Marvel's Princess - Chapter 62
Bella had a dream in which Alice and Jacob walked hand in hand into the wedding chapel. They then had a daughter who was somewhat like Red Riding Hood, and this girl eventually married the ever-cool, forever 18-year-old Edward Cullen.
How did this divine scenario take shape in her mind? She wasn’t sure, but she was just glad she didn’t have the power to turn dreams into reality; otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to bear seeing her three friends like that.
The next day, she went looking for Jacob, hoping to clarify some things, but an unexpected message from the Indian elder greeted her.
“Gone to Seattle alone?” She felt there might be some unknown information in this.
The Indian elder in a wheelchair nodded, “The eaglet must leave the nest, and the cub must learn to hunt alone. His decision surprised me, but I support him.”
Bella said goodbye to the Indian elder and left the Quileute tribe. A long-term source of praise in her life, no more! Jacob was the one who complimented her the most, except for Shaw, considering his form of existence, saying Jacob was the one who praised her the most ‘person’ was not incorrect.
“I hope Jacob is well and doesn’t get tricked by some unscrupulous person!” She shook her head and sighed, returning to Forks.
After a month-long tug-of-war, the compensation plan for the victims and survivors of Flight 180 finally entered a substantive phase—compensation.
Did Bella and those who didn’t even get on the plane count as survivors? Initially, there was some dispute, but after she led a bunch of seniors to win a pension compensation case, the airline didn’t want more trouble and included everyone.
The specific numbers were too scattered, after removing all sorts of expenses, each victim’s relative would receive about one million dollars in compensation, while survivors would get a bit less, five hundred thousand each.
This was the compensation for the victims and survivors. Including the additional compensation for the deceased crew members, the astronomical fines from state and federal governments, and the fines from the Aerospace Industry Association (AIA), the insurance and airline companies had to come up with over $380 million in cash for compensation.
Not many companies could come up with such a large amount of cash.
The insurance company straightforwardly declared bankruptcy.
Global Airlines struggled for a bit, and the final outcome was that it was acquired by a multinational company named Trask Industries. This company, headquartered in Italy, is engaged in transportation, pharmaceuticals, and natural resources development. Acquiring Global Airlines was to improve their transportation capacity. The pharmaceutical company also promised to pay the compensation.
The pharmaceutical company was still exceptionally wealthy in today’s somewhat sluggish global economy! Although they used common capitalist tactics, stalling until the last moment to pay in full, they did make the first payment.
Bella received $300,000 in compensation. When and by whom the remaining $200,000 would be paid was unknown, and waiting was required.
She was quite content; $300,000 was enough for her to spend for a long time. In the entire incident, the airline actually didn’t bear much responsibility. When Death wants to mess things up, no matter how well-maintained the plane is, it’s useless!
The $300,000 was deposited into her account at Bank of the West. With money in her pocket, her confidence naturally rose.
Money is a key foundation for maintaining confidence and appearance. Without a certain material foundation, even the most naturally beautiful cannot sustain it.
Clothes, shoes, bags, jewelry, and a lot of branded cosmetics became Bella’s first choice.
With looks comes confidence, and with confidence comes power. With power, she could impose her ideas on the real world!
At that time, it would not be the wind moving, or the banner moving, but the heart moving!
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world.
The ancient city of Taranto, Italy.
This city was initially established by the Greeks and was known as Magna Graecia by historians of the time.
Athenians, Spartans, and Romans all left their marks in this city. Scholars like Pythagoras and Archimedes traveled between these city-states, teaching and contributing to the development of human civilization.
Italians could find pride in every field in painting, sculpture, poetry, medicine, natural sciences, literature, computing, physics, and chemistry. Even in weapon manufacturing, they had the renowned Beretta brand with a long history. This country had no major flaws besides soldiers lagging on the battlefield.
In modern society, Italy, and even the entire Europe, seemed to have dimmed. Had they declined? Yes and no. The rich were still rich, very rich!
Those wearing suits, looking elite, and hanging around Wall Street were all just employees. But those wearing leather sandals or shorts, walking in unknown European cities, and sipping cheap beer might be super rich.
Trask Industries was one such seemingly unremarkable but deeply rooted multinational company.
“Ma’am, our client in Israel wants to see the power of the latest weapon,” the suited company president said on the phone.
The voice on the other end was a woman’s, a bit sultry, “Contact their people, let them see. Hasn’t the Global Airlines acquisition been completed? Just pick a small town in Arizona to test it. But remember, don’t make it too big, those senators are very greedy.”
“Understood, ma’am.”
Thirty-five minutes later, two Mossad agents secretly escorted a special envoy to secretly land at Global Airlines’ airport. Nineteen minutes later, a truck passed through Prosperity Town, Arizona, where they abandoned a barrel of chemicals outside the town.
Bella, now eighteen and with the right to freely manage money, saw $300,000 as a huge sum.
She wanted to shop and spend! Summarized as buy, buy, buy!
But she still had some conscience, knowing to bring along her father, Charlie.
“Let’s go to Samantha’s town for a couple of days? It’s not far from Phoenix anyway.” She mentioned something she and Natasha had been planning for a long time.
“Samantha just got divorced, is it appropriate for me to go?” Charlie asked, somewhat hypocritically.
Men? Hah! Still, pretending?
Bella didn’t expose the little secret, after all, he was her father, so she gave him some face.
She laid out the facts and reasoned with him, vividly describing Natasha’s miserable situation of raising a child alone. To protect Charlie’s self-esteem, she used her trump card.
“We’ll just hover around the outskirts, I mean, we’ll just look around outside the town, not going in!”
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