Hector was so confused he didn't say anything, just stared at Dani, who continued.
"We may have sold some buildings, you know…some big buildings..."
"You're telling me…" Hector finally began to speak. "that you sold buildings with the company we made to launder money? A shell company?"
"Well, yeah, exactly." Dani smiled.
This is not happening what the fuck.
Hector sighed. "How much money came in from that, and what exactly did you sell?"
"Since Charlotte is Lucian's daughter, and Lucian died all the assets he had fallen into Charlotte's pocket. But since Charlotte is James' adopted daughter, we thought it was a good idea to sell these assets."
Hector looked more confused now. He thought Lucian only had the houses and those cars.
"Lucian owned six buildings, his real estate portfolio was huge, with eight-story buildings that just sat here, and he also had warehouses and some land. So when the papers came, all of this was officially under James' name, and we sold them under his real estate company."
Hector was dumbfounded by the fact that he didn't know about this.
"From all of that, we made about 840 million. Of course, it all went down through cash transactions, so yeah, that's it." Dani smiled at him again as if he hadn't just made hundreds of millions, without Hector or James having any clue about it.
"So let me get this straight…" Hector turned to face the money, then pointed his hand. "More than half of this money is actually from Lucian's stuff you sold, which means this money is Charlotte's money."
Dani nodded. "Yes, but still, if we think about it, the money is under James' control."
Hector ran his hand through his hair. They hadn't told him about it, and maybe those buildings could have actually helped them, but they sold everything, and he knew James would not touch Charlotte's money, which meant it would just sit somewhere.
Somewhere that wasn't a bank.
"You know you fucked up, Dani. What the fuck were you even thought.?"
"Why? You said to sell everything because James ordered it. I just did my job."
"What about the government? Didn't they notice you selling land and shit?"
"No, because we bribed the ones that would care, so it's all cleared." Dani looked at the money. "Well at least something is clear."
"Yeah, somehow a billion dollars in fucking 500 bills isn't clear. How genius are you?" Hector shook his head.
"It would be more fucked up if it were in smaller notes." Dani said.
"Dani, 500 bills are only used by banks and government funds, maybe a couple of businesses, not fucking criminals. Of course, nobody would take it, because it's clear that this is from illegal dealings."
"I know that. I fucking graduated college with a master's degree, but shit, money is money."
"Yeah, money is money, but we can't fucking use it. Not even the black market would accept it." Hector looked up. "Fuck, I need to call our dictator friend."
"I thought about the same. He can clean it for us." Dani smiled.
"Yeah, just my ass needs to fucking travel there, with James. You just fucking made a big ass mess."
There was silence between them as they thought about it, only the sound of the cash counter echoed.
"Let's bury it underground." Mike said from the background.
Hector and Dani both looked at him.
"I mean, I saw it in a movie. They buried it underground and marked it on a map, like a treasure hunt." He smiled as he thought about it as a real plan.
"And what the fuck is going to happen, money trees grow or what, you stupid ass? If you bury it, it's still not going to be clean." Dani shook his head as he said it.
"Oh, that's true. I said nothing." Mike stepped back.
"So, the bank didn't take our money, because it would be too much. We can't buy gold or crypto because we need quick access to it…we need cash or it in a bank account, and the only way is the dictator... there's nothing else I can think of."
"There is a way." Dani said as he leaned on one of the desks. "But you're not going to like it."
Dani took a deep breath. "We need a legitimate business that can generate this much money so we can actually use it, a shell company that's actually somehow legitimate. We can't wash this much money anymore, nor will the bank take it. The second option is a little dangerous."
"James knows a lot of businessmen, so what we do is give them the money to clean it. They have billion dollar companies, so they could easily make it look legitimate for us. The problem is, they'd take a cut. Maybe we could even buy shares in their companies or invest in stocks." Dani looked at Hector. "We aren't some low profile gangsters anymore, Hector. The family is worth billions, and the money will just keep coming. We need strategic decisions."
Hector stood in silence for a moment, thinking. "So, you're saying we basically need to hand over our money to some businessmen and hope they clean it for us? And they'll take a cut?"
"Exactly," Dani replied. "But they have the connections and resources to pull it off. It's a risk, but it could work. We get the money back, cleaned, and they get a share for their trouble."
"That's a huge risk. I like our dictator friend more, he actually keeps his word. We don't need to worry about him." Hector said back.
"That's also a good plan. And maybe it's the best, because… this isn't all the cash we have."
Hector closed his eyes as Dani said it, trying to calm himself down. "What do you mean by that?" He asked, smiling a little, but only because of the stress.
"Around 200 million is in different warehouses. I think Ferucci has like 80 million in his warehouse, so we need to do something about that too. But the good news is, those aren't in 500 bills."
"Oh, really?" Hector's eyes lit up.
"Yeah, so maybe forget that. We can use it directly, we just need to clean it, which would take a few days. So 200 million is already ready to use."
"Call me when it's done. As for this bullshit." He gestured at the piles of cash in the room, "just count it and do nothing until I come back, okay?"
"Understood." Dani nodded as Hector turned and walked away.
As he stepped out, he paused before the car, taking a moment to enjoy the sunshine, despite the messed up situation he was in.
Too much money. Never in my life did I think I'd be worried about something ...
"Should we go?" Mike asked.
"We're going to buy a wheelchair. Look up where I can get one." Hector said as he got into the car. He was confused when Mike didn't close the door, just stood there staring at him.
"No, it's for my cute sister." He interrupted with a smile. "You want to see a picture of her? She's like an angel sent down to earth."
Mike smiled back. "Sure. I have a sister too."
And just like that, they started talking about their sisters as they began their long search for a store that sold custom, built wheelchairs.
Eventually, they found one.