Empire of Shadows

Chapter 580 Another Family [666+26]

In the evening, Lance's car parked outside William's villa. He and Emily were already waiting for him at the door.

After hugging them both, William said somewhat awkwardly, "They knew you were coming, so they came along too."

Although he said it was a bit awkward, Lance saw Emily's face glowing!

She was a vain woman, there was no doubt about that, but Lance didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Everyone has their own thoughts and personalities, and they need to express their emotions and other things. For Emily, the advancement of her family was the happiest thing for her.

Now she sometimes goes back to the Precia District to live, because she is more familiar with the social circle there.

Before, she was not the core of the social circle. She would probably sit in a more marginal position, occasionally saying a few words to make people pay attention to her for a minute or two, before someone else would take the attention away from her.

She could only smile and occasionally express her own ideas, but not constantly.

But now, it was completely different.

Since she attended some higher-level social occasions with the wife of Councilor Williams, she had become the undisputed core of the social circle in the community.

Even her seat had moved from the edge to the very center.

She would lazily lie on that sofa chair, showing off her clothes and accessories, and then everyone's eyes and attention would be focused on her.

No matter who was speaking, if she didn't like it, she could interrupt them at any time, and no one would feel uncomfortable because of it.

Even if they did, they had to hold it in.

No matter what she said, those ladies would smile and cheer, even though they wouldn't bring her any real benefits.

But the emotional value they provided exceeded everything!

It wasn't William who changed her life, she knew who it was!

If everyone in the family was fanatical about Lance, then if you were to rank the fanaticism, Emily would definitely be at the top.

She took Lance's arm and complained to William a few words, "He now can't wait for everyone to know you're here!"

Lance turned to look at her, "I think that's more like your idea, Emily."

William laughed after hearing this, "You guessed right, she originally had a party tonight…"

The William family's situation was getting better and better, so the people in the family wanted to contact them more frequently, which is human nature.

Even if they couldn't get anything from William, what if they needed to ask them for help in the future?

So now family activities have become more frequent, and since he and Emily moved into a new big house, they often hold family gatherings.

Lance wasn't unhappy about this, after all, they would soon become a family, and at the same time, the label of "local" on him would become clearer and clearer.

As soon as he entered the lawn, people kept coming to greet him, shake hands, chat, and talk briefly. This didn't seem like a family gathering, but more like an informal social gathering.

First the older ones, and then those who were about his age.

Barbara and Patricia came out of the room together. The girl screamed when she saw Lance and ran over to hug him.

They hadn't seen each other much during this time. Lance had a lot of things to do, and Patricia didn't care about other people's eyes. She hugged Lance's waist and took a deep breath of his scent.

The familiar scent made her feel relaxed at this moment.

William and Emily watched all this happen with satisfaction, without any intention of lecturing.

Everyone else looked on with smiles.

It was no longer a secret that the Lance family had replaced the five major families to become the most powerful gang in Goldport City. It was even reported in the newspapers!

And everyone knew that the police chief and deputy chief listened to Lance, and the next mayor was also in cooperation with Lance, which stabilized the Lawrence family.

There were many low-level civil servants in the Lawrence family. If these low-level civil servants didn't have any other power or promotion, they would most likely only be low-level civil servants for the rest of their lives.

But because of Lance's relationship, they would soon have the opportunity to be promoted and begin to occupy important positions in various departments of Goldport City.

These changes brought not only the improvement of their personal power, social status, and influence, but also the promotion of the entire family!

Their agricultural products would be more competitive—

Lawrence Farms does not only refer to a single farm, it is more like a trademark. At the same time, the farms, ranches, and plantations around Lawrence Farms also sell their agricultural products to the Lawrence family, which are transported to Goldport City and nearby cities for sale.

Without greater power intervention, this kind of sales is the most basic competition.

But when the strength of the Lawrence family increases, they will have more initiative in the market!

For example, they can just find a reason to say that competing brands or even shopping malls are unqualified in some aspects.

Some stupid rumors, some sales suspensions or shutdowns for inspection that comply with the process, can quickly expand the Lawrence Farms brand and go out.

After more than a hundred years of waiting, they finally waited for an opportunity to rise, and the person who created this opportunity was Lance.

