However, the Longbottoms would have to eliminate that female bodyguard of Laurence first.
After that, they could take down the rest of his security detail. With Laurence left isolated and defenseless, no matter how powerful he was, he would not survive.
They had numbers on their side, and more importantly, they would be striking on turf they had controlled for thirty years. Launching an attack on Laurence would be infinitely easier, and the opportunities would be endless.
"His inner circle is just too formidable. Now that we can confirm he is indeed that child from thirty years ago, what about that Vice President of Longtail Group? Is he really the nephew of the York family in Wiltspoon? The one named Sonny Brown?"
Tony nodded. "It's definitely Sonny Brown. Sonny has known Laurence since they were children. I once wanted to use Sonny to get close to Laurence, but the plan fell through halfway.
"When Jane claimed she had given her adopted son away to another family, I didn't buy it. I only looked into it because I knew Sonny used to be playmates with her adopted son when they were kids. Otherwise, I wouldn't have thought about exploiting Sonny in the first place.”
Manny gnashed his teeth in sheer envy. "Longbottom Corporation has dominated Havenmill for many years, always reigning as the undisputed titan. But ever since Longtail Group was founded, they've been slowly squeezing us out of our own market. And to think, the masterminds behind it are just two young punks."
Longtail Group had only been in Havenmill for a few short years. When Laurence established the company, he was only in his early twenties, and Sonny was the same age. Yet, armed with nothing but raw ambition and sheer audacity, those two young men had carved out a bloody path to success. Now, they were directly threatening the position of Longbottom Corporation as the market leader.
Longtail Group also frequently threw massive sums of money around to poach talent from Longbottom Corporation, and they had actually succeeded in stealing away several top executives. When Manny tried to retaliate by poaching Longtail Group's executives, he could not even get them to budge.
The person he admired most was Sonny. Now that he knew Sonny was actually the nephew of Serenity, the lady of the York family, it all made sense. No wonder Sonny was so incredibly sharp. It was because he had grown up right alongside Serenity and Zachary. Even when he eventually returned to Liberty's side, both Liberty and Duncan were massive titans in the business world.
He was also bright and quick-witted from a young age, with a great memory. With so many talented adults guiding him, even if he had been hopeless, they would have turned him into an extraordinary person.
"They might be young, that's true, but with those massive families backing them up, no one dares to underestimate them. Now I finally understand why Longtail Group was able to expand at such a terrifying speed.
"They're constantly stealing our clients. They've even taken some of our oldest clients, people we've done business with for decades."
Tony said bitterly, "I refuse to accept this! You and I have managed this company for thirty years combined. Are we really going to let all our hard work become a stepping stone for someone else?"
Thirty years ago, they believed that wiping out the main family lineage would finally be the turn of the branch families to take control. Yet, after tearing the former family head's estate apart and turning everything upside down, the heirlooms were nowhere to be found.
It was only when they were cleaning up the corpses of the main family that they realized the youngest son was missing. Laurence had been barely a year old at the time, and Tony had watched the boy since the day he was born.
When he ordered the hit, his explicit instructions had been to annihilate the entire family. Not even the infant was to be spared.
Laurence was the son of the head of the family, meaning he would inevitably inherit the same position in the family. Furthermore, the little toddler had been terrifyingly bright. Even though he was only a year old, Tony could tell the boy would grow up to be far more formidable than his father.
Therefore, despite him being just an innocent baby, Tony had shown no mercy. He demanded total eradication.
When they discovered the infant was missing, Tony had not been overly worried at first. He figured it was just a baby. Even if someone had rescued him, it could only be one or two of the family head's personal bodyguards. How could a couple of guards possibly withstand the onslaught of the assassins he had deployed? Sooner or later, the boy would be reunited with his parents in the afterlife.
Later on, the bodyguards and Laurence's nanny were all confirmed dead. Tony had personally inspected their corpses to verify their identities.
Yet, Laurence, a helpless baby who still relied on formula, was nowhere to be found.
A baby that young could not even speak and could barely babble to his mother. If he had been picked up by a stranger or given away by the nanny, finding him would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.