Alberto moved the fingers holding his coffee cup slightly, and asked tentatively, "I heard that, yesterday..."
"What do you want to ask?" Shiller looked up at him.
Alberto thought for a moment and said, "Richie was killed by the Godfather's men, right?"
"You chose the right question, so I will answer you, yes."
"And I can also tell you that it was because Richie deliberately set up his young daughter to encounter you and then get into your bed. The Godfather was very unhappy about this, so he chose a very brutal way to kill him."
Alberto curled his lips and said, "Miss Richie is beautiful, but she is only beautiful. Her father didn't teach her well. She wore her intentions on her face, so even with 80% beauty, it can only arouse 10% interest…"
Hearing his tone, Shiller asked, "Didn't you sleep with her?"
Alberto shook his head and said, "She almost revealed her intentions on her face. How could I fall into her trap? Besides, I wasn't sure about the Godfather's attitude and whether he would approve of me getting too close to Richie..."
"You made the right choice because the Godfather only sees Richie as a dog."
"But he didn't really care if you slept with Miss Richie. After all, she will never be the future Godfather's Wife. Your caution has made you miss an affair. Do you regret it?" Shiller laughed and said.
Alberto took another sip of coffee and shook his head, "An affair is something that happens by chance. If it's designed, it's not a wonderful encounter."
"So, the Godfather actually…" Alberto moved the tip of his finger on the coffee cup and said hesitantly, "His willingness to get rid of Richie, who harbored bad intentions, for me… does that mean…"
"You don't need to be so hesitant; it's the answer you're thinking of."
Shiller put both hands on the table and said, "You and the Godfather bear a grudge... perhaps the two of you cannot be said to bear a grudge because the Court of Owls bears the grudge against the Godfather while you are just a victim."
"Now, the Godfather has only two choices, either you or others. You bear a grudge against the Godfather, then don't the others? Do you expect that after the twelve families' descendants take over, will they let go of the Falcones?"
Alberto shook his head and said, "Of course not, unless we are willing to self-exile, such as returning to Italy for retirement."
"Of course, after your succession, you might also send the old Godfather to Italy for retirement, but after all, you are also a Falcone, more importantly, you have the ability to continue ruling Gotham, while the others, besides being bad, are also stupid."
"As long as the old Godfather is not willing to give up his life's work, as long as he still wants to continue to be the underground umbrella of Gotham, he only has one choice..."
Alberto sighed. He stared at the foam on the coffee surface silently for a long time. Finally, he said, "He won't admit that I am his son, so I don't want to admit that he is my father. However, in the endless vortex of power, only the remaining father-son affection can allow us, in this war, to maintain our last bit of dignity."
After Alberto left, Shiller finished drinking his coffee. After he finished the last sip of coffee, the door of the consultation room was knocked on again. Shiller said, "Come in."
The person who came in was Cobblepot. He was wearing a huge black raincoat, seemed to be in a hurry, and there was rainwater all over his hair tips and eyebrows.
He walked in, took off his raincoat. Shiller pointed to the coffee machine, he went over to make a cup of coffee for himself, and then sat down across from Shiller.
Shiller took out the medical record book and said to him, "Before we talk about the serious matters, I still need to ask routinely, how are you and your mother's mental states?"
"Not bad, she has improved a lot. Yesterday, I took her to the new apartment and she was very satisfied with the environment after waking up…"
Cobblepot's tone finally had some ups and downs, it seemed he had come out of those dark clouds.
Shiller wrote a few strokes in the medical records, and then he said, "Well, is the mob's side going smoothly recently? Lawrence, Hawk, and Richie are all dead. The Lawrence Family is headless, the Hawk Family has changed its attitude, and Alberto's path to power is now smooth. What about you?"
"Bruce recommended me to Evans. Of course, this was just a formality. I had a tacit understanding with Alberto long ago. He had too few available people under him and was eager to establish his own line, and I just met his requirements."
"Originally, Lawrence was the one who was most dissatisfied with me, and Richie was also very dissatisfied that Alberto didn't use his people, but now, they are all dead, so I will be the important minister after Alberto takes power."
"It's not strange that these uncles' family leaders will interfere with the Princelings organized by Alberto, they're just not satisfied with you. If any of them were resolute, by now, you would have been replaced by their people and your body would have been thrown into the sea…"
"What you said before... our deal…" Cobblepot looked at Shiller and said, "Which is, you help me get rid of those who hinder my ascension, and I promise you a request… do you want me to kill for you?"
Shiller shook his head and said, "I wouldn't let a child go and kill for me. Besides, I don't have any enemies that must be killed."
"I always treat people sincerely, with many friends. I have no rivals in Gotham, and my request is very simple, definitely within your capabilities."
"… What is it?"
By night, the rain had gradually lessened. At the entrance of Gotham University's dining hall, Victor folded his umbrella, then parted the curtains with the tip of the umbrella and walked in, with Shiller following behind him, his umbrella also folded.
Victor turned back and looked at Shiller's umbrella and said, "Did you fix it? That umbrella was so broken, but you were able to fix it??"
When the two sat down, Victor leaned in to take a closer look, and he saw the VimJin umbrella craftsmen's symbol on the top of the umbrella tip. He said, "Isn't this the umbrella from Copot's home? Wasn't it left by his father? How did it end up with you?"
"It's because he and I made a trade. I helped him with something, and he gave me this umbrella."
"None of you are willing to show me any sympathy. In a place like Gotham, I didn't even have an umbrella and had to figure out a solution myself. But now, thank God, a new umbrella…"
Shiller squinted his eyes and kept looking at the umbrella in his hand as if he were admiring the fruits of his hard work. He was very satisfied and said:
"Look, a beautiful new umbrella."