So they have no dissatisfaction with Lance. A family interest group centered on Lance and William is slowly taking shape.

"I know you need to be together, but shouldn't you put the time back a little bit?"

"He belongs to you alone in the second half of the night, but now he belongs to all of us!"

Barbara's voice made Patricia a little embarrassed. She glared at her sister, but it didn't have any deterrent effect.

She let go of Lance's hand and stood aside, "We just haven't seen each other for a while, so we were a little uncontrollable!"

Barbara nodded perfunctorily, "Yes, yes, I'm also uncontrollable now!"

She said and hugged Lance as well, and the hug was very real.

A polite hug is a "hollow" hug. The two sides will not have direct contact except for the parts above the shoulders, especially between opposite sexes.

But Barbara's hug was very real. She almost pressed her whole body against him, but fortunately, she let go quickly, otherwise Patricia would be fuming!

Barbara's career has been good recently. "The Legend of Angel Lake" has been well received at film festivals and has begun to be shown on a larger scale.

As the silly, sweet female lead of this movie, her portrayal of the character was very successful, or it can be said that it was a true performance.

She perfectly showed the core of a horror thriller when a silly, sweet girl makes a choice—

Hiding in the lakeside tool shed, she did not choose the pruning shears that could easily cut bones when facing Jason, who had been chasing everyone.

She also did not choose the steel bar that could be easily inserted into the soil, nor did she choose those hunting knives that looked very well maintained.

Instead, she chose a baseball bat that everyone could not understand…

But the audience liked her because she was beautiful, sweet, had a good figure, and was a little… bitchy.

For Federals, being bitchy is not a bad thing. This also explains why they prefer cheerleaders to ordinary girls.

In short, this movie has given her a lot of resources. Many production companies are talking to her about cooperation. She is going to become a big star.

But she knows very well who gave her all this. It is precisely because she has truly entered this industry that she realizes that people praise her beauty, figure, and these things are worthless in this circle!

Every day, outside the doors of those production companies in Creek Valley, there are dozens, hundreds, or even more girls who are younger, more beautiful, have better figures, and are more willing to go all out waiting for opportunities.

But the opportunity is unlikely to favor any of them. It's not that they are not good enough, it's just that there is something between them and success that they can't break through on their own.

Hugging Lance's thigh is the key!

Seeing Barbara let go of Lance, Patricia's little fist loosened. She glared at Barbara, while the latter just smiled back.

After that, many other people came over to shake hands or hug Lance.

At this time, there was still a while before dinner, and people spontaneously gathered around Lance and William to chat.

"I read today's newspaper, but I still can't believe it. Now all the casino franchise licenses are in your hands, including Goldport Casino, right?"

Someone still couldn't believe it and couldn't help but ask.

Lance nodded while holding his wine glass, "Yes, in fact, in addition to these casinos and licenses, I am also considering taking over some legitimate industries from the Kodak family."

The others moved closer and listened seriously as Lance continued, "If I don't want these industries, then they will most likely be divided up by the Bay Area, but you know, I still have some friction and conflict with the Bay Area."

"I'm not very interested in running these companies, but I also know that I shouldn't let them collapse casually."

"So if any of you… are willing to be managers and manage these companies for me, you can come to me when the time comes."

"By the way, the casino also lacks managers."

"Bandy only opened three casinos. The market used to be so big. Opening too many would increase costs but not increase revenue."

"However, with this place transforming into a semi-commercial, semi-military port, there will be more opportunities and an influx of people. Therefore, I plan to fully open all five casinos, which will also require a significant number of people..."

Why hire unfamiliar people from the outside when employing our own is much easier and less troublesome?

Moreover, many of them are civil servants or middle-class individuals with extensive experience, so managing Lance's businesses and casinos shouldn't be too difficult.

As for whether anyone will interfere?

Lance believed they wouldn't. Even if someone were bold enough to cause trouble in his territory, Lance wouldn't mind turning that guy into the chicken!

Hearing about the abundance of opportunities, and good ones at that, many people were immediately tempted.

William relied on Lance to become a councilor. Could they also take a step further by relying on their "relative relationship" with Lance?