Working as a police officer in Mexico-Chapter 1644 - 752: No One Is Irreplaceable!
Capítulo 1644: Chapter 752: No One Is Irreplaceable!
White House, Oval Office.
George W. Bush held a steaming cup of coffee, standing by the window, his gaze seemingly penetrating the glass, falling somewhere in the distant void. The funds forcibly “extorted” from the bankers acted like a shot of adrenaline, temporarily stabilizing the front lines teetering on the brink of a financial collapse, but the subsequent tremors it caused were spreading out in ways he couldn’t fully control.
The office door was gently knocked, but it was pushed open before he could respond.
It was his brother, Jeb Bush, who walked in.
Unlike the weariness George couldn’t hide on his face, Jeb appeared agitated and worried, his suit still immaculate, but the unease in his eyes was unmistakable.
“George.” Jeb’s voice was somewhat dry; he rarely directly entered the Oval Office without an appointment.
Little Bush turned around, forcing a smile, “Jeb, sit down. Would you like a cup of coffee? The new beans are quite good.” He attempted to create the usual atmosphere of brotherly conversation.
Jeb waved his hand, not heading for the sofa, but instead standing directly opposite the desk, hands on the tabletop, his body slightly leaning forward, “No, George, I’ll be brief. I just lost the board position at Southern Steel Alliance. They didn’t even give a decent explanation, just a cold phone notification.”
Little Bush’s hand, holding the coffee cup, paused in mid-air, the smile on his face froze.
Jeb continued, speaking faster, “This is just the beginning. Our family’s oil exploration contracts in Texas have been indefinitely ‘reviewed,’ and the credit limits previously negotiated with several East Coast banks have been unilaterally frozen. George, they don’t even bother with superficial gestures anymore! Our name, the Bush family name, in certain circles in New York and Washington, has become a joke, or worse, a plague to avoid!”
Little Bush slowly placed the coffee cup on the table, making a soft “click.”
He looked at his brother, voice low, “I know this brings pressure, Jeb, but it’s necessary…”
“Necessary?” Jeb interrupted, his voice filled with barely contained anger and grievance, “The necessary cost is letting our family’s decades of enterprise fall apart? Father he…”
Mentioning their father, Jeb’s voice choked for a moment but he quickly regained control, “Father spent his life building this family, our position in the United States! He served it, even gave his life for it! Not for you to squander like this!”
“I’m not squandering!” Little Bush’s voice rose a bit, tinged with the anger of being misunderstood, “I’m saving this country! Without that money, the military would collapse, Illinois and Mexicans would march in! At that point, forget about the family business, even this country wouldn’t exist!”
“Then let it not exist!”
Jeb straightened up abruptly, almost shouting, a statement that plunged the office into instant silence.
He seemed taken aback by his own words, but soon a reckless emotion surged, he took a deep breath, lowered his voice, but spoke even more sharply: “George, wake up! Look around you! How many people truly think this ‘United States’ is worth saving? Father died for this country, what did we get? Endless troubles and the current besieged situation! If the United States were gone, the Bush family, with the accumulated wealth and connections, where couldn’t we live well? Switzerland? London? Even the Far East! But if our family is gone, you and I, George, without the Bush surname, what are we? In the eyes of those true old money and cosmopolites, we’re not even worth a purebred racehorse kept at their Long Island stables!”
Little Bush looked at his brother, eyes filled with shock and a sense of alienation after being hurt. “Jeb, this is our country…” he tried to reiterate the belief that supported him.
“No! George!”
Jeb interrupted him again, shaking his head, his face a mixture of disappointment and resolution, “That’s your United States, not ‘ours.’ Don’t forget where our roots are? Ireland! We’re newcomers, squeezed into this circle through generations of maneuvering and sacrifices by Father’s generation! What you’re doing now is personally kicking us out of this circle!” 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
He paused, seemingly making some firm decision, his tone becoming exceptionally calm, even with a hint of cruelty: “George, listen. The family has already held several meetings, if you continue to act recklessly like this, treating the true pillars that keep this country running with such brutality, if you insist on being this ‘capital traitor,’ then for the survival of the family, we might need to… need to make a cut with you.”
“Cut?” Little Bush muttered the word, as if understanding its meaning for the first time.
He suddenly looked up, those eyes always stubborn like a Texas cowboy, now staring fixedly at his own brother.
Inside the office, the air seemed to freeze.
The sunlight outside filtered through the glass, casting a clear spot on the carpet, yet it couldn’t dispel the chill between the two brothers.
Little Bush’s face showed no expression, but the hand holding the coffee cup trembled slightly, truly trembling.
He looked at Jeb, looked at the brother who grew up with him, supported each other in politics, yet now represented the entire family, delivering the final ultimatum.
