Chapter 65 Do Not Kill the Dog

The New Jersey suburbs are vast.

Frank Lucas, the kingpin of New York, also bought a sprawling estate here. Yet, unlike the classical style favored by Dominic, his mansion was rather ostentatious, resembling a royal palace.

Upon returning from the funeral of his old friend, Frank, weighed down by heavy thoughts, declined the company of his supermodel wife and retired to his room alone to ponder his next move.

His greatest ally was gone just like that. Facing pressure from all sides, Frank felt increasingly exhausted and overwhelmed.

Dominic had been his most formidable ally, providing protection from the threats and harassment of other drug dealers while expanding his distribution network nationwide—to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Miami, Detroit...

Now that his ally was gone, his direct connection to the Mafia was severed. He had no idea what attitude those crime families would adopt toward him next.

The troubles that the Mafia had once swept away might now rear their ugly heads once more...

The more Frank thought about it, the more agitated he became.

He felt like a plump lamb now, and every motherfucker out there wanted to take a bite out of him!

And those damn drug enforcement agents!

"I must give up more profits to buy safety!"

Frank sighed.

Spread the money around—give it to the voters in Harlem, to nationally renowned Black sports stars, to greedy bureaucrats, to the ruthless families...

Don't give too much, or they won't need you; don't give too little, or they will hold a grudge. Give just enough so that those parasites need you, yet without hating you.

The prerequisite was that the business could not be interrupted!

Once the business collapsed, he would become a piece of trash, completely finished, and every single skeleton in his closet would be dug up.

It was then that Frank realized with a sense of sorrow that, apart from his family and his wife, he didn't even have a single true friend in this life... Even his wife and family had only come to him after he had achieved wealth and glory.

Perhaps only his mother truly loved him.

He left his room to find his mother, intending to accompany her to church for prayers—today was the weekend, and their scheduled prayer had been delayed by the funeral.

"Frank, I have something to say to you."

On the way to the church, his white-haired Black mother patiently admonished her son. "You know, if you are a preacher, your brothers are preachers too; if you are a soldier, they are soldiers as well... They all came because of you. It was you who called them to come and join you! You are their role model, and they all look up to you!"

Frank nodded with a gloomy expression. "Mom, I know what to do."

"I never asked where that big mansion came from, because I didn't want to hear you lie to me. You know very well what you are doing... Our family, your brothers, your wife—we are all bound together because of you... Frank, don't make any irreversible mistakes that will drive your family away from you..."

The church bell chimed from afar, striking Frank's heart with every single toll.

He did not know if God could truly hear the voice in his heart.

.......

The New Jersey DEA field office.

Rich and his crew were wearing headphones, intently listening to the intelligence coming from Big Jimmy—the other party was coordinating the location and time for the aircraft.

Frank had already arranged a shipment.

The military plane flying to New York was about to land!

"Newark! Temporary Parking Lot No. 3, license plate KA760... KA760 isn't a license plate, it's a plane!"

Having grasped the intelligence in advance, Rich easily cracked the riddle and immediately led his men to prepare for a search of the aircraft.

It was time to wrap things up!

The next day.

A group of police officers armed with search warrants arrived in full force at the airport to inspect the plane. Simultaneously, Frank's luxurious mega-estate welcomed two uninvited guests.

—Luca and Jimmy.

"Old Pigeon, what are we doing here?"

"Picking up money, and incidentally helping our ally."

"???"

"Don't let those dirty cops beat us to it."

Sitting in the passenger seat, Luca raised his chin, pointing at the police cars parked outside the estate ahead—they belonged to dirty cops who were seizing the opportunity to kick a man while he was down.

With Rich making such a huge fuss, everyone knew Frank was finished, and the corrupt cops were no exception.

Luca felt a twinge of mixed emotions. He had thought that eliminating Trupo would prevent dirty cops from directly targeting Frank, but he had thought wrong. There were plenty of corrupt narcotics detectives in the NYPD who had designs on Frank.

In the original timeline, Trupo had raided Frank's home while he was away. Now, it was just a different batch of corrupt cops.

Did they know the illicit cash was in the doghouse, though?

"Let's go, Jimmy." Luca motioned for Jimmy to get out of the car.

"There are cops... What on earth are we here to do?"

"Don't forget, Frank is Dominic's ally." Recalling the look of profound grief on Frank's face at the funeral, Luca smiled and said, "Now that our ally is in trouble, naturally we must come and help him safeguard the peace."

Jimmy: "???"

Old Pigeon, are you serious? You've barely met Frank a few times!

The two of them had arrived a bit late. Relying on their search warrant, the corrupt cops were ransacking Frank's mansion, turning rooms upside down in search of valuables.

Once a drug dealer's dirty cash was in their hands, it was motherfucking theirs!

Who would be foolish enough to pull a Rich and hand it all over?

In the corner of the grand hall, Frank's mother and his wife Eva huddled together, trembling.

Eva covered her face, staring with bitter hatred at the policemen. Faint red finger-prints were visible between her fingers.

"Your husband's glorious career is about to end. The federal government will be here any minute to take everything away~~~"

Stepping onto the wool rug, a policeman looked around with pleasurable anticipation at the mansion that was about to collapse.

