Chapter 401 Don’t Worry About the Money
“If one person costs that much, then 100 people would be…”
After calculating the cost, Lil’ Mackaque stared at the blond-haired rascal in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? Do you know how much that portion is going to cost you?”
“Of course I know.” The blond-haired man chuckled rowdily. “Bro, I know what you’re thinking. Do I look like someone who can’t pay up?”
“Yeah, you do.”
“This isn’t for me; it’s for my boss.”
The rascal raised an eyebrow, looking all smug. “My boss is a successful businessman in Melrose. He has many friends who are into this, so he had me come out here to get some for him. He even said to stock up on it if the quality’s good.”
Lil’ Mackaque stared at him with a look of suspicion. “What exactly is your boss’ line of business?”
“He owns nightclubs.”
“Don’t you know that many nightclub owners have been arrested recently precisely because of this? The situation is tense these days.”
“Yeah, I know. But my boss isn’t going to sell them; he’s just giving them out. Those arrests were mostly because they’d involved too many people. We’re going to settle it privately, so there’ll be no problems at all.”
His words sounded quite convincing to Lil’ Mackaque, and the latter almost had the urge to agree. “Let me go back and think about this. You’re asking for too huge of an amount, so it won’t be easy to bring them out here.”
“Alright, fine. You can contact me anytime.”
“I probably won’t in the next two days. Let me mull it over.” Then, he turned and left toward the other end of the dark alleyway with his bag under his arm.
The blond-haired man stood in front of the alleyway, and the lazy and unruly look in his eyes slowly returned to a normal one. Tessa’s voice filled his ear as it rang from his hidden earbud. “You can call it a day. I’ll follow up from now on.”
Tessa followed behind Lil’ Mackaque up until he arrived at the entrance of the subway station. With her own eyes, she saw him pick the pockets of a few passersby in the crowd before he happily took a card out of one of the wallets. Then, he swiftly entered the subway.
As the train approached the final station, there weren’t many passengers left.
Tessa and Lil’ Mackaque were a compartment away from each other when she followed him out of the train. Seeing that he was leaving the subway station from Exit 2, she quickly went the other way and exited through Exit 4 on the opposite street.
She could see Lil’ Mackaque heading toward a real estate agency from afar.
How could a drug dealer have the guts to buy a house in Melrose City? Tessa thought to herself with a frown. When she looked closer, though, she realized that the man hadn’t gone inside. He was simply smoking a cigarette outside. After some time, a stout guy came outside with a brochure from the property company in his hand.
“How did it go? Did you find anything you like?” Lil’ Mackaque asked, smoke escaping his mouth as he spoke. “Don’t worry about the money. If you need more, we’ll help you out for sure.”
Fatso seemed indifferent. He casually put away the brochure before he replied, “I took a liking to one of them. I already made my down payment.”
“Huh?” Lil’ Mackaque almost snapped the cigarette into two as he stumbled at the sound of that. “Fatso, you do know you’re buying a house, not groceries, right? How can you decide on one just like that?”
“I don’t have much time to look around anymore. This house is great, so I’ve handed in my down payment and I’m waiting for it to be launched now. They said that they’ll definitely help me seal the deal, so I’ll just come over to pay the balance when the time comes.”
“That means you still have to come out here, right?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s good, then…” Lil’ Mackaque sighed in relief. “Remember to take me along, alright? I’ll give you a bonus. Whatever it is, I can’t have Dawn’s house lacking a few pieces of good furniture, can I?”
“The house is up for sale in three months. Dragon will probably be coming out by then, so you don’t have to tag along.”
“What?” Lil’ Mackaque’s expression took a drastic change yet again. “Three months?”
How can I afford to wait for three months to secure the business? If I have to wait, the business will belong to Dragon for sure. Once he becomes head, the money will have to be split among the 20 or so people under him. How am I supposed to earn a profit when I only get a measly share?
By the time he came to, Fatso had already walked quite a distance. Lil’ Mackaque quickly caught up to Fatso and begged him to bring the former along the next time he had to come outside.
After a three-hour drive all the way to the outskirts of Melrose City, a Santana came to a stop in an old fishing village. Fatso and Lil’ Mackaque got down from the car and carefully threaded through the abandoned village that was overgrown with weed. They pulled out a small boat that was tied to the dock.
Tessa silently recorded everything she was seeing and sent the footage to the monitoring room.
“The car plate is fake.”
Back in the Duncans’ villa, Gale had just looked into the car plate of the Santana in the study. “They probably change a car plate every time they head out to avoid being captured. Judging from the fishing boat’s route to Riverark Island, though, those are Dragon’s lackeys for sure.”
“The next time they’re planning to meet up with us, we’ll arrange our people to follow them to the island.”
…
By the time Fatso and Lil’ Mackaque came back, it was already well into the wee hours of the night.
Neither Poppy nor Courtney were sleeping soundly. Poppy was especially sensitive; she rolled over and ran to take a peek out the window the moment she heard noises outside.
Courtney sat up as well. When she saw the complicated expression on Poppy’s face, she knew her plan had failed.
“He’s holding some grocery bags and a few gachapon capsules. They must’ve been to the city, so I bet he won’t come to me anymore.” Poppy spoke in a whisper, but it was loud enough to fill the small and cramped room.
“Yeah,” Courtney said. “But nothing’s impossible. Let’s not give up.”
“I don’t want to wait anymore.”
Poppy took a deep breath and turned to Courtney in all seriousness. “You can stick with your plan, and I’ll stick with mine. I want to leave this island, but the longer I’m tortured by those people, the more I feel like ending my life together with Britney’s. I have to do this before I leave, or I’d rather not leave at all.”
It was easy to be blinded by hatred. Poppy hated Britney, up to the point where it had exceeded her desire to live.
Since Poppy already put it that way, Courtney knew that she wouldn’t be able to persuade the woman otherwise. Thus, she didn’t say anything more.
The next day, Reggie, the man who proposed to start a new life with Poppy, told Dragon about that. Then, he came and brought Poppy out of the cabin.
Aside from Buffy, Fatso, and the other three that never left the island, everyone else had a home elsewhere. So, since Poppy was leaving, she would no longer be staying with the few of them. Indeed, that would save her from a lot of harassment.
The cramped room suddenly became a lot more spacious. Courtney got lost in her thoughts by the bed as she let out a sigh. Since Poppy wasn’t willing to cooperate, she could only think of another way.
Glancing at the window behind her, she made sure that no one was keeping an eye on her before she carefully loosened a nail on top of it and plucked it out with ease. She grabbed the wooden plank that was binding the window shut and slowly tore it off. Then, she used the nail to pry the other plank loose…
While she was busy at work, the door creaked open behind her. Courtney tensed up immediately. She hastily pushed the nails and planks off her bed and swept it underneath before turning back in a hurry.
A skinny figure came in, the bright sunlight masking his identity as it cast an overlay from behind. As he approached her, his face became clearer, and Courtney could make out the creepy expression he was wearing.
“Hey, girlie. There’s no one else here now, eh? You’re all alone now.”
Courtney’s face stiffened. “Why did you come in? Get out.”
“Tsk tsk…” Lil’ Mackaque studied her from head to toe, his tone suggestive and dirty. “Since you’ve disguised your beautiful face like that, those dumb fellas couldn’t tell that you’re actually a hottie. They truly are blind, aren’t they? Anyway, none of them are here today, so don’t mind if I have some fun with you alone!”
