Dispense with Greetings.

Marcus smiled when he noticed that the woman standing next to him was sad and was ready to cry at any moment. She looked like a little girl, whose favorite toy broke in front of her eyes.

"Hey, young lady, I just showed you a part of our past with my brother, you don't need to take it so close to your heart. Those events have long sunk in time, and are simply ordinary facts of history. Among all those present at this event, you and your husband understand this like no one else, don't you?"

Elena gathered her strength and carefully looked at Marcus, his expression was calm and expressed complete indifference to everything that happened around or in the past as if it did not concern him.

She knew that this man showed her only part of what really happened and that only caused more questions in her head. Once Elena had a case when she inadvertently looked at Daniel's past, but now it was different.

She was sure that Marcus had specially opened the reverse side of the coin for her in order to cause her confusion, arouse mixed feelings in her that could disrupt her train of thoughts in case of emergency.

Marcus, having guessed her thoughts, did not hesitate to confirm them at the same second, "Mrs. Anderson, you are so kind-hearted. It's a good thing, but at the same time it's so easy to manipulate you," he whispered in her ear with a grin.

Instead of responding to his sarcastic commentary, which he uttered with such a tone that it looked like a compliment, Elena grabbed Marcus by the hand and dragged him along.

The guests dispersed to the sides and gave way to them when Elena, not paying attention to them, led the man through the entire hall towards the exit. Marcus followed her like a puppy on a leash, feeling moved and wondering how she could walk so confidently and quickly on such high heels.

"You women are such interesting creatures," he laughed, "I certainly prefer an active role, but if you are so persistent, I can submit for a while," he continued, but Elena's reaction to his teasing was zero.

Marcus turned his head to the side, and his eyes met David's, the latter was confused and furious at the same time. Marcus narrowed his eyes and with a contented smile left the room after the woman.

"Uh, did he really show me his tongue or something?!" David asked Armand since he thought that it just seemed to him. Not only that, his wife, without consulting him, invited this villain to a dance, but also unexpectedly took him out of the hall in front of all the guests! What did this woman think at all?

A sea of emotions was raging in David's chest, he trusted Elena and was sure that she had her own reasons for it, but seeing radiant Marcus, who looked towards David with obvious mockery, was the height of his patience.

"This is exactly what he did," Armand ran his hand across his face, he himself did not know how to react to this strange gesture from Marcus.

His older brother looked so pleased when Elena dragged him along, that he even thought of sticking out his tongue before how to get out of the hall. What the hell was he really thinking?

"Um, Mr. Jackson, do you mind if I leave you for a few minutes?" David addressed the President, who was standing next to him and smilingly watching this unusual picture.

"Yes, of course, go," the elderly man laughed and nodded in the affirmative, David hid behind the doors of the banquet hall like a bullet. Armand bowed and followed him.

"Oh, young people. So unpredictable and open in their emotions," Mr. Jackson winked at Daniel and added, "Are you planning to leave the old man and retire somewhere with your lovely companion, Daniel?"

"No, no way, sir," Daniel answered, and proudly pushed Corey toward him. If David did not lose the opportunity to brag about his wife, then what prevented Daniel from showing off his beloved one to the President?

"Ms. Williams and I wanted to discuss the topic of today's event with you. Are you sure that this kind of thing will not affect national security?" Daniel switched to his business tone, which always added a special charm to him.

"The use of chips in household affairs is not considered a novelty, many citizens have long used chips implanted into the skin as analogs of keys, passwords and other personal data, but now it is about biological management of human health and consciousness, am I right? Are you sure it's worth supporting such a program at the state level?"

The President raised his hand and patted Daniel on the shoulder, "Son, don't worry. Everything is all right; I am not serving the country to endanger it. Our scientists and military carried out more than a dozen of experiments and studies before allowing Marc Technologies mass production for the population," the gray-haired man looked around, examining the guests present,

"Just look around, everyone here is having a significant impact on the US economy and development, these are educated and smart people. If they support the idea, the government supports the idea, then do you have anything to worry about?"

Daniel was a little confused when he heard these words. On the one hand, the President's arguments were logical, on the other hand, there were no serious grounds and evidence under them. This whole situation represented a stupid crowd, which was shown a spectacular show, and which, as it looked like, completely believed in the value of the idea.

Like a well-organized storyline of some fake news, people saw a vivid picture that affected their emotions, and they completely forgot to turn on their brains.

"With all due respect, sir, I still think this is a rash act. If you allow Marc Technologies mass adoption of chips to the public, the consequences of this may be unpredictable. If even clinical trials of drugs take more than one year, and in some cases even ten years, before a company gets permission to test their product on people, how can this unknown technology be immediately introduced to the masses?"

Daniel was sincerely indignant, as a man who had grown up in the pharmaceutical environment and since childhood had been involved in many of his father's company developments, he knew very well the inner cuisine of this business. Everything here was far from simple, as it might have seemed from the outside.

"Mr. Anderson, I understand your concern, as these chips will have a significant impact on your company's business, so you are so biased towards this idea," the President said in a less friendly tone.

"No, sir, I didn't mean that-," Daniel tried to correct the misunderstanding, but President Jackson did not seem to hear his words.

"The development of the chip began twenty years ago."

"Twenty years ago?!" Daniel asked, this fact was too shocking for him. They made so much effort to dig out at least something about Marcus's company, but who would have thought that everything was so serious.

"Exactly," the President confirmed, "If I am not mistaken, you are now about thirty-five years old, which means that at that time, you were still in school. So, do you think this is a sufficient period to be convinced of the effectiveness and safety of a new product?"

Twenty years, of course, was a sufficient period, but Daniel could not agree to this out loud. The whole situation with the chip and the chips themselves was too suspicious.

"If you still have questions, you can ask Mr. Taubert's deputy, I'm sure he will help clarify the situation," Mr. Jackson looked around the crowd, found the person he needed and called out to him, "Mr. Stein, can I speak with you for a moment?"

Rick excused himself and left one of the guests and turned to the side where President Jackson was calling him from. Although he did not specifically try to avoid this company, he did not take any particular initiative to get in touch with them as well. But, since the President himself called him, there was nothing to do.

The man apologized to the guest he was talking to and walked unhurriedly to Mr. Jackson, "Mr. President, good evening. Did you want to talk to me? Can I help you with anything?" Rick ignored Corey's gaze as if they were strangers.

"Mr. Stein, Mr. Daniel Anderson has a few questions about today's presentation, could you answer them? I have to go, and I would not want our guests to be left without important information for them," the President explained.

Rick looked at Daniel, from the side, it seemed that these two men looked friendly, but from their look at each other, it was obvious that an invisible battle was taking place between them. The idea to communicate was clearly not part of their plans.

"Of course, no problem," Rick said with a fictitious smile and nodded respectfully to Mr. Jackson when he left the young people alone.

For a moment, heavy silence hung in the air.

"Hmm, I think we can dispense with gracious greetings," Rick turned to Daniel and Corey, holding his gaze at the young woman a little longer.

"Yes, you can keep them with you," Daniel answered dryly, clutching Corey's slightly trembling palm in his hand.