She is a natural disaster.

Chapter 62 Traveling with Tigers

Meanwhile, Tobias Gibson was trying to recruit Anastasia.

Although the conversation between the two was not particularly pleasant, they did reach a preliminary agreement on their intention to cooperate.

Anastasia has no reverence for the Twelve Apostles, and if Leon Lopez is truly a capable and ambitious man, she wouldn't mind lending a hand.

Bringing down the high and mighty elites and allowing Leon, an illegitimate child, to take over the Lopez family, one of the twelve apostles, isn't this a kind of bulldozing of the elite class? How challenging!

On this side, Anastasia and Gibson had already picked up their knives and forks, and neither of them spoke again about the cooperation.

On the other hand, Mike Montague and Leon Lopez presented a completely different picture. Chief Inspector Lopez didn't bring up the recruitment, but instead patiently tried to build a relationship with Mike.

Leon Lopez mentioned a great many people, from the president and professors of the Gloria School of Municipal Economics to graduates from all years of the school.

Mike was able to handle Lopez's attempts to build a relationship with him with ease, but he was powerless to resist the enthusiasm Lopez displayed.

Mike even began to wonder if Mr. Lopez in front of him might have some kind of special hobby!

After two glasses of red wine to accompany the meal, Leon Lopez changed his style once again. He poured out his grievances to Mike as if he were drunk, talking about the hardships and difficulties he had faced over the years.

As the saying goes, "When people are well-fed and clothed, they think of lustful desires." The lifestyle of the privileged class in Gloria has never been very good. It is not uncommon for them to keep mistresses. Moreover, they have achieved gender equality. Some couples even do their own thing and do not disturb each other.

Over time, the privileged class, with their chaotic private lives, inevitably produces some unexpected results, such as illegitimate children.

On the issue of illegitimate children, the privileged class once again remained highly unified, with most people looking down on them and some even openly expressing discrimination and making no attempt to hide their disgust for illegitimate children.

After all, most powerful families are born in wedlock, or at least outwardly so, so it's normal for them to look down on illegitimate children.

When dealing with the issue of illegitimate children, the powerful and wealthy typically employ two methods.

The first solution is to deny it.

Some powerful and wealthy people may not acknowledge that their children are their own, but they will arrange another path for them.

The most common practice is to arrange for a lover to marry someone else, thus turning an illegitimate child into a legitimate one, or to place the child in someone else's home.

Whether they are taking over the burdens of the powerful and wealthy or raising their children, these people have no choice, nor do they need to choose, because the powerful and wealthy will not mistreat them.

Some powerful and wealthy people are even more disrespectful. They turn their backs on their parents after they've done their bidding. Not only do they deny that the children are theirs, but they also deny that the lovers who gave birth to the children are theirs.

The second solution is to acknowledge the child, but not to admit that the child is illegitimate.

These powerful and wealthy individuals would bring their illegitimate children back to their families to be recognized as ancestors, or raise them under their wives' names, or give them to childless cousins.

The second solution seems good, but it carries a great risk in practice. Once the scandal of the illegitimate child is exposed, it will have an impact on the family.

Therefore, this solution is usually only adopted by powerful and wealthy families with few children. As long as they refuse to admit it, an illegitimate child can be considered a legitimate child and the hope for the future of the family.

After all, having a baby is like winning the lottery. If you try enough times, you'll eventually trigger the safety net and win a super-strong baby.

Uptown Police Chief Detective Leon Lopez does not fall into any of the above categories.

Although Leon was acknowledged by the Lopez family, the Lopez family did not hide his origins but readily admitted that Leon was an illegitimate child.

It could be said that Leon Lopez was socially dead from the moment he was acknowledged by his family. Everyone could criticize Leon behind his back, including his illegitimate children who shared his background.

However, Leon, the illegitimate son, lived the same life as his brothers, and even received the same education. He simply did not have the right to inherit the family business.

This is why Leon Lopez developed ambition and wanted to compete with his brothers for power.

"Mike, I think you can understand how difficult my situation is," Leon said emotionally. "Wherever I go, people point and talk about me, it's been like this since I was a child."

Mike Montagu, an only child, could hardly empathize with Leon Lopez's pain.

Although he couldn't truly empathize, Mike could still imagine how difficult Leon's life had been over the years, and then Mike's thoughts started to wander.

Mike Montagu's private life wasn't exactly glamorous either. Looking at Leon Lopez's bitter face, Mike couldn't help but imagine what he would do if he accidentally caused an accident.

