“Obadiah Stane?” Matthew was slightly taken aback when he heard the name.
Seeing Matthew’s expression, Eleanor immediately realized that her boss hadn’t taken the appointment from a week ago seriously at all.
She quickly leaned forward and whispered a reminder, “Obadiah Stane, he’s a member of the board of directors at Stark Industries.”
“Because you were busy with your training, sir, I only briefly mentioned the appointment to you a week ago.”
As she spoke, Eleanor handed the file on Obadiah Stane to Matthew.
As soon as the file was placed in front of him, the first things that caught his eye were a shiny bald head and a thick beard on the chin.
A second before seeing the file, Matthew was still wondering who Obadiah Stane was, but the moment he saw that iconic bald head, he immediately remembered exactly who this person was.
Wasn’t he the final villain, ‘Iron Monger’, from Iron Man 1?
What was he doing here?
Not only that, but he had even got in touch with Umbrella Corp…
Though puzzled, Matthew decided to go along with it since the man was already here.
After washing up and changing his clothes, he headed toward the top-floor conference room.
Inside the conference room.
Sitting on the sofa, Obadiah Stane gently swirled the iced whiskey in his hand, while his other hand held a half-burned expensive cigar, his gaze constantly sweeping across the surroundings.
The medieval English aristocratic style of decoration gave him the feeling that this was not a company office, but rather some noble’s private residence.
Taking a deep drag of the cigar in his hand.
Obadiah raised his hand to check the time on his wrist.
Five minutes had already passed since the agreed-upon time…
“Tsk… It seems your newly appointed person-in-charge doesn’t have the habit of being punctual~~” Obadiah curled his lips and looked at Eleanor, who stood not far away like a large doll.
He blew out a smoke ring, his tone full of mockery.
Hearing this, Eleanor’s slightly lowered eyes flickered.
Just as she was about to say something, the appearance of a figure abruptly interrupted her.
“I’m truly sorry~ Hearing that the famous Obadiah Stane of Stark Industries wanted to see me, I started dressing up at eight this morning. I didn’t expect to finish only just now! Surely Mr. Stane won’t blame me, right?”
Dressed in a dark gray suit, Matthew pushed open the door and walked out, his words and demeanor completely composed, showing no stage fright whatsoever.
These past two weeks of combat training had matured him quite a bit, and his speech and behavior had also significantly improved.
Obadiah naturally didn’t believe Matthew’s excuse…
but he wasn’t so socially inept as to expose him on his own turf.
Extinguishing the cigar in his hand, Obadiah stood up calmly and walked toward Matthew, a fake smile squeezed onto his face.
“Oh—my friend, of course I won’t blame you.”
The two shook hands firmly.
Smelling closely, he could still faintly catch a whiff of gunpowder in Matthew’s hair.
“As expected of Umbrella’s newly appointed head of security, even the cologne Mr. Lawrence wears has a unique scent of gunpowder.”
“You like it? How about I send you a bottle?” Matthew raised an eyebrow.
“Haha! I’ll pass~ Compared to the smell of gunpowder, I still prefer the scent of 4711 Cologne.”
“That’s a pity!” Matthew shook his head, then released his grip and sat down in the host’s seat.
Getting straight to the point, he asked, “Mr. Stane went to the trouble of having someone book my schedule for this afternoon a week in advance. Surely you didn’t come just to chat, did you?”
“Both of our time is very valuable, so let’s be direct. Feel free to say whatever is on your mind.”
As soon as Matthew finished speaking, Eleanor, standing to the side, tactfully left the room and shut the door tightly.
For a moment, only Matthew and Obadiah were left in the spacious conference room.
Rhythmic breathing echoed in the conference room for a moment.
Sitting back down on the sofa, Obadiah pulled another cigar from his coat, expertly clipped the end, and lit it, unhurriedly.
Only after blowing out a cloud of smoke did he continue, “In that case, I’ll get straight to the point.”
“Next January, in Afghanistan. I need to hire a mercenary team under your company to take out a convoy.”
“The requirement is to leave no survivors.” A flash of ruthlessness crossed Obadiah’s eyes.
Then, he changed the subject.
“Actually, I spoke with your father, Theodore Lawrence, about this three months ago. Unfortunately, before the deal could be finalized, your father suddenly passed away from illness. That’s why I came to see you today, to get this matter settled.”
“As for the payment… twenty-eight million dollars in total. A twelve-million-dollar deposit, with the remaining balance settled after the mission is completed.”
“Can you tell me who the target of the mission is? Or rather, which faction does this convoy belong to, and who is sitting in the vehicle?” Matthew looked at Obadiah.
He naturally knew who Obadiah wanted to kill, but on the surface, he still had to play dumb.
He wanted to see if Obadiah would openly state his intention to kill Tony Stark.
Seeing Matthew ask this, Obadiah slowly sat up from his reclining position on the sofa.
“As for that… please don’t worry about it. The target this time is just an ordinary enemy.”
“An ordinary enemy?” Matthew waved away the smoke drifting in front of him and chuckled.
“Someone who can be called an enemy by Obadiah Stane probably doesn’t fit the word ‘ordinary’.”
“Of course, if Mr. Stane is truly unwilling to reveal the target, I won’t press you further. It’s just that this business deal won’t happen.”
“Oh~~ That’s truly a pity~~ I thought your company and I could have a very pleasant cooperation.” Obadiah took a sip of his drink.
“It can’t be helped. Those are the rules.”
“Rules? I recall your company’s previous rules didn’t involve prying into clients’ privacy.”
“That was then. Now that I’ve taken over, those old rules have to change.” Sitting in the host’s seat, Matthew spoke with a smile.
“But it’s fine. Although we didn’t make a deal this time, I believe we will have other opportunities to meet in the future.”
Obadiah smiled noncommittally at Matthew’s polite remarks.
He really hadn’t expected Matthew to show him so little respect and reject him so flatly.
After that, the two chatted about a few other things, but the topic never returned to the “business” from earlier.
It wasn’t until half an hour later, after Obadiah finished his cigar, that he chose to stand up and leave.
Glancing at the thin layer of smoke in the office, Matthew showed a hint of disgust on his face and reached out to turn on the fresh air ventilation system.
Sunlight shone through the glass onto the desk piled with books.
Matthew stood by the window, looking down at the dense crowd below.
Even in a place like Manhattan, New York, he would still see scattered homeless people on the streets from time to time.
Turning his head to look at the magnificent decor of the office, and then looking back at the street, he couldn’t help but sigh, “It seems the people here are still living in dire straits…”
“Having been here for over two weeks, it’s about time to take action to ‘benefit the people’s livelihood’.”
Of course, he would never admit that it was for the system rewards.