A MACHINE FOR PIGS : The beginning of the Fall

London, 1912

A man in his thirties, sitting at a wooden desk in a medium-sized room, which was filled with antiquities. The Furniture was simple and included four chairs and wooden table.

This man has black hair and brown eyes, and wears a brown tuxedo

The man was flipping through a small notebook, its papers turned yellow because of the age of this notebook, and a group of papers scattered on the table, those papers contained strange and incomprehensible symbols, the man looked at the notebook with a look of obsession and madness in his eyes

There was a name on the first sheet of the notebook

Daniel Montgomery

The man opened the notebook and he started flipping his papers quietly

From time to time he glanced at a huge map hanging on the wall

A detailed map showing all cities in different countries of the world. There were red circles on some cities in that map

The man knitted his eyebrows as he looked at the map

He got up from his seat while holding a marker

He put a red circle on a city in Mexico

"There….if Alexander von Bernenberg is telling the truth, that must be the place…" Excitement appeared on the man's face

Knock! Knock!

Suddenly the man heard a knock on the door, he quickly went to his wooden desk and put the papers and notebook in the desk drawer and locked the drawer

He put the key in his pocket, and sat down on the chair behind the desk. "you are welcome to enter…."

An old white-haired man entered, his face was thin, his cheeks were sunken, his eyes are bulging, and he looked like a person suffering from malnutrition, but that old man was wearing an elegant and luxurious black coat, a tall hat, and he was carrying a brown leather bag

The old man took off his hat and smiled, "Good morning, Mr. Mandus..."

The man got up from his seat and replied, "Good morning, Mr. Oswald. I am sorry to have forced you to attend, despite your poor health...." Mandus pointed to one of the chairs in front of the desk

"Hmph..." Oswald sat in the chair, and he sighs and exhales because of his exhaustion

Oswald put the bag on the table in front of him

Oswald was looking at the table in front of him, not daring to look at Mandus

A servant entered the room and offered tea to Oswald and Mandus

Mandus drank his tea and looked at Oswald. "How did it go?"

Oswald clasped his hands and looked at the cup of tea in front of him for a moment before turning his gaze to Mandus. "No bank would lend you money..."

"Mr. Oswald, you have so many contacts, there must be a way…"

Oswald grabbed the cup and looked at the tea. "I didn't succeed in convincing them. No bank in London would lend you money. They are all betting that your company will go bankrupt, and they don't want to risk their money..."

Mandus became angry, and clenched his fists together

Oswald looked at Mandus' face. "You have to stop, Mandus..."

"What do you mean..."

"You know what I mean, if you keep making these failed investments your company will eventually go bankrupt..."

"They want me to sell my family's company, how dare they make such a request…." Mandus shouted angrily.

There was a guilty look on Oswald's face, "I know the pain you're going through, seeing your life's work taken away from you, I was helping your father when he was growing this company..." Oswald smiled as he recalled the past, But soon his smile turned sad "But the world has changed, this is no longer the company that controls the trade and processing of meat as in the past, the enemies of your company have become more and more powerful, and they are able to drag the company down..."

"Sons of bitches…" Mandus cursed as he grinds his teeth, "They obviously bribed these corrupt officials…."

"I know that, but we don't have enough evidence to convict them..." Oswald pulled some papers out of his bag. "You should do this for Fran and Freud, you should not let your hatred control you..."

Mandus' face became annoyed. "They are my children, I will do nothing to harm them..."

Oswald put the papers on Mandus' desk and said in a deep tone, "After Tabitha's death, you fell into a deep depression. You might try to deny it, but I could see that you blamed the children for the death of your beloved wife..."

"This is ridiculous, how can you say such a thing…"

Oswald sighed, "I know it's hard to accept my words, and you seem to be unaware of your actions, but inside , you blame the children for the death of the most important person in your life...."

"This…" Mandus became tense, "I was giving them everything they could wish for, I have never been short in raising them…."

"Yes, but you haven't given them the most important thing children need... Love, Mandus, you haven't given them love, you pretend you're busy with your work but the truth is you're trying to escape from seeing them, because they remind you of your wife..."

Mandus began to sweat while he was silent, he tried to drink some tea to moisten his throat, but this did not relieve his tension

He knew in his heart that Oswald was right, but he was trying to bury these thoughts in the depths of his soul, so that he would forget that he had thought such evil thoughts.