. She's a strong woman."
"Keep an eye on her," Riley replied, sighing.
"Yes, sir." The caller hung up.
Riley stepped outside to have a smoke and think things over.
**
Everything was business as usual for Alex.
After returning to the villa, he gave a few simple orders to Sawyer, and then he called Lindsey.
The Marvel family was one of the most powerful in Washington, D.C., and Lindsey had a lot of influence within it.
She picked up after a few rings.
"Hello, Alex!" she said, as cheerful and polite as ever. "It's good to hear from you."
"I'd like to talk to you about a new drug I've recently developed," he said.
She got right down to business. "What does it do? How do you want to promote it?"
She was connected to Baltimore General Hospital, so she knew a lot about the pharmaceutical industry.
After talking for nearly three hours, their plans were set. Production of Slim Treasure would start small at first and then gradually increase.
To be successful, it was important to plan carefully and take one step at a time. At this early stage, the sales volume wouldn't be very high, anyway.
Companies that flooded the media with advertisements even before the products were available for sale were all large businesses with a lot of capital. Alex's small factory wasn't able to conduct a huge advertising campaign. Although the Marvel family was wealthy, Alex didn't want to use anyone else's money this time, even though Lindsey was his girlfriend's sister.
Of course, he couldn't say this to her without making her unhappy.
Instead of spending a huge amount of money at the beginning, it was better to take the time to warm up the market. Once people came to know the product, advertising would be more effective.
Of course, this slow start assumed that no one would copy Slim Treasure. He had to be prepared for that possibility.
**
The next morning, Alex and Lindsey were sitting on a bench in a corridor of the hospital, watching patients come and go.
All the patients had one thing in common—they were extremely heavy. This clinic specialized in treating the morbidly obese, which was defined as people who were more than a hundred pounds overweight.
"I didn't realize so many people had problems with their weight," Lindsey said, looking around.
"Obesity is on the rise everywhere," Alex said. "That's why clinics like this exist."
"This was a wonderful idea," Lindsey said softly. "It makes sense to promote Slim Treasure directly to hospitals."
Alex nodded. "And not to just any hospital. Only a few places have a clinic like this devoted to obesity. Everyone here should be interested in the product. Thank you for smoothing my way."
"Oh, you don't need to thank me," she said, waving it away. "It was nothing." She felt a little embarrassed by his praise and couldn't control the blush that heated her cheeks.
"It wasn't nothing," he insisted. "Without your connections, if I had gone to a hospital to promote this, then I might not have been allowed in to speak to the doctors. And even if I had been, I would have to give them expensive free samples, which they might not even use because they're focused on treating things other than obesity." He sighed. "And, no doubt, they would have wanted a larger cut of the profits."
"The hospital will still do well out of this," Lindsey said. "So, everyone wins."
She had made it possible for Alex to precisely target his efforts. He had been able to meet with the obesity specialists in several major hospitals and promote Slim Treasure to them. But that didn't guarantee that the road would be smooth from here on. He knew that some unwritten rules must be observed. Even with her pull, if the doctors were unhappy for any reason, or some patients didn't get all the benefits the doctors expected, then the clinic wouldn't use Slim Treasure at all. They would go with some other weight-loss drug instead.
Therefore, although Lindsey had paved the way, Alex had to do the rest. He would have to forge his own relationships from now on.
He was prepared not to make any profit at the beginning. The real money would be in future sales. As long as he could maintain a good relationship with the hospital and convince its doctors of the benefits of Slim Treasure, then it would be worth the cost of the free samples.
In fact, the raw materials weren't expensive, and it didn't cost very much to manufacture the drug. Alex had been able to use one of the three production lines in his existing factory to produce Slim Treasure.