HBWnovel Chapter 203: Rewarding Contributions
Chapter 203: Rewarding Contributions
[Chapter 204: Rewarding Contributions]
As soon as Brian entered the office, he appeared radiant, filled with energy, as if he were a different person.
He placed a document on Hawke's desk and said, "Take a look at this."
Hawke glanced at the densely packed letters and asked, "What is this?"
Brian explained briefly, "It's a draft of the economic development plan from the new governor's office."
Hawke understood immediately, "Rewarding contributions."
"That's not wrong," Brian replied as he pulled up a chair and sat across from the desk. "Policy support, funding assistance, tax credits, and so on. A number of companies will be featured, and at the top of the priority list are Fox Television, Pacific Investment Group, and Clarium Capital. The first one strongly backed Arnold at a critical moment, while the latter two are his main sponsors."
Pacific Investment Group was owned by the Ferguson family.
Hawke asked, "Clarium Capital? I haven't heard much about them."
Brian elaborated, "The founder is Peter Thiel, mainly investing in Silicon Valley. He co-founded the digital payment company PayPal with Elon Musk and others, which was sold to eBay last year for $1.5 billion."
Hawke recognized a familiar name but didn't press further. He was burning cash himself, and asking about anything else wouldn't help. He shifted back to the main topic, "What about me?"
Brian understood and smiled, "Twitter is among the companies in the second priority tier."
He continued, "Arnold will launch the governor's economic development plan, investing up to $750 million every year to support targeted enterprises. Twitter, as a secondary support recipient, will benefit from re
As for the missing girls, they might be completely forgotten by the world.
...
In the San Fernando Valley, a neighborhood of single-family homes.
Irene drove up to a residence and pressed a remote to open the garage, driving in without delay.
She closed the garage door and took her bag into the house, opened the door to the basement, and hesitated for a moment before turning on the light as she descended.
Once in the basement, Irene quickly located the tool cabinet her boyfriend Guerrero spoke about.
The cabinet was large, featuring a compartment. Following her boyfriend's instructions, she opened it to find a considerable amount of cash, most of which were old twenty-dollar bills.
Next to it were several boxes, and Irene took them out one by one.
Some boxes contained gold jewelry, while others held gold watches -- all easily convertible into cash.
Finally, she turned to a plastic-sealed box. Upon opening it, she discovered photos, data storage devices, and written documents.
Flipping through the photos revealed extremely disturbing content.
The images depicted women and children suffering in inhumane ways.
A few of the male tormentors looked somewhat familiar.
Irene packed everything up. Her first instinct was to call the police, but as that thought crossed her mind, she discarded it.
Her boyfriend Guerrero had jumped to his death!
Everything seemed just as he spoke about before parting ways.
The FBI and LAPD both deemed it a suicide.
There was definitely something off; neither side was trustworthy.
Thinking this through, Irene's eyes turned red. She was still a student, still believed in love.
Guerrero couldn't just die like that.
Looking at the materials in her hands, she wiped away the tears that had fallen from her eyes.
Before she left that day, Guerrero had told her to find an online media outlet and mail the stuff there.
Clearly, her boyfriend had been prepared for this.
Irene thought back to the online media she used and suddenly remembered Twitter. It seemed this site had some guts, having recently exposed a scandalous video of heiress Paris Hilton.
Earlier, there were stories on Will Smith and his wife.
Irene decided to send the materials to Twitter to see how it went.
As a still-studying girl, although she anticipated potential danger, her gaze remained too innocent, her thoughts too simple.
She didn't even make a replica of the materials.
Irene found Twitter's news submission email address online, bought a mailing package, and secured the items properly.
She gathered her valuables and left the house, driving north to Santa Clarita, looking for the right mailbox to send the mail.
...
Century City, Fox Television Center.
Harley Wayne sat in her office cubicle, her eyes fixed on a blank piece of paper.
On it were a few names, two of which she highlighted: Broderick and Guerrero.
Both had committed suicide.
Such coincidences didn't exist in the world. The missing persons case exposed by the Superstar Training School saw the two previous executives take their lives in succession, with all blame resting on these two deceased individuals.
The FBI released such an outrageous investigation result, and mainstream media not only failed to question it but also maintained silence.
Were those missing girls still alive? Where were they? Or rather, where were their bodies?
No one cared.
Even Fox News, which exposed the matter, no longer reported it.
Harley didn't give up, but she knew Fox wouldn't support her.
From the two suicides, she gained a full understanding of the dangers.
Words could educate, but perhaps a person wouldn't grow particularly fast.
However, experiences taught one quickly.
Harley had become more cautious than before.
To get to the bottom of these matters and ensure the world remembers the missing girls, she first needed to guarantee her own safety.
This murky world was a monster that consumes without leaving bones.
Harley didn't go looking for Gretchen or Roger Ailes.
As an investigative journalist, she now only trusted herself.
...
In Beverly Hills, at the Hyatt Hotel.
Emma Batson led a team from Bay Area Consulting that had been in residence for several days.
During this time, they conducted extensive market research on Twitter.
Similar social networks operated in North America, but none had the user numbers and impact of Twitter.
Operating primarily out of Silicon Valley, it wasn't hard for Emma to determine that this company had tremendous market potential.
Additionally, the shareholder composition of Twitter laid out before the team.
Discounting the negligible number of the Black shareholder, the main stakeholders amounted to just three: West Coast Media Entertainment Studio, an investment firm from the Cayman Islands, and Pacific Investment Group.
In the conference room, assistant Isabella said, "Various signs indicate that the shares of the first two are likely held by Hawke Osment. According to our knowledge, Hawke Osment signed a betting investment agreement with Pacific Investment Group in the early days of Twitter, and he ultimately won that agreement, holding over 67 percent of the absolute controlling stake."
Emma asked, "Is there any indication that he's engaging with other investment firms?"
"No," another assistant replied. "From sources in Sacramento, Twitter made the new governor's development plan list and is set to receive high subsidies and large amounts of interest-free loans soon."
Emma thought for a moment and said, "I'll find an opportunity to privately contact Hawke and see what the situation is."
Isabella responded, "He'll be attending a party this weekend."
*****
/Sayonara816.