Marvel: I do Business with Daenerys Targaryen

"Baptism? I always thought you weren't a believer!" After bidding farewell to John Leibler, Josh returned home and mentioned the baptism to Margot, but Margot looked at him with a strange expression upon hearing it.

After all, having known Josh for nearly two years, spending every day and night together, she had never once seen him attend a church service.

It would be fine if he were Protestant, since Protestants don't place much importance on some of Christianity's formal rituals.

But if he were Catholic and had never stepped foot into a church, that made no sense.

"Ahem, it's just a ceremony, no need to take it too seriously," Josh said a little awkwardly. After all, he couldn't exactly say he had no faith at all, could he?

Here's something that might be hard to believe: the so-called beacon of freedom—the United States—does allow freedom of religion, and that's not wrong.

Even if you believe in something like the Sacred Flame Meow-Meow Church or the Cilantro Sect, that's totally fine.

But if you have no belief, now that's a serious problem.

Because in the eyes of Americans, people without religious belief lack moral restraint; without moral restraint, there's no ultimate concern; without ultimate concern, one can't live a dignified life. And if you can't live a dignified life, then there's no difference between humans and animals.

So if someone wants to integrate into American society, they may privately have no faith, but they can't say that publicly, or else they'll be rejected by mainstream society.

Seeing Josh's expression, Margot immediately understood that he wasn't a genuine believer at all.

She simply rolled her eyes and didn't take it seriously.

What's wrong with having no faith? He's still her man!

Besides, having their two children take Linus as godfather wasn't a bad thing either. After all, when her father passed away back in the day, aside from the unreliable David, both John and Linus had taken great care of her.

So Margot very straightforwardly agreed.

That evening, John Leibler arrived at their estate with gifts.

And when they saw the gifts he brought, both Josh and Margot were extremely surprised.

"Uncle John, this is too much!" Margot couldn't help but speak as she looked at the equity transfer agreement in her hands.

Because the shares listed in the agreement were of the jewelry business once owned by her father, which she had sold back then—a business worth over $2 million at the time. Nowadays, it would be worth at least two or three times that.

And yet, such a valuable asset—90% of it—was now split in two and gifted to the children.

Why not 100%? Because the remaining 10% was already in Margot's own hands.

Of course, this business wasn't worth much anymore to the now-successful Josh, but for Margot, it clearly held extraordinary meaning.

"This is nothing, don't refuse. It's a gift for the children, not for you. If anyone's to refuse it, they'll have to do it themselves once they grow up. And don't worry about managing it—my people will continue handling operations. You just need to pay their salaries," John Leibler said with a smile.

Josh, on the side, silently nodded. Truly, the older the wiser. With just this one move through his wife, he made it so that in the future, Josh wouldn't be able to easily bypass the Leibler family within the Chicago consortium.

It was obvious that from their conversation during the day, John Leibler had already realized just how powerful Josh's European resources were—far beyond expectations.

If he didn't double down now, when would he?

It was a big matter, and Margot couldn't decide on her own. She looked toward Josh.

"Accept it, dear. This is Uncle John's goodwill," Josh nodded to indicate she could take it.

A few million? Once he returned to Europe, he could earn several times that in no time.

Many of these benefits would eventually have to be shared with nominal partners in the Chicago consortium anyway, so why not give the lion's share to someone with stronger personal ties—like the Leibler family?

"Thank you for your hospitality. Your chef is excellent—especially that dish, Chicken Ferdinand, I loved it. But Josh, before I go, I feel I must give you one piece of advice: you still lack enough capable people under you," John Leibler said in passing after dinner.

Josh was slightly stunned upon hearing that, then nodded.

He had to admit, what John said was absolutely true.

Though Josh now had money, he really didn't have many capable lieutenants who could operate independently.

The best one was really just old man Lindon.

Managing the U.S. operations was easy for him, but once Josh's European ventures expanded and Lindon was sent there, things changed.

On the Blackwater Gang side, Dix was good at fighting and some intelligence gathering, but when it came to business, it was truly a struggle for him.

Since Josh moved Lindon to Europe, Dix had already complained more than once that he didn't have a reliable chief steward anymore.

As for Josh's own businesses, the factory managers were decent but nothing exceptional—solid middle managers at best. Surprisingly, the two most competent ones were actually the two managers from the film companies he later acquired.

Before heading to Europe, Josh had intended to let Brad and Pitt compete for the top job.

But Pitt, who had been in charge of the actress Angela—that little b*tch—first took her to the front lines for a morale-boosting tour, and then she latched onto Joseph Kennedy. And, by the way, according to Josh's intel, after Joseph Kennedy died, Angela even latched onto the brother who came to his funeral—none other than the future "American Emperor."

Good grief, she really played the "widow's inheritance" game to the limit.

With that situation, the original plan to make her famous naturally fell through.

On the other hand, under Brad's charge, Sabrina had completed filming The Sound of Music, which was now set for a Christmas release.

Given all this, the competition between the two was no longer fair.

But having them both manage DreamWorks seemed wasteful, so when Josh realized in Europe that Angela would never be coming back, as compensation he gave Pitt a choice: go manage the Blue Network, which had been renamed ABC after Josh bought it but never made much headway.

Josh's original intent in buying ABC was to lay the groundwork for a future TV station.

