NOVEL WEB Chapter 263: Deal?
"Oh… that is interesting." James said, as though he was mind-blown by it, that he didn't realize it sooner, that it was literally a country for gangsters… and he had sent his family here. "Not that safe then, huh?"
"There are rules to it James." Darvik said as he smiled. "You can't kill, can't operate your organization here, because we'll kill you. But that's how we became the safe spot for gangsters, even if they're enemies. In this country, they can't kill each other, because if they do, we hunt them down."
"Paradise for gangsters?" James smiled, as he put together every single piece of the story of Maraci.
They were collecting money from gangsters, from every rich criminal, and giving them a safe haven in Maraci. They couldn't kill each other, nor could any other country come in to arrest them. A safe country, that's what it was and still is.
"Yeah, and you're here now, with your family too, so we're offering you a deal, to be safe here."
"Really and for what?"
"Of course, money. What we ask is simple, you bank through us. We take fifty percent off the top. Sounds a lot, I know, but your money will be placed in safe hands, quiet hands. Private banks. Shell companies. Entire financial networks we built from the inside out, all under government oversight… or, well, something that pretends to be oversight." He watched James carefully, waiting for the outburst that usually came, the protest, the insult, the refusal. Most men flinched at that fifty percent. Some laughed. Some screamed. But James?
Nothing.
So he continued, slower now, because he could feel it, James was listening, and that was always more dangerous than when he was talking.
"We take fifty percent of all transactions that come in." Darvik repeated, "and in return, you get access to the real infrastructure, private vaults, false identities, international funds masked behind agriculture, tech, even charity. Your money becomes unreachable. No trail, no leaks, not even a whisper." He leaned forward just slightly. "This isn't just some offshore loophole. This is a haven, James. A true criminal haven. No extradition, no leaks, no cooperation with the Union, the Coalitions, the States, none of them. If you come here, your money is untouchable and not just that…your family too."
"How come?" James asked.
"We have what we call perks. Think of it as loyalty insurance. If you push over a hundred billion through us, then even if you get arrested, charged, dragged into a courtroom somewhere, we won't just send a lawyer. We'll send whatever the hell it takes to get you out." He chuckled. "We don't let our whales rot in cells." He spread his hands "So that's the deal. Fifty percent of the money, and in return, you never have to look over your shoulder again."
And then Darvik went quiet, waiting for James, watching him with that cautious stillness people always fell into around him, but James didn't nod, didn't smirk, didn't lean forward or sit back, it might've seemed like he didn't even hear the offer at all, but the truth was… he had heard it, fully, and he'd already made up his mind before Darvik even finished talking.
Of course he did… because this wasn't the kind of thing James needed to think long about. It wasn't just a deal… it was a solution.
Sure, fifty percent was gone, fifty percent of every drug sale would be cut out by Marci, but it is a position. A place with no extradition, complete financial camouflage, and a backdoor army ready to tear down walls if he ever got caught, then what was fifty percent, really?
What was money… when what they were offering was untouchability?
This wasn't about loss.
This was about leverage, control, and maybe, just maybe, freedom.
The real kind, not the kind that needs guns or lawyers, but the kind where no one could touch him, trace him, reach for him.
So no, he didn't have to think about it.
He'd already thought past it, though there were strange parts about it.
"Lucian, why didn't y'all reach out to him?" He asked, just to make sure this was real and not just some operation against him like a joint effort by agencies to take him down.
And Darvik got it. He knew that James might be pessimistic about it.
"We don't offer. If someone comes to Maraci and has what we need, then we offer him, but only move behind closed borders. Because if we don't, we might get the attention of too many people. I mean, they already know what this country is about, but we don't want to be seen as the ones recruiting these criminals, you know? So, to be clear, Lucian never came to Maraci… but you're here now."
"I'm still pessimistic about it." James said.
"Then let me say this. The top cartels are banking with us, top mafias, top criminals banking with us. Even billionaires worldwide are banking with us. If you just search for a name, most of the photos were taken in Maraci." Darvik tried to steer James's worry away. "You can even search up the execution of Huan Sivianna, a cartel boss who went against our rules and carried out an assassination. We found him, we killed him, and we paid the victim's family a lot of money." He said all the right lines, but still, James didn't seem to be a hundred percent sure about any of this. "You know, James." Darvik continued, "William, Linda, the others. All of them will betray you. They fear their position, they want power. But we're not like them. We don't let criminals get into positions where they can bribe officials. This is a democracy, after all. We give you safety, that's what Maraci is. Something you can truts."
Something I can trust huh…
"It sounds like you're pressuring me into this deal."
"Oh, I don't want to pressure you. And you know what?" He stood up. "You can take a look for yourself. Enjoy Maraci and your stay and here's my number." He placed a name card on the table. "When you've made your decision, call me. Then we'll talk more in detail about it." He walked to the door but looked back. "Though, there are only 90 days for your family and you can stay if you don't take the deal. Make a good decision, James until then, enjoy our beautiful country."
He waved his hand and left, leaving behind James just stunned.