It's okay not to think about it; the more you think about it, the more scared you become.

Mike suddenly felt that he should restrain himself and stop belittling himself and others.

Seeing Leon Lopez swallow another bitter drink, Mike could only kindly advise, "Leon, this isn't your fault."

In Mike's view, the people who are wrong about illegitimate children are not the children themselves, nor did they choose to come into this world with such a label. The people who are wrong are the manufacturers that produce illegitimate children.

"Yes, you're absolutely right!" Leon Lopez looked at Mike with fervent eyes, as if grasping at a straw. "Did I want to be a bastard child? This is not something I can decide, so why is everyone blaming me!"

At this moment, Mike really wanted to switch places with Anastasia, who was not far away. She must have her own unique insights into this matter.

Mike Montague was exasperated. He hoped that Leon Lopez could get to the point quickly and stop trying to gain sympathy by playing the victim. Mike was really struggling to keep up.

Only then did Leon Lopez finally stop his sob story. He had investigated not only Anastasia but also Mike. In Leon Lopez's view, the naive Mike was a kind person.

Kindness is often accompanied by another word: soft-hearted. Kind and soft-hearted people often have a high degree of empathy.

Leon Lopez was using Mike's empathy to get closer to him and lower Mike's guard.

The sob story worked quite well; Mike's address to him has changed from the polite "Mr. Lopez" to the more affectionate "Leon".

Leon Lopez knows the principle of moderation; if she continues to play the victim to gain sympathy, she will scare people away.

"Mike, I'm actually quite envious of you," Leon Lopez said.

Mike didn't dare to reply. He was genuinely afraid that Lopez would continue to play the victim, and he was even prepared to run away.

"I also want to live a free and easy life like you, drinking and playing cards every day, and going to a horse race every now and then," Leon Lopez continued, "without having to compete or fight with anyone."

Having more children may increase the chances of having a strong husband, but the drawbacks are also obvious, as it can easily lead to sibling rivalry or even enmity.

"I really envy you," Leon Lopez continued. "If I didn't fight for it, I wouldn't get anything."

While playing the victim to gain sympathy is annoying, every word Lopez said was true; he didn't lie, and this honesty somewhat makes up for the annoying aspect.

"I don't want to spend my whole life stuck in the Upper East Side. I don't want to be just an insignificant chief inspector for the rest of my life," Leon Lopez said self-deprecatingly. "I can't accept such a mediocre life."

For most people in Gloria, the Chief Inspector of the Upper Town Police Department is an unattainable position, and the position of Senior Inspector is already an insurmountable chasm.

But for the men of the Lopez family, the position of police chief was not only a low-ranking job, but also a disgrace.

Leon Lopez didn't want to live a mediocre life; he wanted to climb to the top and stand atop the mountain, looking down on all living beings.

There was no other choice but to either conquer the city or lose everything.

Mike remained silent, only staring intently at Leon Lopez.

"I know what you're thinking, Mike," Lopez said. "You think I should be grounded and focus on doing a good job as the chief inspector first, right?"

Mike nodded, readily admitting that he did indeed have that idea.

“Yes, the position of police chief is already very high; many people would never achieve it in their entire lives,” Lopez continued. “But I’ve already enjoyed the view from the top.”

Leon Lopez has already seen the view from the mountaintop, so it's hard for him to stop for any other scenery.

"Mike, that's the biggest difference between you and me," Lopez continued. "I'm a hungry man, an uncontrollable hunger that drives me forward."

Mike asked himself honestly, and he certainly hadn't experienced hunger like Leon Lopez.

Before the attack, Mike Montagu's life was smooth sailing; he could get whatever he wanted.

Although Mike Montagu's life took a turn for the worse after the attack, his conflict with his father was resolved, which can be considered a blessing in disguise.

Mike is content with his life. He lacks nothing and doesn't need to fight or compete like Lopez, so naturally he doesn't have the same ambition to reach the top.

"Mr. Montague," Leon Lopez suddenly became serious, even changing his form of address, "it wasn't a pleasant experience to be attacked, was it?"

“Of course, nobody likes that,” Mike said. “Who likes the feeling of being on tenterhooks?”

“Mr. Montague,” Leon Lopez said seriously, “a sense of crisis can motivate a person to keep striving. Only by running at full speed can one avoid being swallowed up by the crisis.”

A sense of crisis is the source of a person's ambition and an important driving force for personal growth and development.

"Come with me to conquer this city, Mr. Montague," Leon Lopez said. "Only by walking with tigers can you become a beast."