As the wife of a mob boss, Eva replied with icy defiance: "If you leave right now, maybe Frank won't kill you!"

"He's finished!"

Threatening me? The policeman's expression darkened as he raised his hand to strike her.

"Boss! The Pigeon is here!"

"???"

The policeman turned around in astonishment to see Luca walking past a group of officers as if no one else was there, stopping not far from him.

"Dominic often mentioned to us during his lifetime that Frank was his best friend in this world."

Looking at the chaotic mess made of the surroundings, Luca sighed softly. "Dominic has only been gone for a few days, and you're already smashing up his best friend's home. If Dominic's soul were to witness this scene, how could he ever rest in peace? Sir, can you give me an answer?"

Hearing Dominic's name, the policeman felt a severe headache coming on. So what if the guy was dead? There was still a living ambassador of peace right in front of him, goddammit!

Those damned Lucchese!

"Pigeon, we have a federal search warrant to conduct a lawful search of this place..."

To everyone's surprise, Luca didn't even look at him anymore. Instead, he looked at Eva with concern. "Madam, are you alright? If you've suffered any grievances, you can tell me. I will uphold justice for you."

Finding her savior, Eva rushed to Luca's side. Her trembling fingers swept past the group of policemen, her pretty face distorted like a female ghost's at that moment. "These bastards, they..."

"Madam, I'm sorry!" The policeman hurriedly interrupted her.

"Sorry?! Your subordinate shoved a gun barrel into my mouth! Called me a whore and told me to suck it!"

Eva roared, pointing to the slap mark on her face. "Fuckers, look at my face!!! Look at your handiwork! That's left by your fingers!"

The policeman's expression grew increasingly ugly. As he noticed Luca's completely devoid-of-warmth gaze, a profound panic instantly swept through his soul.

"A search warrant—does that include shoving a gun into someone's mouth to search?" Luca reached out his hand. "Let me see that search warrant. Does it state that rule in writing?"

The policeman began to panic. "Pigeon... I'm sorry, we were in the wrong here. It was poor discipline on my part..."

"You should apologize to the madam."

"Madam, I..."

Slap!

"Get out! You bunch of bandits! Get out of my house!"

Holding his burning cheek and repressing the anger in his heart, the policeman lowered his head and walked out of the room, followed by the silent crowd of officers... One of the cops stopped on his way out to set upright a cabinet that had been kicked over.

Not a single word was spoken.

[You prevented the police from conducting an illegal search and violent behavior, defending the peace of the household...]

[Skill Points +5]

[Skill Fragments +2]

[Remaining Skill Fragments: 10]

Eva covered her face and crouched amid the ruins, weeping. Frank's mother comforted her from the side, then looked at Luca with worried eyes. "Thank you, sir... Are you a friend of Frank's? What kind of mistake did he make for the police to so brutally destroy our home?"

She was the only one in the entire family who was unaware that Frank was involved in drug trafficking. Perhaps she had guessed that her son was "doing big things," but she had never pried into the details.

Luca helped the elderly Black woman over to the sofa and sat her down. "Frank will be fine. We must believe in him; he will be able to clear up this misunderstanding with the police."

All he had to do was confess everything, completely dismantle the NYPD, and send more than three-quarters of the corrupt cops to prison according to the law.

That was exactly what Luca wanted.

After comforting the old lady for a bit, Luca gave Jimmy a look. The latter stepped closer. After listening to Luca's instructions, Luca added as an afterthought: "Oh, and don't kill the dog. Be gentle; I hate people who kill dogs."

Jimmy shrugged. "Pray I don't get bitten, then."

Once Jimmy had slipped away covertly, Luca walked over to Frank's wife. Before he could even speak, she threw her arms around his shoulders and burst into uncontrollable tears.

"Madam, give Frank a little confidence. Believe that he can weather this storm."

"Old Pigeon, we've all tried to persuade him, but he can't stop anymore..."

Eva raised her tear-stained face. "With Dominic dead, he's at the end of his rope. If he refuses to let go, he's going to destroy this family... Please, help us talk some sense into him!"

Talk sense into him? Urge him to surrender?

Luca gently patted her shoulder. "Mm, I'll have a good talk with him. Rest assured, you'll be fine. I can guarantee that."

Eva was merely aware of the situation, but she hadn't participated. As long as Frank confessed, she wouldn't face any consequences at all; Frank's mother knew nothing whatsoever, and she would be even safer.

Yet this... Luca raised his head... this luxurious mega-estate, so extravagant that the poor couldn't even afford a single rug, would no longer bear the surname "Lucas" henceforth.

.......

"Old Pigeon, there's over three million in total! We really came to pick up money!"

"You know the rules."

"When I moved it out of the doghouse, that German Shepherd bit me! Damn it! I really wanted to kill it at the time!"

"Jimmy, remember my advice: don't kill dogs, especially dogs that people keep at home."

"Fine, I'll remember it."

The black Cadillac drove away into the distance, leaving the large, pristine white mansion behind—cold, desolate, and resembling a massive tomb.