Later that same day, Arias was seated in his living area with a laptop in front of him, browsing through profiles of different individuals. He hadn't left the building, and not much had occurred, but he did find the news of Queen Bee wholeheartedly rejecting the rumors amusing.
As he continued to scroll through the profiles, Harley casually let herself into his suite and immediately walked over to see what he was doing.
"Errr, is that your blacklist, Mr. L? I gotz one too," she happily revealed as she threw herself onto the sofa and peered at his screen.
Arias was used to her antics and silly nature, so he continued to face his laptop while correcting her. "It's a list of applications, not a blacklist. I'm trying to hire someone to build a security detail around, for appearance's sake at least. But it's hard finding someone with the experience, skill, and loose moral compass who isn't in jail or wanted."
Finding someone with all these characteristics wasn't especially hard; the problem was finding someone like that who was available for hire. Arias wasn't interested in pouring too much energy into the matter since it carried little importance, which was why Harley found it odd that Arias had spent a good chunk of his day on it.
She hadn't been with him long, but she knew for certain that time was something he considered precious. This raised a curious itch within her that just had to be scratched. "Uh, but you're rich, Mr. L. Why not just get someone to do it for you?"
"It's always better for a boss to have good relationships with the people close to him," Arias replied without showing the slightest shift from his usual expression. So, how could she know what he said was a blatant lie?
Although Harley was getting more and more familiar with him, he wasn't so loose-lipped or drunk on love to reveal his plans and goals to her. In Arias's mind, such things were no longer even a concern revolving around trust; it was nothing more than a vicious poison that could either work for you or against you.
People who trust wholeheartedly slowly have their belief in trust chipped away throughout their lives. It can break, it can be repaired, or it can never recover. After all, the concept of betrayal couldn't exist otherwise. Arias believed in not trusting. You could gain the same benefits from faking trust that you would from trusting genuinely. The only difference is, one holds a risk of breaking or damaging you, while the other doesn't.
Following this mentality, Arias had no problems faking his trust for others whenever the situation called for it.
His plan was simple: to gain the trust, obedience, and loyalty of any given majority. Why? Because conquering and ruling through fear alone would only end in a society destroying itself. However, if the majority of that society see truth and belief in your ends, then those who oppose you are automatically their enemies. If you order them to be killed, your followers would do so with a smile, feeling no guilt at all. Instead, they would be happy that they were fulfilling what they believed in.
History was built upon such foundations, only ever falling apart when another power equal to or greater in majority opposed you, or you simply allowed the opposition to grow.
As for how he'd do this? The gala was a good place to start.
With no clue to the deeper scheming occurring within Arias's mind, Harley could only agree with his answer. "Hmmm, I guess you're right."
The conversation drifted from there, and Arias focused primarily on making arrangements with applicants who showed promise. An interview would be the last step needed to see whether or not they were right for the job.