bigabreads Chapter 494: 466. Offering Pierre
Chapter 494: 466. Offering Pierre
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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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He quickly gathered the last of his heavy law books, stacking them securely against his chest, before he smoothly stood up. He didn't leave Tilly on the ground. Operating with flawless gentlemanly manners, he extended his free hand down to her. Tilly hesitated for only a heartbeat before taking it, allowing him to help her up to her feet. The second touch was just as electric as the first.
The young man cleared his throat, adjusting his wire-rimmed spectacles as he tried to regain his professional composure. He introduced himself to Tilly, his voice smooth, highly educated, and incredibly polite.
"I apologize again for the clumsiness, miss," he said, offering a small, respectful bow of his head. "My name is Pierre. Pierre Toussaint. It is a genuine pleasure to make your acquaintance, despite the... abrupt nature of our meeting."
He held her gaze, a shy, hopeful smile touching his lips, and then asked for her name. "May I have the absolute honor of knowing the name of the woman I nearly trampled?"
Tilly, entirely charmed by his eloquent speech and his gentle demeanor, managed to find her footing. She of course shook the man's hand properly this time, the grip firm but lingering just a fraction of a second longer than was strictly necessary for polite society. She introduced herself as well, her voice soft but filled with the newfound confidence Caleb had instilled in all of them.
"It's Tilly. Tilly Jackson," she replied, offering him a bright, beautiful smile that made Pierre's breath hitch all over again. "And you didn't trample me, Mr. Toussaint. I assure you, I've survived far worse bumps in the road than a few dropped books."
After that initial, highly charged introduction, the two of them simply stood there on the edge of the bustling sidewalk, completely ignoring the chaotic frenzy of the book launch happening just ten feet away. They got to talk.
Caleb, standing nearby, didn't need to step closer. He simply leaned back against the cool brick wall and focused his enhanced hearing, easily cutting through the ambient noise of the crowd to eavesdrop on the budding romance.
He could clearly overhear the nervous, eager exchange of information. Pierre was talking with his hands, his passion evident as he explained why he was carrying such heavy texts through the sweltering heat of the afternoon.
"They are the revised statutes of the Lemoyne penal code," Pierre explained to Tilly, tapping the heavy leather covers. He puffed his chest out slightly, a mixture of profound pride and underlying anxiety in his voice.
Caleb overheard that the man had just graduated with top honors from his university's law school, and he had just begun his highly anticipated work as a fully licensed lawyer here in the city of Saint Denis.
"I just passed the bar examination last week, Miss Jackson," Pierre said, a tired but hopeful smile on his face. "I am officially a practicing attorney. Though, to be entirely honest, securing clients in a city dominated by old money and established, aristocratic law firms is proving to be quite the uphill battle for a man of my background. But I am determined to make my mark."
Caleb's smile grew very, very large when he heard this.
It was the absolute perfect storm of opportunity. Here was a brilliant, highly educated, and freshly licensed attorney. A young man who possessed zero ties to the corrupt, established political machines of Mayor Lemieux or the old Italian mafia families.
A man who was currently desperate for a break, desperate for a client, and entirely hungry to prove himself. If Caleb hired him now, Pierre wouldn't just be an employee, he would be a fiercely loyal disciple who owed his entire, highly lucrative career to the Don.
It was a strategic masterpiece waiting to be executed.
Caleb pushed himself off the brick wall. He handed his glass of iced lemon water to a passing servant and smoothed down the lapels of his immaculate charcoal suit. With the calculated, terrifying grace of a predator moving in for the kill, he went to approach him.
Tilly noticed Caleb walking toward them first. Her eyes widened slightly, her posture straightening in immediate, ingrained respect for the man who had saved her life and elevated her family to royalty. Pierre, noticing Tilly's sudden shift in attention, turned around just as the towering, broad shouldered Don stopped right beside them.
Caleb offered a warm, disarming, and flawlessly polite smile. He, of course, apologized at first for interrupting their quiet conversation.
"Please forgive the intrusion, Mr. Toussaint. Tilly," Caleb murmured, his voice a smooth, resonant baritone that instantly commanded the space around them. He tipped his head slightly in a gesture of gentlemanly respect. "I did not mean to break up such a pleasant introduction."
He turned his piercing blue eyes directly onto Pierre, his max-level Persuasion Skill already wrapping around the young man. "But I couldn't help but overhear as I was standing nearby. Did I hear correctly that you have just recently passed the bar, and have just started working as a licensed lawyer here in Saint Denis?"
The young man, entirely oblivious to the lethal, absolute power radiating from the man standing before him, simply saw a wealthy, highly respectable corporate gentleman. Pierre nodded his head at that, adjusting his spectacles, eager to present a professional front to a potential high society connection.
