Chapter 475 - 218: Prisoner (3)
"That’s you."
"A trial of the century about revenge, about justice, about one small man’s fight against the system."
"I need you to speak in court."
"I need you to tell them everything you know. You need to take the evil hidden in those forms and lay it bare for the entire world to see."
"You need to make everyone watching the livestream feel angry, disgusted... feel that if they don’t do something, they’re complicit in the crime."
"Your job is to expose their crimes."
"Your job is to start the fire."
"And I..."
Leo pointed to himself.
"I’ll be the one on the outside, building a new order."
"When the people have lost all hope in the old system, I will present the Mutual Aid Alliance and tell them: ’Look. This is the way forward.’"
"That’s the deal."
Silence fell over the interrogation room once more.
Luigi looked at Leo.
He had thought Leo was here to make a deal with him.
A deal where he would put on a show in court, using a tear-filled testimony to win the jury’s sympathy and score political points for Leo.
He thought Leo was just an opportunistic politician, a hypocrite who was only here to appease his voters and put on a show of "doing his best."
But he was wrong.
In the young Mayor’s eyes, he saw an ambition more insane, more grandiose, and more dangerous than the assassination he himself had committed.
"You really want to build a system that doesn’t require insurance companies?"
Luigi asked the question that mattered most to him.
"I do."
Leo replied.
"As long as I’m in this office, I will not allow anyone in this city to die because they can’t afford medical care."
"That’s my bottom line."
Luigi didn’t answer immediately. He leaned back, his back flush against the cold chair.
"Mr. Mayor, you’re very eloquent, and your logic is flawless," Luigi said, his voice cold. "But why on earth should I trust you?"
Luigi pointed at Leo, then gestured around the interrogation room.
"You’re a politician."
"And in my experience, your kind will sell your souls for votes and betray your own fathers for personal gain. Your promises are worth less than toilet paper."
"Right now, you need me to be your weapon, so of course you’ll promise me the moon. But what happens after I’ve gone to court? After I’ve pissed off every powerful person on your list? After I’m no longer of any use to you?"
"Won’t you just sell me out to save your own skin?"
Luigi stared into Leo’s eyes.
"After all, selling out a man on death row costs you nothing."
Faced with the accusation, Leo didn’t try to defend himself.
He simply watched Luigi calmly, then made a move.
He pulled the file away from Luigi, closed it, and casually tossed it onto an empty chair nearby.
"A fair question."
Leo said.
"Normally, this is the part where other politicians would start making promises. They’d swear on a Bible or point to a flag and tell you how noble they are, how they always keep their word."
"But I’m not going to do that."
"I don’t do cheap sales pitches."
Leo stood up, walked over to Luigi’s side, and looked down at him.
"Luigi, you’re a smart man. So let’s talk logic."
Leo held up a single finger.
"First, about selling you out."
"If I wanted to sell you out, I could do it right now. Hand you over to the Federation, and I’d earn a reputation for cooperating with law enforcement and curry favor with Washington. That’s a clear gain."
"But it’s too small a gain."
Leo shook his head.
"Compared to the political capital I’d gain from taking down the entire healthcare insurance industry, the profit from selling you out is like a speck of dust on a coin."
"I intend to build a new order."
"And to do that, I need a sufficiently stunning sacrifice."
Leo pointed at Luigi.
"You are that sacrifice. You, alive and roaring in that courtroom, are worth ten thousand times more to me than you are dead."
"If I sell you out, I lose the lever I need to move the entire healthcare sector."
"In terms of return on investment, that would be an incredibly foolish move."
"Second."
Leo held up a second finger.
"About betrayal."
"Are you worried I’ll use you up and toss you aside? That I’ll burn the bridge once I’ve crossed it?"
"Your worries are needless. Because once this trial begins, once you expose all their dirty secrets in court, there’s no turning back for me."
"I will become public enemy number one for those insurance companies."
"At that point, you and I will be in the same boat."
"If I don’t protect you, if I let them get to you, it’s the same as announcing to the world that I’m weak and incompetent. My support base would collapse. My political credibility would be bankrupt."
"So, protecting you means protecting myself."
Leo walked back to the table, planted his hands on its surface, and stared directly at Luigi.
"I’m not asking you to trust my character. I’m asking you to trust my ambition."
"Trust that a greedy politician would never give up a jackpot for pocket change."
"That is my logic."
Luigi watched Leo. Although the man’s logic, rooted entirely in self-interest, sounded flawless, the hands resting on his own knees did not relax.
He was hesitating.
This wasn’t fear of death. It was an instinctual disbelief in the "impossible."
He, more than anyone, knew just how vast and terrifying the machine known as the United States’ healthcare insurance system truly was.
It wasn’t a single company, nor was it just a few people.