Bruno drew in a breath and glanced around the room before speaking again.
He looked at the office first, then at Adam.
"I know this place is only a front," he said. "Your real organization is bigger than this. You just don't want outside support touching the business directly yet, so you started with local people and kept your own hands off most of it."
Adam said nothing.
He had no reason to correct him.
In fact, the more Bruno talked, the more useful the misunderstanding became. Adam wanted to know how far it had grown and how much he could still pull from it.
Bruno leaned forward.
"That is why I came," he said. "Me and my people can support this business from both sides."
Adam lifted his eyes.
"Front and back?" he asked.
Bruno nodded quickly. He looked relieved that Adam was still listening.
"Front side means whatever this company needs in the open," he said. "Recruitment. Cash if needed. Buyer information. Information on other companies. Internal details if somebody is trying to shut you out before you grow. We can help with all of that."
He pointed toward Shinju without really looking at her.
"Legally, you already have madam here," he said. "But legal help is not enough everywhere."
Then he tapped a finger against the desk.
"Back side means the streets," he said. "Protection. Pressure when pressure is needed. Passing your name where it should spread and blocking problems where they should stop. There are many things that never get solved in clean ways. For those things, people like us are useful."
Something sharp passed through Adam's mind.
Bruno was stupid.
But he was also useful in exactly the way Adam needed.
Adam had already understood that his biggest weakness was not only money. It was reach. It was information. It was protection outside legal space. Until now he had been thinking only about how to build. Bruno had just reminded him that staying alive while building was a separate problem.
'Lucky man,' Adam thought.
His face did not show any of that.
"And what do you want in return?" he asked.
Kenji looked from one man to the other, still trying to understand what kind of conversation this had turned into.
Bruno gave a thin smile.
"You already know what I want," he said.
Adam did know.
The moment Bruno had made the offer, the answer had already been obvious. Gonda was behind Bruno like a knife pressed to his neck. Bruno wanted that knife gone.
Still, Adam did not help him speak.
He was not stupid enough to put Bruno's weakness into words for him.
"I want to hear it from you," Adam said. "Then I'll decide whether it is worth my time."
Bruno let out a slow breath.
"I need two things," he said. "First, your organization must not make contact or alliance with any other gang. Second, Gonda must die, and I need to take his place."
Adam felt a small drop of disappointment.
The second demand was expected.
The first was the problem.
In truth, both were problems. Adam had no real underworld organization. He had no gangs under him, no hidden reach across districts, and no power to stop imaginary alliances that only existed in Bruno's head. If he answered badly here, Bruno might start asking the kind of questions Adam could not survive.
So Adam stayed silent.
He lowered his eyes to the desk, rested a hand near his beard, and let the pause stretch.
To Bruno, it looked like thought.
To Adam, it was time.
He needed one answer that would keep Bruno obedient without forcing himself into a lie he could not control later.
Then he looked up.
"Only the second condition can be satisfied," he said.
Bruno's face changed at once.
"But-"
Adam raised one finger and Bruno stopped.
"No," Adam said. "You are asking too much. What do you think? That I cannot get this same work done through someone else? I can. The fact that you found this business is not as impressive as you think."
Bruno's mouth shut as the realization finally landed.
Yes, Bruno had already overreached. He knew it too now.
Inside, Adam felt a small flash of satisfaction.
Then he continued before Bruno could recover.
"Still," he said, "I will give you this much. In one way, both of your requests can move forward. But there is structure to these things. There is order. We do not stop and start operations just because one man is frightened."
That was deliberate.
Adam wanted Bruno focused on tone, not meaning. He wanted him trapped inside the weight of the words, not the holes behind them.
Bruno listened carefully.
Adam pressed further.
"No one can know that a deal exists between you and us," he said. "Especially not about this company. Do you understand me?"
This time Bruno's expression changed for the better. The disappointment was still there, but now it was mixed with relief.
Adam had not rejected him.
That was enough.
"I understand," Bruno said.
He hesitated for only a second before asking, "How long?"
Adam frowned slightly.
"How long for what?"
"For Gonda," Bruno said. "How long until you handle him?"
Now Adam smiled.
It was small, but Bruno saw it.
"Don't worry," Adam said. "I won't let you die."
That line hit Bruno harder than any promise of money could have. Even Kenji looked at Adam differently after hearing it.
Bruno leaned forward.
"Then what do we do?"
Adam reached into his coat and took out a plain white slip.
Bruno stared at it. Kenji did too. Shinju's eyes narrowed at once because she had seen those white slips before, and she knew they only appeared when Adam wanted control over a conversation.
Adam placed the slip on the desk and pushed it toward Bruno.
"Write Gonda's number," he said.
Bruno did not touch it immediately.
For the first time since Adam had arrived, real confusion showed on his face.
He looked at the paper. Then at Adam. Then back at the paper again.
The gun was still on the desk between them, but now Bruno's attention was nowhere near it.
"What are you planning, old man?" he asked.