Chapter 72: Fall of a King (3)

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"How can you destroy a monster without becoming one?"

- Ken Kaneki, (Tokyo Ghoul)

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<{Fisk Tower pent-office, Manhattan}>

<(Omniscient POV)>

"That was a very entertaining art exhibition. You were great in there, my love. I think you are now officially the biggest art dealer in the state... maybe even the country." Fisk praised Vanessa with a wide smile on his face as he admired the vintage painting hanging from the wall behind his desk. "And you indeed did deliver what you promised. Because of you, I was able to buy such an exquisite painting way below its market price... how did you even make its previous owner agree to sell it to me at such a cheap price?" He curiously asked.

The painting was the same painting that they had selected before in the exhibition that evening. It was called 'Leda and the Swan' depicting a naked human woman holding a beautiful white swan with a few eggs that are hatching into humanoid babies instead of swans.

"No need to praise me so much, honey. I simply did my job as an art dealer. And the previous owner didn't exactly make a loss by selling this below the market rate. He did profit a lot although I had to promise him certain perks before he agreed to sell it. But now that I remember, I never told you the story behind this painting, did I? What it actually represents?" Vanessa asked as she got up and went towards the office bar at the corner before selecting a bottle of expensive red wine and opening it.

"No, you didn't. But please, go on by all means. I am very interested to hear about it." Kingpin admitted before slowly taking his place on his grand chair under the art piece, his gentle tone in front of his lover starkly different from how he acted with everybody else around him.

"As you wish. Here, have a drink while I tell you more about the painting." Vanessa Marianna said while handing over one of the wine glasses in her hands to Wilson with a seductive smile, which the crime lord eagerly accepted.

"This painting tells a story about betrayal and even revenge. The Greek God King, Zeus was one of the most promiscuous gods in Greek mythology. He was so lustful that he could do anything and use any scam to seduce the maidens he wanted to possess. One day, he laid his eyes on Leda, a beautiful woman who was already married to someone else. Zeus like usual tried his best to court the woman with his charm but the woman knew exactly what type of a god Zeus was and no matter what happened, she didn't entertain Zeus and remained strictly loyal to her husband.

Zeus' pride, however, was hurt by this, so he decided to take revenge against the woman. He didn't just want to get the woman's body now, he also wanted to humiliate her. He found out that the woman loved to play with swans and those birds were the only ones whom she allowed to come near her besides her lover. Therefore, Zeus took the form of a beautiful swan and went to Leda. She as a mortal could not see through his illusion and played with it the entire day due to how much she loved it. But the moment Leda was tired and fell asleep, Zeus in his swan form raped her and impregnated her. After he was done, he flew away, never to be seen again while Leda was left to care for the babies that were born of the twisted reunion of a human and a swan." Vanessa finished her story before looking at Fisk with a curious expression. "Now, why do you think Zeus impregnated her as a swan instead of turning back to his godly form, can you guess?" She quizzed.

"To give her the worst of humiliations. He wanted to make her regret not having a child with him in his godly form. He wanted everyone to forever doubt the woman's preferences and her sanity. He wanted to ruin her reputation and make her regret ever going against him and his wishes." Kingpin deduced with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Bingo, you are exactly right. For Zeus, it was the ultimate revenge against his slanderer while for Leda, it was the ultimate betrayal and insult." Vanessa explained with a small smile.

"Honestly, I thought the painting would represent some happy story of love but instead it's a tragic tale of a mortal being wronged by a god... but again, I guess people always pay the highest amount of money for art that represents sad stories," Kingpin muttered with a snort before completely draining his wine glass with a final sip.

"Yes, they do. People are sadistic after all. They love seeing sadness as much as they love feeling hope. Also, I never said it was a happy piece of art, did I? In the world of art, this painting is one of the ultimate symbols of revenge and betrayal." She clarified before putting down her own wine glass. "Today back in the evening you said that you wanted to marry me, right? May I know why?" she asked with a curious expression on her face.

"Because you are the woman, I love the most in the world. After my mother passed away, I don't think I have been able to love anyone. But you... I have fallen in love with you. You are the only person I trust most in the world, the only person I can sleep with without fearing that you will kill me in my sleep." Wilson truthfully answered. "The business I am in, it's very dangerous, Vanessa. I don't trust anyone, and I never thought I would. I didn't even think that I would ever have a family. But when you came into my life, you changed everything. Even if I die tomorrow, I'll at least die happy, knowing that you, Vanessa Marianna have loved me." He sounded genuine in his words as he fondly stared at the love of his life.

Vanessa, after hearing his answer, had a pleased expression on her face. She slowly walked towards Fisk and sat on the chair in front of his desk before looking directly into his eyes. "Really? You love me that much?... Enough to even die for me?" she asked with a serious expression.

"Yes." He said in a heartbeat without even thinking.

*Ring Ring* *Ring Ring* Kingpin's phone suddenly rang up, destroying the "romantic" atmosphere.

"Who is it now?" He complained with an annoyed voice before taking out his phone. But after seeing that the one calling was his secretary, he put it down, not bothering to answer it.

"Who is it?" Vanessa asked.

"Nobody of importance, just work. I can always talk tomorrow. Right now, you are more important." He flirted before trying to grab her hand to pull her closer, but she had already escaped by then.

"You should answer. It might be important. I can wait a few minutes. Go ahead." She insisted while going towards the office bar again to make another drink.

"You are so understanding. I truly don't deserve you." he said with a chuckle before answering the call. "What is it? Be quick, I am busy right now." He spoke with the phone near his ears.

"..." But the words that came from that side of the phone shocked Fisk out of his good mood as he listened with bated breath to the words of his underling. "I see. So, you want to tell me that all of our warehouses were raided today after which all of our goods were either stolen or taken into custody by law enforcement, and despite all of this, we couldn't do a single fucking thing?" he asked, his voice dangerously low and threatening. "... Find out who is behind the theft, spend as many resources as you want, hire every mercenary in the country. I want whoever did this to be under my feet by tomorrow. And don't call me again tonight. I need some time to think about our next step." He finally said before ending the call.

"Fucking useless." He muttered with gritted teeth under his breath after the call ended.

"Minions never are. They are always mostly useless." An unknown voice suddenly surprised Kingpin, making him look up from his phone, only to see an incredibly handsome and well-built man leisurely sitting on one of his sofas.

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