When a Hitman Gets Haunted by a Ghost
Chapter 63: Expansion Plan

Chapter 63: Expansion Plan

"I think the opportunity in Sicily is promising." Feeling William’s eyes boring into him, Gabriel quickly added, "But it is a bit out of our comfort zone."

A faint sigh of disappointment seemed to drift through the room, but Hale’s voice cut in, louder than all of it. "You spoke, but you said nothing. Have you no opinion of your own?"

Sam laced his fingers with a leveled smile. "Gabriel, I’m glad you see the potential here," he mentioned before moving onto convincing others. "This company has to evolve, and evolution isn’t risk-free. It takes bold moves to keep us competitive."

As the board members’ gazes moved back to his uncle, Gabriel could feel the word "indecisive" hang above him, like a sign on a stick stabbed into his skull for everyone to see. He rubbed his forehead and exhaled.

"Born into a family of leaders... What makes you so afraid?" Hale paced back and forth, torn between pity and irritation. "Your spirit is strong, but your mind makes you weak!"

Gabriel shot a sideward look at him. Why was the evil spirit criticizing him too? As if he didn’t have enough on his plate. His eyes fixed on William, who had dragged him out of his rest early to try and leverage his power through Gabriel, who had come running like a trained dog.

Habits die hard. But waiting for a habit to die was as good as doing nothing. He had to kill it by taking different actions. No matter which one was the right one, he had to do something he hadn’t done.

"You know what, I agree. Change is necessary," Gabriel blurted out, his eyes flitting on William. "It’s the twenty-first century, the time of globalization. We can’t keep doing things the same way forever."

The board members’ curious glances turned his way, some slightly startled by the sharpness in his tone, some annoyed.

Gabriel cleared his throat and continued, "The market is changing, other companies are branching out, the competition is rising. If we stick to domestic projects only, we will have no future."

William’s face scrunched up as if he’d bitten a lemon, changing colors from bafflement to betrayal, before finally remembering his composure.

"Right now, the public’s watching us," Gabriel added, getting a strange kick out of his father’s reaction. "It’s the perfect timing to introduce a new project."

Sam broke into a wide, approving grin, practically beaming at Gabriel. It was the kind of look that said finally. "Well said. This is exactly the spirit we need."

Across the table, a few other board members nodded.

One of the older executives, a man Gabriel remembered as William’s right-hand man, rubbed his beard with a thoughtful expression. "Indeed," he conceded slowly. "Expansion’s risky, but the market’s primed. We’re at a good place and we have the public’s attention, as Gabriel said. I say we take a leap of faith."

Gabriel suppressed a smile. That felt pretty good. He glanced at William, whose expression had grown dark and detached. Oh boy, he wasn’t even this expressive when he’d found out Gabriel was gay.

A bitter little voice in his head said, "your father’s only mad because it concerns his dear company."

"Good! Stand your ground, child," Hale encouraged, cutting through Gabriel’s inner dialogue.

Come to think of it, the evil spirit was looming around the other end of the table suspiciously. Then, while everyone focused on reading the documents and charts, he deftly slipped the keys out of Sam’s pocket.

Gabriel opened his mouth, but quickly averted his gaze, pretending to be oblivious as the keys floated across the room behind the members’ backs.

"I cannot stand watching him win," Hale gestured at Sam frustratingly, causing the keys to jingle slightly.

Gabriel quickly dropped his pen to hide the sound. He murmured a light-hearted apology and bent down to pick it up while trying to wave at Hale, mouthing, "No, no. Put them back."

Instead of doing as he was told, the evil spirit circled Gabriel and stuffed the keys into his pocket. "Let’s go to his office, find something to stop Sam! I will not allow him to live in prosperity after turning his back on Lazarus Blessing."

Gabriel straightened in his seat, feeling the heaviness of the keys in his blazer. Oh, lord. This was definitely karma for bothering Kant as a ghost. Not that he had ever framed Kant for theft.

After the meeting ended, Gabriel was going to wait for everyone to leave the conference room, then drop the keys by Sam’s seat to make it seem his uncle simply dropped them and didn’t notice.

He waited as the board members got up and walked out, however William didn’t budge, and neither did Sam. After biting the metaphorical lemon, William refused to look in Gabriel’s direction, and it appeared he wasn’t going to speak in his presence either.

"Gabriel," his uncle turned him with a measured smile, "do you mind? William and I have something to discuss."

"Oh—right, of course," Gabriel sprang up from his seat, giving up on his return-the-keys-subtly plan. "I was just leaving."

Hale led him out like a general of a battalion, shooting straight for Sam’s office. "Don’t waste time, hurry up! We must search the office while he’s distracted."

"Who is we?" Gabriel muttered as he watched the evil spirit slip into the office through the wall.

Whatever the evil spirit was up to, he wasn’t going to play along. There were surveillance cameras. And Gabriel wasn’t a smooth criminal—he wasn’t a criminal at all.

However, after a few suspicious sounds of something being dropped, Gabriel couldn’t stay still. He shifted his weight from one foot to another anxiously, then quietly slipped the key into the lock.

If anyone caught him, he could say his uncle asked him to bring some files from the office. He looked around to make sure nobody was around, then slipped in.

Hale was grabbing everything he could reach, dropping binders from shelves and creating chaos on Sam’s desk.

"Hey, can’t you be more careful?" Gabriel hurried after the evil spirit, attempting to clean up. "You’re making it obvious someone’s been here."

"I would turn this place upside down if it weren’t for you," Hale retorted defensively as he yanked another binder from the shelf.

Gabriel barely caught it before it hit the floor. "Oh, so this is you playing nice? Awesome, thanks for thinking about me."

Hale knocked on the bottom drawer. It was locked. "This... This is where he must be hiding his dirty deals." He extended a hand towards Gabriel. "Quick, the keys."

"Excuse me, who are you bossing around?" Gabriel muttered, but not without cringing. Yeah, this was definitely karma.

There wasn’t much in the locked drawer. The top file seemed to be part of the Sicilian expansion plan, but he hadn’t seen those in the meeting. Gabriel picked it up and sank into the leather couch by the wall, flipping it open.

"What is it? Something useful?" Hale asked, leaning over his shoulder.

"Uh, not sure yet. I can’t read that fast, you know," Gabriel retorted, moving onto the next page. His eyes widened. "What the hell?"