Before saying, "Yes, sir, I am. I officially opened my independent practice just a few days ago."
Pierre shifted the heavy law books in his arms, his business instincts kicking in. He looked at Caleb's expensive tailoring and the general aura of immense wealth. "Are you perhaps in need of some legal assistance or help in understanding a matter of contract law, sir? I assure you, my rates are quite reasonable, and my understanding of the Lemoyne corporate statutes is unparalleled."
Pierre was pitching his services, completely, entirely not realizing who Caleb actually is.
Standing just a few yards away, the three heads of the publishing houses, Archibald, Arthur, and Thaddeus, had been watching the Don's movements like hawks. When they saw this young, unknown, and entirely unproven kid talking to the undisputed King of the Underworld like he was just a regular pedestrian asking for directions, they nearly had a collective heart attack.
Seeing this terrifying breach of protocol, they were absolutely shocked. They knew that men had been gutted and fed to the alligators in the bayou for showing less respect to Angelo Bronte. They panicked, terrified that the Don might view this as a public insult during their grand launch event.
Vance and Beauregard immediately stepped forward, their faces pale, desperately wanting to correct the young man and scream at him to bow his head.
"You insolent boy, do you have any idea who—" Vance began to hiss, reaching out to grab Pierre by the shoulder.
But Caleb didn't even look at the executives. He simply raised his hand, holding up a single, leather gloved finger.
The gesture was entirely silent, but it carried the weight of a loaded gun. Vance and Beauregard instantly snapped their mouths shut, freezing dead in their tracks. The sheer, suffocating aura of the Don's authority hit them like a physical blow, reminding them that they only spoke when they were permitted to speak.
With the publishers silenced and trembling in their expensive shoes, Caleb turned his attention back to the bewildered young lawyer.
He smiled warmly, dropping his hand, and says, "No, Mr. Toussaint. I do not have a need for basic legal assistance of such matters."
Caleb paused, letting the disappointment flicker briefly across Pierre's face, before delivering the counter offer that would alter the course of the young man's history.
"But I genuinely thank you for offering one," Caleb continued, his voice dropping into a serious, highly corporate register. "In truth, I did not approach you to ask for your business card. I actually approached you because I wanted to offer you a job."
Pierre blinked, thoroughly confused. "A... a job, sir?"
"Yes," Caleb nodded, gesturing broadly toward the massive, multi story brick headquarters of the Lemoyne Unified Press and the thousands of screaming customers fighting over the books. "I am currently expanding my operations across the state. This publishing syndicate you see before you is merely the first step in a massive, nationwide corporate expansion. We are dealing with unprecedented royalty contracts, interstate distribution laws, and intellectual property rights that require a brilliant, dedicated legal mind to oversee."
Caleb locked eyes with Pierre, offering him the keys to the kingdom. "How about becoming the Chief Corporate Lawyer of the Lemoyne Unified Press?"
Hearing that, the young man was, of course, completely stunned. His jaw literally dropped. The heavy law books in his arms suddenly felt like they weighed a thousand pounds.
He stared at Caleb as if the man had just offered to make him the head of the justice department. The Chief Corporate Counsel for the new and most talked about, obviously lucrative business venture in the entire city? It was a position that senior lawyers that have worked for many years individually would kill their own mothers to acquire.
But the ones that were stunned weren't just the young man. The three heads of the publishing houses, still frozen a few paces away, were equally shell shocked.
Vance looked at Sterling, his eyes bugging out of his head. Chief Corporate Lawyer? For our entire syndicate? An unproven, fresh out of school graduate? The thought of handing their highly sensitive, multi hundreds of thousands of dollars legal framework over to a kid was terrifying to their veteran business sensibilities.
But they did not dare to say anything. They didn't utter a single syllable of protest. They had learned their lesson on the back porch of the Garden District mansion. They knew the absolute, uncompromising rule of their new reality, what the Don wants, the Don gets. If Don McLaughlin wanted to hire a stray dog to audit their ledgers, they would build the dog a mahogany desk.
They simply swallowed their anxiety and just took it as a strategic move, rationalizing in their terrified minds that the Don was personally cultivating a new, highly loyal lawyer specifically for their business who would bend the law entirely to the mafia's will.
As for the young man, Pierre finally managed to snap his jaw shut. He was incredibly happy, a massive surge of adrenaline rushing through his veins at the prospect of such a life changing opportunity. But he was also a highly educated, deeply analytical man, which meant he was also naturally cautious, of course.
He adjusted his spectacles, looking at Caleb with a mixture of profound gratitude and sharp, investigative suspicion.
