Chapter 2230

"I am a doctor, not God." Schiller also picked up his glass and swirled it, saying, "My expertise lies in analysis rather than treatment. Even a personality good at treatment needs the patient's cooperation. Even if you don't cooperate at all, you must at least give the doctor enough time."

Alberto looked up at Schiller's expression, and Schiller looked back at him. After a long silence, Schiller said, "No, you don't owe me anything. You know better than I do that Evan couldn't possibly have let me eliminate you back then. You are his brother."

"But you could have gone against his wishes."

"I wouldn't." Schiller looked at Alberto earnestly and said, "You are standing from the perspective of a latecomer, measuring with the eyes of profit and loss, thinking that I should have felt you were an unstable factor, so even if Evan didn't want to kill you, I should have manufactured an accident."

"That would indeed have been very simple for me. Evan still trusted me somewhat. As long as I proposed to treat him, it would have been very simple to eliminate you when your state wasn't stable."

"But I wouldn't do that. Such intervention is meaningless." Schiller looked into Alberto's eyes and said, "And you are thinking now, if I had done that back then, Evan wouldn't have the risk of disappearing."

"It's a pity there is no such good thing in this world. It's not that if someone had chosen another path back then, things would be better now. It is more likely that there would be more serious consequences on the other path."

"I can tell you responsibly that your existence is one of Evan's supports. You delayed the process of him becoming weak. If it weren't for you, he might have had a mental breakdown faster."

Alberto suddenly picked up his glass and took a sip of the strong liquor that hadn't been fully diluted. He gasped from the spiciness, but he suddenly relaxed.

"That's really good news." He said.

Schiller examined his expression and said, "Do you think I'm just comforting you? Actually, that's not the case."

"It seems that in order to be significantly different from you, Evan's personality is almost the complete opposite of yours. You should know that such a personality cannot be a Godfather."

"The old Godfather was eager to find a successor. Evan couldn't do it, but the consequence of him not being able to do it was not only the decline of the Falcone family, but both the old Godfather and he would be in danger."

"In order to save himself and his father, Evan had to do it even if he couldn't. Do you know how much pressure this would put on him? Even a normal ordinary person would very likely collapse because of this extreme situation."

"Your appearance saved him. From a sociological perspective, you let him not have to shoulder the responsibilities he didn't want to shoulder and didn't have the ability to shoulder. From a psychological perspective, the return of the primary personality could share a lot of mental pressure for him. When you controlled the body, he was resting, which reduced his wear and tear and extended his lifespan."

"Professor, this is the first time I have an understanding of your professional level." Alberto said.

"How is it?"

"Well-deserved reputation."

"Actually, this is not psychotherapy." Schiller smiled and said, "I'm just telling you a fact you might not know, but next we are going to talk about more realistic problems."

"I can't do psychotherapy." Alberto frowned and emphasized his tone, "I can't see a psychologist regularly."

"Because you are the Godfather, I understand completely." Schiller nodded and said, "You are not just a leader, but a symbol and cultural icon. You must be strong enough and cannot have weaknesses, even if you have them, you cannot show them."

"This is completely anti-human, but since the mode hasn't changed, you can only persist for as long as possible. I must say, the stability of your state is the basic guarantee of the order of this city."

"It won't be for long." Alberto sighed from the cracks of the words, "The Twelve Families are getting weaker and weaker. Smart people have already started to invest black money into legitimate industries to wash it ashore."

"I've heard about it. Harvey said that recently, there have been more and more company registration and equity dispute cases, and most of them are familiar faces."

"I don't know if I can land smoothly. Perhaps the best result is for me to return to Italy and let Evan be a singer."

Schiller looked at Alberto earnestly and said, "And if he is reluctant to leave here, then return to Cat Getan University to be a graduate student. He can always come back."

Alberto relaxed a bit more. He looked at Schiller and said, "Thank you, Professor. Can I take this as a guarantee?"

"Of course, he is my student. At least I can guarantee his safety."

Alberto was silent there for a long time, and then he seemed to have made a very important decision. He poured another sip of strong liquor. His expression sank, and his sharp brow bone looked like a sword was embedded in it.

Schiller knew what he was thinking.

The responsibility of leading the Twelve Families meant Alberto had no time and could not see a psychologist like an ordinary person when he had psychological problems. He couldn't collapse and had to be strong forever.

But now, the problem Evan faced was very serious. His personality was unstable and had the possibility of dissipating.

And back then, in that extreme situation, only Evan chose Alberto. As long as Evan showed any fear or rejection, both the old Godfather and Schiller would definitely have chosen to eliminate Alberto's personality, but he didn't.

So Alberto couldn't accept Evan disappearing, and the only way was to come to Schiller for treatment. But that required time. At least for a period of time, he had to focus on doing this.

This obviously constituted a conflict: want the Twelve Families, or want Evan?