But since the war hadn't ended and under the controlled economic conditions, Josh couldn't get enough productivity to make TV shows or programs.

So in the short term, ABC had to keep doing old-school radio.

But the manager Josh had originally brought in clearly wasn't up to the task—ABC kept losing money and showed no signs of improvement.

Josh didn't have high expectations for ABC. He didn't need it to make big profits, but at the very least, it shouldn't be losing too much money.

Unexpectedly, after Pitt took over, he quickly got the radio company running smoothly. While it still hadn't turned a profit, the losses and debt had been drastically reduced, and profitability was now just around the corner.

But aside from that, Josh didn't have enough reliable people under his command.

Especially with the upcoming acquisition of the Continental Bank, Josh would definitely have to send someone trustworthy to oversee things.

Bring Lindon back? Although the guy had never worked in finance, he did hold a PhD in economics, so it shouldn't be too big of an issue.

But the problem was, what about Europe after bringing him back?

Leave it to Ophelia?

No doubt, this future Madame Hydra was a capable and versatile talent but in terms of business, she really wasn't as good as Lyndon.

What's more, when it came to the mess of Hydra's European affairs, no one else but her could handle it.

Vito? The guy was certainly loyal, but he wasn't very educated. While he was a natural at shady operations, running a business? Better forget it.

But just then, a figure popped into Josh's mind.

Right, he might be a good choice!

"Josh, what are you thinking about?" In the bedroom, while Josh was still considering who to recruit, Margot returned after soothing the two kids and handing them over to the night maid, and asked him.

"I'm thinking about recruiting someone for upper management, to help me run the bank side of the business in the future!" Josh didn't hide it and answered directly.

"Oh? Who are you thinking of?" Margot was a bit surprised at Josh's reply.

"Someone you know—our old neighbor!" Josh answered.

"You mean Mr. Angelo?" Margot was taken aback for a moment, but then quickly caught on.

Josh nodded.

That's right. The person Josh was referring to was Tommy—Thomas "Tommy" Angelo, their neighbor from when he and Margot were living together in the old house.

Although it wasn't entirely decent, Josh had actually asked Dix to look into this neighbor's background when he was setting up the Blackwater Gang. After all, it was Tommy who had warned him that Margot was being followed, and in this world, the only person who might know that it was Josh who made Joe Barbaro disappear, was Tommy.

But what he found out was quite a shock.

Josh's old neighbor wasn't just any ordinary person—he was actually a major figure in the Chicago Mafia during the Great Depression of the 1930s. (In the Mafia game series, Tommy is the only protagonist who becomes a high-ranking Mafia boss with his own territory, subordinates, and business, unlike Vito and other later protagonists who remained as enforcers.)

Although Tommy later betrayed his Mafia family, the truth was that his boss, Salieri, was the one who acted dishonorably first—getting rid of Tommy's close friends and even trying to kill Tommy himself.

After that, Tommy did a few years in prison, and after getting out, he went into business.

By the time Josh met him, Tommy was already the Vice President of the largest taxi company in Chicago and even the entire state of Illinois, managing the operations of over ten thousand taxis.

A taxi company's vice president might not seem to have anything to do with the banking industry.

But in reality, in an era without computers, managing a taxi company with over ten thousand vehicles was actually far more difficult than running a bank.

Especially in pre-1970s America, where banks were prohibited from operating across state lines—meaning banking at the time wasn't nearly as diverse or complex as it would become later.

Generally, a bank's main area of operation was just a few key cities within the state.

And that was exactly why John Leibler valued those bank shares Josh held so highly.

Because to break free from this domestic restriction on banks in America, one very effective workaround was foreign banks—since foreign banks inherently operated internationally, they weren't bound by U.S. laws restricting cross-state banking.

Besides, Josh didn't really expect Tommy to help him make money through bank management. The bank itself already had plenty of financial professionals for actual operations.

What he needed was just a reliable person to keep an eye on things and make sure no one inside the bank was up to anything shady.

With a happy family and lots of kids, Tommy clearly fit the role perfectly.

"Mr. Angelo really is a good man!" Margot wasn't very adept in business matters, but she had a good impression of their former neighbor. Back when they lived in the old house, she had often socialized with Tommy's wife, Sarah, and they had a great relationship.

Even though they had moved, to be honest, she still missed those days.

So she agreed with Josh's choice.

But as the two chatted, Margot noticed that Josh's gaze was starting to look a little off.

Since the heating in the manor was strong, Margot didn't wear much when staying in.

And now that they were in the bedroom—well, there was a lot of exposed skin, and it dazzled Josh's eyes.

"No way! It's only been a bit over a month!" Margot tossed another pair of mothballs at Josh.

It's not advisable to do that within 42 days of childbirth, and it had only been just over a month.

"Heh heh, well, how about just a little fun, just a taste!" Josh thick-skinned as ever, pulled Margot over and said.

Margot was helpless—what could she say when married to a man who even competed with the kids for attention?

...

The next day, with his decision made, Josh took some people and two good bottles of wine and went to visit Tommy.

After a period of careful consideration, Tommy accepted Josh's generous offer.

Though he was currently the Vice President of the Chicago Taxi Company, his growing authority had already aroused suspicion among the board, and things weren't going smoothly.

So Josh's invitation was just the opportunity he needed to change work environments.

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