"Sir..." Pierre stammered slightly, trying to find his professional footing. "That is... that is the most generous, staggering offer I have ever received in my life. But..."
He paused, knowing he was stepping onto dangerous ground, and asked Caleb exactly why he offered him the job right off the street. "I apologize if I sound rude, or ungrateful, but... why me? You do not know my credentials. You do not know my work ethic. And, forgive my bluntness, but..."
Pierre looked at the three sweating, terrified publishing executives standing silently behind Caleb, and then looked back at the tall, impeccably dressed man. "Who exactly are you? Since you clearly possess the authority to do such a thing, to offer the top legal position of this massive syndicate on a whim... I must know whose employ I would be entering."
Caleb didn't take offense to the questioning. In fact, his respect for Pierre grew exponentially. A lawyer who accepted deals blindly without reading the fine print was a terrible lawyer. Pierre was smart, cautious, and brave enough to ask the right questions.
Caleb of course apologized, offering a slight, charming bow of his head for not properly introducing himself first.
"You are entirely correct to ask, Mr. Toussaint, and I apologize for my lack of manners. I was simply eager to secure your talents before another firm snatched you up," Caleb said smoothly, his blue eyes flashing with a cold, absolute power that made the hair on the back of Pierre's neck stand up.
Caleb stepped closer, lowering his voice so only Tilly, Pierre, and the executives could hear him over the roar of the crowd.
"My name is McLaughlin," Caleb introduced himself, the alias rolling off his tongue with heavy, terrifying weight. "I am Don McLaughlin. I am the man who funded this operation, and I am the boss of this company, essentially through the absolute influence of my capital and my infrastructure."
Caleb gestured casually over his shoulder to Vance, Sterling, and Beauregard, who immediately bowed their heads in synchronized submission. "But, of course, I leave the mundane, daily handling of the printing business and the logistics to these three fine gentlemen. I only concern myself with the grand strategy. And my strategy dictates that I need an in house counsel whose loyalty is to the future, not the past."
Caleb offered his hand to the stunned young lawyer, a predatory, unshakeable confidence radiating from his every pore. "So, Mr. Toussaint," Caleb murmured, the faint, dangerous edge of the mob boss bleeding through his corporate facade. "Tell me. Am I more than qualified to offer you the job?"
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Name: Caleb Thorne
Age: 23
Body Attributes:
- Strength: 8/10
- Agility: 8/10
- Perception: 9/10
- Stamina: 8/10
- Charm: 8/10
- Luck: 9/10
Skills:
- Handgun (Lvl MAX)
- Rifle (Lvl MAX)
- Firearms Knowledge (Lvl MAX)
- Past Life Memory (Lvl MAX)
- Knife (Lvl MAX)
- Blunt Weapon (Lvl MAX)
- Sneaking (Lvl MAX)
- Horse Mastery (Lvl MAX)
- Poker (Lvl MAX)
- Hand to Hand Combat (Lvl MAX)
- Eagle Eye (Lvl MAX)
- Dead Eye (Lvl MAX)
- Bow (Lvl MAX)
- Pain Nullifier (Lvl MAX)
- Physical Regeneration (Lvl MAX)
- Crafting (Lvl MAX)
- Persuasion (Lvl MAX)
- Mental Fortitude (Lvl MAX)
- Cooking (Lvl MAX)
- Teaching (Lvl MAX)
- Trilingual Language Proficiency - G, I, & C (Lvl MAX)
- Inventory System (Permanent - 100x100x100)
- Acting (Lvl MAX)
- Alcohol Resistance (Lvl MAX)
- Treasure Hunter (Lvl MAX)
- Drugs Resistance (Lvl MAX)
- Business (Lvl MAX)
- Leadership (Lvl MAX)
Money: 3,222 dollars and 60 cents
Inventory: 285,392 dollars and 61 cents, 11 gold nuggets, 74 gold bars, 1 Double Action, 1 Schofield, 2 Colm's Schofields, 1 land deed (Parcel), 1 Mauser, 1 Semi Auto Pistol, 1 Lancaster Repeater, 1 Old Wood Jewelry Box, 1 F.F Mausoleum small brass key, 1 Ruby, 1 Braithwaites Land Deed, 1 Broken Pirate Sword, 1 Milton's Safety Deposit Key, 1 Senator Pendleton Sealed Envelope, Proof Of Marlin-Thorne Firearms Co., 10 Dynamites, 1 LeMat, 1 M1899, 1 Carcano, 1 Ownership deed of Doyle's Tavern, 3 Diamonds, & Important Documents & Deeds Of Cornwall
Bank: -