"You were lucky this time to encounter Sheriff Henry, otherwise you would have all been kidnapped. From now on, your servants can only be chosen from those trained by the family since childhood; you can no longer be so willful," William said heavily.
"It should only be Paul who is an exception. His income and status with me are quite good. I don't know why he betrayed us this time," Consuelo said dejectedly.
"People of their vulgar class often live from hand to mouth, and their thoughts can change drastically at any time. They are not worthy of our trust. You must learn from this incident," William admonished his favorite granddaughter.
"Yes, it's a good thing we met Henry this time, Grandpa. If you had seen the fallen bodies of those bandits on the scene, you would have been just as shocked," Consuelo said with a mix of lingering fear and relief.
"The Jesse Gang and the Younger Gang were as powerless as infants in Henry's hands. Jesse and Frank even dared not continue negotiating with him in the end," Consuelo said with an admiring look.
"I am very curious about Henry. Your great-grandfather and I both know how difficult the Jesse Gang and the Younger Gang are to deal with. I never expected them to be so vulnerable against Henry," William said with a smile.
"Henry is Ares, the God of War, reborn, Grandpa, let me tell you," Consuelo began to animatedly recount the legend of Henry to her grandfather.
However, before she could say much, a middle-aged private detective in a suit and a bowler hat walked over and handed a file to William.
"Have a seat, Tom," William said, gesturing for the private detective Tom to sit on a nearby sofa, while taking the file and opening it to read.
After a long while, William looked up and asked, "You think there's a high possibility that Henry attacked the Raven Brotherhood club? He shouldn't be able to do it alone, right? What about his collaborators?"
Tom, who had the image of a good-natured old man, seriously analyzed the intelligence.
"The interesting thing is precisely here. I believe it's highly probable that he acted alone, though I don't know how he did it."
"But the fact that Jesse and the Younger Gang were almost completely annihilated by him alone is something no one would believe unless they saw it with their own eyes."
"Analyzing Henry's actions over the past two weeks, it's clear that he has repeatedly faced a hundred enemies alone and achieved complete victory."
"Therefore, I boldly speculate that this Raven Brotherhood incident was his doing. By analyzing the motive, beneficiaries, and timing of the action, we can arrive at this seemingly impossible but most probable conclusion."
"Because the Black Market offered a ten thousand us dollar bounty on Henry, the Denver Black Market was completely wiped out on the night Henry made his appearance; this morning, Henry arrived in New York, and the New York Black Market was also destroyed."
The complete destruction of the Denver Black Market had already spread among informed individuals in the past few days, as many of their partners were affected.
"I even suspect that as long as the Black Market continues this bounty, if Henry gets off the train in Chicago on his next return trip to Denver, the Black Market's headquarters will also be in danger."
William suddenly felt as if what he held in his hand was not intelligence, but a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Although William was definitely well-traveled and ruthless, he was still shocked by the numbers in these intelligence reports.
"However, I believe Henry was actually just issuing a warning. From his leniency towards the personnel and businesses in the three buildings affiliated with the Raven Brotherhood this time, it's clear he had no intention of a complete massacre."
"I think it's possible that their prying eyes this morning angered Henry, which is why he struck so decisively."
"The Black Market's Chicago headquarters is simply caught in the moment and hasn't seen this point clearly, but I believe someone will soon remind them. Then it will depend on their choices."
After a long period of contemplation, William said, "Then let it be. We will just keep a close eye on it. Find Paul as soon as possible; we must find out who is behind the schemes against the main members of our family."
"Yes," Tom stood up, bowed slightly to William, and then left.
William immediately noticed his granddaughter's expectant gaze, so he handed her the file in his hand.
"Take a look. Since you want to make friends, you should know more about him."
"Thank you, Grandpa."
Now it was Consuelo's turn to lower her head and read the file carefully.
William was also pondering the matter in his heart.
As the second generation, after truly taking over for five years, William had almost doubled the railway business and family assets passed down by his father.
However, the Vanderbilt Family is currently experiencing a shortage of talent; none of William's peers or current descendants can take on the railway empire on his shoulders.
And William's own health had never been good.
Therefore, if Henry was truly so powerful, he would be of great significance for cooperation or alliance to the Vanderbilt Family.
William decided to use the opportunity of Consuelo's eighteenth birthday ball to thoroughly assess Henry.
—
Inside one of the Astor Family's two Manhattan mansions, Cathy's mother, Carola, had just finished listening to her description of the near-kidnapping incident.
"Your father is someone who is never home. It's fortunate that you're alright this time, otherwise he might not have been found in time to save you," Carola sighed.
"Is Father on his yacht again?" Cathy asked.
"No, he went to France. You did well this time, arranging for Henry to stay at the Astute Mansion Hotel. I hope he is satisfied with the service there," Carola pressed the call bell to summon the butler, Jerry.
"Jerry, arrange for Lyon to take a Berline carriage to the hotel for Henry's use," Carola instructed.
"Yes, Mrs. Astor," Jerry immediately went to make arrangements.
"Tell me more about Henry. Is he really as strong as the newspapers say?" Carola asked.
"Henry, he…" Cathy began to recount everything she had heard from Peter in a torrent of words.
Because Peter did not know about the bounty placed on Henry by the Denver Black Market, he was unaware of the feud between the Black Market and Henry, which meant Cathy and the others also did not know.
Therefore, unless the families behind Cathy and the others conducted a special investigation like the Vanderbilt Family, they would not connect today's Raven Brotherhood annihilation with Henry.
—
After eating lunch, Henry returned to his room, changed into the suit and formal wear William had given him, then took out a bottle of Rare Blend whiskey and a box of Punch cigars, packed them in a gift box, and went downstairs, exiting the Astor Hotel's ground floor entrance.
The hotel's lobby manager and the servant Lyon quickly walked over.
"Excuse me, Mr. Bruce, are you going out? This is Lyon. Mrs. Carola Astor has arranged a Berline carriage for your exclusive use."
"Yes, thank you," Henry nodded.
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