“Lemme ask you something, Butcher.”
“I suspected something was coming down the pipeline.” Most of these transactions didn’t happen in person. In the digital age and in my special line of business, physical goods were unnecessary.
“You could make a lot more if you cut ties with the Fifth Republic. A lot more.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then why?” he asked. “You could work for me.”
“I don’t work for anyone, Darius. And I don’t work for the Fifth Republic either.”
“Then you could work with me,” he said. “Imagine what we could do. Imagine the margins if we bent the rules—”
“Some say rules are meant to be broken, but not mine. As long as I live and breathe, they will remain. There’s no reason the criminal enterprises that flourish in this city can’t continue to thrive with order. What I’ve done has
