Chapter 12 Night Concerts

It was nine o'clock at night, and the streets of Oxford Town were basically deserted.

Only a single light remained on on the second floor of the office building at the Water Plant on the west side of town.

Tobias Williams sat in front of his desk piled high with documents, rubbing his sore eyes.

The coffee on the desk had gone cold, and the ashtray was stuffed with cigarette butts.

He had just finished writing up next month's water bills and had checked the equipment maintenance quotes once more.

It was another night of overtime.

He had been living days like this for who knows how many years.

In the eyes of the Williams Family, he was forever that "adopted bastard," a free laborer.

Every cent he worked so hard to earn was squandered by Jimmy and Bruce.

Last Christmas, when Old Williams read his will in front of all the family members, his heart had completely died.

He had slaved away for this family for over twenty years, only to end up with a dilapidated house on the edge of town and one hundred thousand dollars.

Meanwhile, Jimmy and Bruce didn't have to do a thing to inherit all the family assets.

That night, he drank alone in his office at the Water Plant all night long.

He had thought about leaving, but where could he go?

He was forty-six years old this year, and besides managing the Water Plant, he didn't know how to do anything else.

Besides, his wife and children were all in Oxford Town; he couldn't leave them behind.

He could only continue to endure it.

Endure until Old Williams passed away, endure until Jimmy and Bruce completely ruined the Water Plant.

"Knock, knock, knock—"

The sound of knocking interrupted Tobias's thoughts.

He frowned. Who would come to the Water Plant at this time?

"Who is it?" he asked vigilantly, his hand quietly reaching for the baseball bat by the wall.

Over the years, he had offended quite a few people and had encountered troublemakers coming in the middle of the night several times.

"Mr. Tobias, it's me, Jessica," Jessica's voice came from outside the door. "And Mr. Mu Xin. We want to talk to you."

Tobias was stunned for a moment.

Mu Xin?

He had only just met him not long ago; why would he come looking for him? And at this time, no less?

Tobias hesitated for a moment, but still walked over and opened the door.

Jessica and Mu Xin were standing outside. Jessica was wearing a black trench coat, holding a folder in her hand.

Mu Xin was wearing a dark jacket, his hands in his pockets, his expression calm.

"You two, it's so late, what do you want with me?" Tobias stepped aside to let them in.

"Sorry to disturb you so late, Mr. Tobias." Mu Xin walked into the office and looked around.

The office was small and simple. A pipe distribution map of the Water Plant hung on the wall, and various maintenance tools were piled in the corner.

On the desk, besides documents, there was a family portrait. In the photo, Tobias was holding a seven or eight-year-old girl, smiling happily.

"Let's cut to the chase," Mu Xin said, turning to look at Tobias, getting straight to the point.

"I know your situation in the Williams Family."

Tobias's expression changed instantly. He took a sudden step back, looking at Mu Xin vigilantly: "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you aren't worth slaving away for a family like this." Mu Xin's tone was calm.

"You manage the Water Plant perfectly, but what have you gotten? A meager salary, endless humiliation, and a will that gives you almost nothing."

"Shut up!" Tobias slammed his hand on the desk. "This is our family's private business, it has nothing to do with you!"

"Nothing to do with me?" Mu Xin chuckled and said, "Of course it has to do with me. Because I am going to acquire this Water Plant. And you are the soul of this Water Plant. Without you, this Water Plant is worthless."

"I won't help you. Any interaction between you and me is limited to standard acquisition discussions," Tobias said through gritted teeth. "The Williams Family raised me; I won't betray them."

"Raised you?"

"Mr. Tobias, ask your own conscience: do they really treat you like family?"

"They treat you like a free slave, a tool for making money. Jimmy drives his Ferrari around racing, Bruce throws money away at the casino, and you? You hesitate for a long time even when buying a decent piano for your daughter."

"I heard that last year when your daughter had acute appendicitis and needed surgery, you asked Jimmy to borrow money. What did he say?"

"He said that a bastard's daughter deserves to die. In the end, you had to sell your own car to scrape together the surgery fees."

"Have you forgotten all of this?"

Every word from Mu Xin was like a sharp knife, stabbing fiercely into Tobias's heart.

His body began to tremble uncontrollably, his fists clenched tightly, his knuckles white from the effort.

These things were the deepest scars in his heart.

He thought he had hidden them well, but now they were being laid bare by Mu Xin.

Jessica stood to the side, watching quietly. She didn't speak, just took a document from the folder and placed it on the desk.

"This is the complete copy of Old Williams's will," Jessica's voice was calm. "We have verified it; it is authentic and valid."

Tobias looked at the document on the desk, his eyes full of pain and despair.

"And this," Jessica took out another bank statement. "This is the record of funds misappropriated from the Water Plant by the Williams Family over the past three years."

"It totals 12.7 million dollars. Of that, Jimmy misappropriated 7.2 million to buy luxury cars and gamble."

"Bruce misappropriated 5.5 million to buy real estate and support mistresses."

"And you, as the person in charge of the Water Plant, have an annual salary of only 80,000 dollars. It's not even as much as a senior engineer at the Water Plant."

Tobias suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot. He looked at the bank statement, his body trembling even more violently.

He knew Jimmy and Bruce had been taking money from the Water Plant, but he didn't expect they had taken so much.

12.7 million dollars!

If this money had been used to upgrade the Water Plant's equipment, the current water quality issues would have been solved long ago.

"They don't care about this Water Plant at all, nor do they care about the lives of the residents of Oxford Town," Mu Xin's voice sounded again.

"They only care about whether they can squeeze out more money for themselves. Once they have sucked the Water Plant dry, they will throw it away like trash. When that time comes, you and all the employees of the Water Plant will be unemployed."

"And your daughter, she could have had a better future. She could have gone to the best private school in Cincinnati, could have learned the piano, could have traveled the world."

"But because of you, she can only live a life in this remote little town of Oxford Town where you can see the end from the beginning."

"Enough! Stop talking!" Tobias roared, bracing his hands on the desk, gasping for breath.

Tears flowed uncontrollably from his eyes.

The grievances of over twenty years, the endurance of over twenty years, the unwillingness of over twenty years, all erupted at this moment.

Mu Xin and Jessica stood quietly to the side, not saying a word.