He's right, they can take it, but keeping it is a whole other matter. Winston shot John to wound him, he knew he would survive. He also had to make the High Table think he was still loyal to them. They made a big mistake betraying John and the Bowery King, they had to team up to take down a common enemy.
Too bad it's titled backwards since John technically betrayed the High Table, not the other way around. His assignment was to kill Winston, which he refused to do and told the Adjudicator as much.
The High Table settled on letting Winston keep his hotel, so long as John got his toe tagged for defying him. Which it looked like happened...until the body vanished. Taking a fall from that far up and smacking pavement, in theory he should be dead and is theoretically fortunate to still be alive. But as Winston said to The Adjudicator, We Are New York City. (This is something that The Continental miniseries fleshes out rather well in terms of the connections that Winston made before he snatched The Continental from the previous owner.) This set the stage wonderfully for Chapter 4 and all that would unfold with John versus The High Table. The High Table didn't wait long to come down on Winston for John still being alive. Winston lost the hotel anyway, so really all he did was delay the inevitable without a prolonged war as it were.
This is the part of the movie I don't understand. John gave his finger to confirm his loyalty to the High Table. But he refused the High Table's order to kill Winston. Winston defies the de-consecration order and then reaffirms his loyalty to the High Table by shooting John. It doesn't appear the High Table betrayed John. John refused their order. Maybe it's explained in part four.
I’m a little lost with your confusion, so correct me if I’m wrong. I’ll try not to spoil pt 4. In this movie, John was given a dilemma to kill Winston and be a slave, whilst Winston gave the Adjudicator a dilemma for peace or war with “New York” so it’s a no brainer which one is a bigger risk to the Elder. If anything, go to 4:32 and Charon will hint what you need to know about part 4. Moreover, John doesn’t give a shit about rules, especially when you have his wedding ring.
