"It’s more than just trouble, isn’t it?"
Evelyn turned to look at Leo.
"You’re stuck."
"You want to use credit notes to get the supply chains of seven cities flowing again. That’s an extrely dangerous financial experint."
"It’s feasible on a state level, but your team can’t pull it off."
Evelyn’s words cut straight to the point.
"The people you’ve hired understand theory and models, but they don’t understand true financial engineering."
"The system they’ve designed can’t circumvent state banking regulations, and it can’t solve the risk of default when liquidity dries up."
"What you need is to build a miniature central banking system. It involves pricing underlying assets, clearing notes, and hedging risks."
"This is a massive undertaking that requires imnse expertise and complexity."
"It’s not sothing you can solve by hiring a few bookworms to drink coffee in a hotel room."
Leo was silent.
’She’s right.’
For so ti now, Ethan and his experts had indeed been at an impasse.
Leo had pushed them several tis, but they simply couldn’t co up with a flawless solution.
’How can I guarantee the steel mills in Erie will accept this paper? How can I convince the cent plants in Scranton that this paper can buy them bread?’
It required an incredibly rigorous, stress-tested financial frawork.
And that was precisely sothing Leo’s hastily assembled team couldn’t possibly accomplish in such a short ti.
"So?"
Leo looked at Evelyn.
"Are you here to mock for overreaching?"
"I’m here to discuss a partnership,"
Evelyn said.
"I can give you everything you need."
"The Saint Claude Family has top-tier financial teams and a century of experience running trust funds and underground clearing networks."
"We can help you design this system."
"We can help you build that clearing center."
"We can even provide so of the liquidity to back your credit notes, making them look more like real money."
It was a huge temptation.
With the Saint Claude Family’s technical support and backing, the "closed-loop credit system" that was still just a concept on paper could beco a reality overnight.
But that only made Leo more wary.
’There’s no such thing as a free lunch.’
Especially not in this world of fa and fortune, rife with scheming.
"Why?"
Leo asked the crucial question.
"Why do you want to help ?"
"You’re Philadelphia’s old money, the financial backers of the Establishnt Faction. Monroe was your man."
"By all rights, you should want to strangle ."
"You’ve known about all this for a while. If you really wanted to get involved, why approach only now?"
Evelyn smiled.
It was the first ti she had smiled all evening.
"Because before, you were a dead man,"
Evelyn said bluntly.
"Before the party primary ended. Before that zero-point-four percent miracle."
"In everyone’s eyes, you, Leo Wallace, were nothing more than a political shooting star about to be purged."
"If Monroe had won, you’d be dead."
"A dead man has no investnt value, no matter how brilliant his business concept."
"We don’t bet on a sinking ship."
Evelyn stepped closer to Leo. The scent of her perfu was faint, yet carried an aggressive edge.
"But now, you’ve survived."
"Not only did you survive, but you also got Murphy the nomination for Senator."
"You’ve proven you can turn the tables in a desperate situation. That you can master chaos."
"You passed the test."
"So, now we can talk business."
Leo studied the woman.
’Utterly rational, utterly pragmatic.’
’She didn’t care about parties or principles, only about picking the winner.’
It reminded him of Morganfield, but Evelyn was more sophisticated.
Morganfield wanted concrete assets—ports and land. What she wanted, it seed, was sothing far more abstract.
"What do you want from this system?" Leo asked. "Fees? Or control?"
"I want the future."
Evelyn turned and looked out at the distant lights of Philadelphia.
"Leo, do you think you’re just solving Pittsburgh’s fiscal crisis?"
"You’re doing sothing that could change the very economic structure of the United States."
"The Federal Governnt’s credit is waning. Washington has printed too much money, and inflation is devouring everyone’s wealth."
"The trend of the future is decentralization."
"It’s regional economic self-preservation."
"The regional closed-loop credit system you’ve proposed, while crude for now, aligns with the principles of a new federalism."
"Empowering localities with the ability to generate their own financial lifeblood, allowing supply chains to circulate within a closed regional loop."
"This isn’t just an ergency asure; it’s the prototype for a new financial order."
Evelyn turned her head, her dark gray eyes glinting with ambition.
"The Saint Claude Family wants to be the architect of this new order."
"We need a testing ground."
"Pittsburgh and your Industrial Alliance are the perfect proving ground."
"If you succeed, this model can be replicated across all of Pennsylvania, and even the entire United States."
"At that point, whoever controls the system’s core algorithms and clearing rules will wield more power than any Wall Street banker."
Leo felt a jolt of alarm.
’He thought he was looking far ahead, but she was looking even further.’
’He was thinking about how to make payroll for the workers. She was thinking about how to reshape the entire financial order.’
Leo was uncertain.
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