This seemed like a difficult decision, but for Alberto, there was no need for even a second of thought. The Twelve Families were just dogs in the hands of the Godfather, but Evan was his brother.

Cat Getan's mob order had been weakened to the limit. The current direction of Cat Getan's development meant there were too many things the mob couldn't do. To fill the void in the business world, smart mob bosses had long ago started to transform.

Schiller looked at the expression on Alberto's face. He understood that the mob order wouldn't last much longer.

And Schiller decided to give it a push.

He looked down at his watch, stood up, turned, and walked toward the wall, saying, "This is the first time I've held such a large-scale banquet. Many guests have come early like you, so I'm afraid I can't chat with you for too long."

"Rodriguez Manor is too small and doesn't have many meeting rooms, so I would like to ask the butler to take you to my office to wait for a while, how about that?"

Alberto sensed an unusual meaning, so he didn't linger. He stood up with his glass. Soon, Merkel was called by Schiller's phone.

"Take Mr. Falcone to my office."

Merkel wanted to say that it hadn't been cleaned up yet, but seeing Schiller's expression, he swallowed the words in his mouth, said nothing, and took Alberto away.

Alberto soon arrived at Schiller's office. It was very tidy, so the desk with a pile of letters looked very conspicuous.

"Sorry, the master just used the desk, so I haven't had time to clean it up." Merkel said with great insight, "He didn't make arrangements for this, so you can look around here as you please. I have other things to prepare, I'll be back soon."

"Please go ahead."

Merkel left quickly. After he left, Alberto walked behind Schiller's desk, staring at the pile of reply letters on the table. Soon, he found some familiar names among them, most of which were crowned with the surnames of the Twelve Families.

Alberto took out all the letters with such surnames, and then found that their arrival times were basically similar. But this could also be understood, after all, the manors of the mob bosses were mostly concentrated in the North District, and the time from departure to here was about the same.

According to the rules of Cat Getan banquets, few VIPs need one-on-one reception by the host. Most of them arrive in waves, the banquet host comes out to say a few words, and then goes back to wait for the next wave.

It was necessary for people in the same circle to arrive together, because it was easier to find their place. If they bumped into people from other circles, it was easy to be ignored.

The hand holding the edge of the letter paused. A dangerous idea appeared in Alberto's mind. In the next second, he thought, precisely because of this, Schiller let him come here.

Alberto walked quickly to the phone opposite the office and said to the other side: "Cobblepot, let the subsequent motorcade arrive 20 minutes early."

The slightly confused voice of Cobblepot came from the other end of the phone, "But we have already written on the reply letter..."

"I have already greeted the Professor in advance."

"Okay, Excellency, your wife will meet you soon."

Alberto sighed, his fingertips cold, his chest burning.

Lex stood in the corridor not far from the meeting room. This distance was not enough for him to hear what was said in the room, but Merkel's departure made him understand that something outside Schiller's plan had happened.

Lex made a bold decision. He walked directly toward the meeting room and knocked on the door.

From the dozen or so seconds between getting a response, it could be seen that the people in the room were surprised by the knock.

"Please come in." Schiller said in a deep voice.

The door opened, and Lex walked in. Now he truly saw the surprise on Schiller's face.

But he wasn't surprised. Generally speaking, he absolutely couldn't appear here at this moment, but should have stayed honestly in the previous room waiting for the banquet to start.

Lex would indeed have done so before, because this was a very safe approach. Even if he wanted to take a risk, he wouldn't leave the previous floor, because if he walked too far, there was a risk of messing up his clothes, and wandering around the manor without permission was impolite in itself.

Moreover, Lex also knew from Merkel's reminder that the meeting room was being used. Even when a family with blood relations was dealing with official business, one couldn't be suspected of eavesdropping. Smart people would stay far away.

But Lex believed he could slightly amplify the influence of emotional factors in his decision. He wasn't one of those mental patients. His emotions were normal. As long as he wanted, he could use them completely.

"What's wrong?" Schiller looked at him and asked.

Lex exhaled, lowered his eyes, and said, "Nothing, I'm just a little nervous."

Schiller walked over, reached out to close the door, then stood by Lex's side, his arm stroking his back and leading him forward.

Schiller didn't ask why, nor did he act as if this was absurd. He just led Lex over to sit down and said, "Will alcohol make you feel better?"

Lex saw the whiskey in the glass on Schiller's side. He shook his head and said, "I can't drink strong liquor before the banquet. Alcohol might make me do some irrational things."

"Then stay here for a while?"

"With you?"

"Of course."

Schiller sat down, always watching Lex. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, Merkel knocked on the door and walked in, with an expression of disbelief on his face, saying.

"Sir, there is an unexpected visitor. She is waiting for you in the master bedroom."

Schiller frowned slightly.

Lex's ears perked up instantly.