Issues Come to Light

"Then explain one thing to me: you're not interested in continuing your studies, nor have you gotten into trouble, so why did you really come home?" John sat next to his daughter, Beth. His question was direct, as if he still didn't understand what his son was seeking by returning.

His concern was understandable; he didn't know much about what his son had been doing all these years because he had never paid enough attention.

That initial disinterest had now turned into worry, something unusual for him.

Dante, on the other hand, kept a calm gaze. He looked directly at his father and said, "During my time in New York, I learned many things. One of them is that, to survive the city as a nobody, you have to move in the shadows according to what you can do or prove."

A person's value is highlighted by what they can demonstrate or accomplish. Few people involve themselves in worlds they can barely navigate.

"You need to be more specific so we can understand." Beth looked at her brother, asking him not to speak so cryptically.

Dante smiled slightly and said, "I didn't have many friends, but one of them taught me how to gamble. Over time, I built up a significant amount of money. When I came of age, I bought a pub that had gone bankrupt. It was very expensive, but through innovative strategies, I was able to make it flourish."

"Are you kidding?" Beth couldn't believe that Dante owned a pub, especially in New York, where prices soared into the millions. Where had her brother gotten enough money to buy a pub?

Obviously, Dante had obtained the money through money laundering in gambling, something he didn't want to explain. But to others, the millions of dollars he used to open his pubs seemed completely legal, and now they were operating.

He didn't expect his family to fully understand, just to take in some of his words.

"The family needs money. Due to my investments, I don't have much left right now, but I do have ideas to make you money, and this is one of them." Dante placed some documents on the table to create a company that would sell the raw material for making peat.

To make his cannabis farms work, he needed to sell the peat. This way, the distribution channels would generate profits from two key business points.

One would be peat, which could replace the coal heavily consumed in the country during winter. The other would be the sale of cannabis, which had already earned him considerable profits.

What he was seeking from his family was for the ranch to sell him the peat from their land. Then this raw material would be distributed to smaller ranches, where it would be processed into peat bricks to move the product across the country.

Cannabis would be a product for personal consumption, not difficult to handle, which had already generated tens of millions of dollars for Dante.

He knew that on January 1, 2017, the legal sale of recreational marijuana had begun in the state of Colorado, which became the first public marijuana market in the United States. This had made it even easier for him to sell in that place, where many people bought from him to avoid costly legal processes and eventually sell it legally.

He understood very well that this market would grow, which is why he planned to generate as much money as possible while he had the chance.

That way, he would no longer depend on the Glass family to buy his product. He wasn't afraid of that family; their power was limited to England, so their influence here was minimal.

Dante hadn't been idle either. He had amassed considerable power, becoming one of the most dangerous criminals when it came to protecting what was his.

"How much would we make a year?"

"About fifteen million dollars if we start selling tons of this mineral, which we can probably find on our land," Dante said confidently.

John had some understanding of this, so he quickly said, "I'm not interested."

"Can you at least think about it?"

"Think about what exactly? You're telling me to exploit the land of our ranch to make a few million dollars, something I'll never do. You know we need the land for the cattle. The grass this land provides is crucial for us."

Dante stared at his father and said, "If we do it right, in less than two months, we could collect the peat we'd sell over a year. Then, we'll restore the land, costing us only a few million dollars, and it'll be ready for use by summer."

"I don't want to get involved with multimillion-dollar companies, so you can tell your friend we're not interested." John refused to let anyone harm his land.

"We won't touch the land most used by the cattle. We'll focus on areas that won't affect the ranch's ecosystem. You, better than anyone, know what this place means to you. How could you think I'd propose something that would harm the land you've worked so hard to protect?"

Beth looked at her brother and then at the documents in her hand. "We'll exploit the mountains, extract this resource, and sell it to the peat company that would buy the unprocessed product."

"We wouldn't do anything but sell the unprocessed peat. They just want the raw material, and we'd make a lot of money. You can consult with experts, and they'll all tell you it's a reliable business."

John still wasn't convinced. Everything sounded too good to be true, so he didn't know how to respond.

"Father, if we take this from land we're not using, you could generate jobs and ease the pressure you're facing from those businessmen who want to create jobs by exploiting our ecosystem." Dante was convinced this was the best method.

If his peat company succeeded, the amount of cannabis he could distribute would be much larger. Moving this product from place to place would be much easier.

"Beth, can you mediate with the buyers?"

"Yes, I can do that." Beth nodded with a slight smile. She had never thought of this business model that Dante had come up with.

John nodded and then said, "We'll see. If it works, you can take charge of it, Dante. You'll get a good salary if it succeeds, and you won't have to go back to university."

Dante watched as his father left. Turning to his sister, he asked, "Do you think he'll agree?"

"I don't know, but I think he needs the money. He doesn't earn much from the ranch." Beth wasn't sure what decision her father would make about this business model.

"Well, we tried." Dante prepared to visit his brother, who didn't live at home. As far as he knew, his brother had returned from the army and was staying in the reserves.

Beth watched him leave and asked, "What's the name of your pub?"

"The Threshold..."

"Will I get a discount if I visit?"

Dante thought for a moment and said, "Only if you visit my business once a month."

When Beth wanted to ask more questions, Dante had already disappeared. She remained looking at the documents on the table, quite intrigued by what her younger brother was getting involved in.