The house Jimmy rented had basically been completely transformed. It was fully furnished with all kinds of furniture, and overall, it looked far, far better than the Gallagher house.
As Fiona looked around, a joyful smile clearly appeared on her face.
This was normal.
Fiona was born in that dilapidated Gallagher house. From that moment on, she had lived in that run-down place for over twenty years. Her living environment had never been this good.
Fiona liked it very much. After putting Liam on the brand-new sofa, she went upstairs with Jimmy to take a look around.
"How is it?" Jimmy asked with a smile when Fiona had finished looking.
"It's great," Fiona said sincerely.
Jimmy smiled brilliantly. "I talked to the owner. We can live here for a while first. If we want to buy this house, the owner is also very willing to sell."
Hearing this, Fiona immediately got a bit excited. "Buy it? How much?"
"Around a hundred thousand dollars. House prices in this area have gone up quite a bit," Jimmy replied with a smile, not mentioning why prices had risen (the answer was Dexter). "But don't worry, I can handle it."
At times like this, Fiona's principles became flexible again. She didn't feel like Jimmy was insulting her with money anymore. She smiled. "Let's live here for a while and see."
As the words left her mouth...
Fiona moved straight to the new bed and threw herself onto it.
The new bed had the scent of wood, and the mattress was soft.
Fiona wiggled around a few times and couldn't help but sigh with emotion. "So comfortable."
Jimmy came from a well-off family and had these things growing up, so he didn't feel much emotion about it. However, he still played along and lay down next to Fiona.
Before long, the two naturally started kissing, and then, started fucking.
Fiona really liked FUCKING.
Jimmy was fairly normal; his desire wasn't that exaggerated, but he just really liked FUCKING Fiona.
---
The Jackson House.
Eddie had spent the entire morning on the sofa, alternating between lucidity and daze. He never waited for the police to arrive, nor did he see any news on TV...
Eddie had enough of this passive waiting and decided to take the initiative to ask around.
Of course, not asking at the police station—Eddie wasn't that stupid.
Eddie planned to go to the Alibi.
Although that group of idle drunks messed around at the Alibi every day, their news sources were still quite well-informed.
Eddie believed that someone among them must know the latest developments regarding Frank.
He went out, got in his car, and in no time at all, Eddie walked into the Alibi. He sat silently at the bar, ordered a beer, and didn't speak, just quietly listening to the drunks chatting.
The drunks talked a lot, and they were all a bit gossipy... After all, they couldn't just drink silently; that would be boring.
About a quarter of an hour passed.
A nosy drunk spoke up to Eddie. "Eddie, how are things at home? Is everything okay?"
With so many scandals happening to him, Eddie knew clearly in his heart that he had become a joke, but at this moment, Eddie didn't care.
In fact, Eddie was waiting for a drunk to ask. Immediately, he put on a helpless look and shook his head. "Sigh, how can it be good? With this kind of thing happening, Frank and Monica ran away, can't find anyone..."
"Eh? Didn't you know? Frank is back. He was drinking here yesterday," the nosy drunk said.
With this mention, the other drunks opened their chatterboxes, and the topic turned to Frank.
Eddie acted as best as he could, chatting for a while, realizing that these drunks had no idea Frank was dead...
After chatting a while longer and further confirming this point, there was no need to stay here anymore. Eddie relaxed a bit and decided to go home for a good sleep.
---
Inside Dex Western Restaurant.
A row of beauties who had the looks, the bodies, and the "cafeterias" [breasts] stood straight in front of Dexter.
Dexter had a cigarette in his mouth and was honestly quite amused.
There was no helping it. As a normal man facing so many beauties, who wouldn't be a little dazzled? And Dexter was a normal man.
After enjoying the view for a short while, Dexter shifted his attention and began the final round of interviews.
Honestly, being a manager of this kind of roadside restaurant didn't require much technical skill, but it did require some skill.
Cigarette dangling from his lips, Dexter chatted with the beauties one by one. He was idle anyway.
Aside, Tommy and the other workers who were doing the finishing touches looked at these beauties and were genuinely excited. At the same time, they sighed with emotion, feeling that being rich was truly damn good.
Time flew.
After spending over an hour, the interviews finally ended.
A young beauty named Alice became the first manager of Dex Western Restaurant.
Alice wasn't the most beautiful, but she had the best personality. Dexter liked this kind of personality.
After finishing the interview, he told Alice a few necessary things and told her to come at 8:00 AM on August 1st. Dexter didn't waste more words and strolled back to Dex Restaurant to do whatever he needed to do.
---
Juvenile Detention Center, 3:00 PM, Female Ward.
Psychologist's Office.
Debbie had just finished today's therapy session.
By now, Debbie had been to this office many, many times, and her changes were also very obvious.
The psychologist saw these changes. After ending the session, she smiled kindly at Debbie. "Debbie, do you know how to live after going back to that home?"
Debbie nodded. "I know. I can't do those things I shouldn't do anymore..."
Debbie expressed her true inner thoughts.
The psychologist listened and was quite gratified, nodding. "Very good. You must persist. A bad environment affects people faster than a good environment."
"For anyone, learning to be good is not easy, but learning to be bad is effortless."
The psychologist said persuasively.
Debbie nodded in agreement.
The psychologist smiled, then stated the theme of this conversation. "Debbie, I don't think you need to undergo therapy anymore. I'll issue a certificate to the detention center later. If everything goes well, you can be released early in a few days and go home."
"But remember, absolutely do not come back here again."
Hearing these words.
Debbie was indeed a bit excited, but at the same time, she was also a bit lost.
Released? Go home?
Back to that home that always had all kinds of messy drama?
Thinking of the Gallagher house, to be honest, Debbie really didn't want to go back.
But, having the chance to go out yet continuing to stay here... Debbie wasn't willing to do that either.
Debbie was conflicted.
With this conflict, after thanking the psychologist, Debbie got up and left the office, returning to the ward under the lead of the guard.
On the other side, Male Ward.
Interestingly, there were almost no secrets in a place like the juvenile detention center. Any news would spread very quickly.
For example, this detention center was severely overcrowded. In this situation, many people's sentences would be greatly shortened, and they would be released early to make room for the new idiots coming in.
Speaking of which, it was funny.
Every summer, this detention center would be overcrowded... as if the idiot teenagers of Chicago would go crazy and commit crimes desperately as soon as summer arrived.
Lip sat on his bunk, listening wordlessly to the other idiots talking.
News spread rapidly.
Quite a few idiots swore that a large batch of people would definitely be released before the end of the month.
Today was the 29th. The end of the month was the day after tomorrow.
Lip looked up and let out a long sigh of relief, logically thinking of Karen and the child in Karen's belly again.
These days, Lip had practically been counting the days, enduring unimaginable suffering day after day... during which, there were several times he almost got his ass fucked...
This period of time had genuinely become Lip's nightmare.
By now, Lip had indeed changed a lot. If nothing else... at least he had learned to keep his mouth shut, no longer talking nonsense like "I'm the smartest, you're all idiots" like before...
Of course.
Some things couldn't be changed.
Lip still felt he was the smartest and still felt everyone else here was an idiot; he just learned to hold back what he wanted to say.
This progress was actually not small.
On the bunk, Lip closed his eyes and started imagining how he would behave and what he would say to Karen after finding her when he got out the day after tomorrow...
Lip simulated it non-stop in his head.
---
Night fell. Gallagher house, in the dining room.
Ian hadn't come back as usual; he was out playing with Kash.
Carl, whose life had been very regular recently, was back and sitting at the dining table eating dinner.
Beside the dining table, compared to usual days, there was an extra Jimmy.
Fiona ate her dinner silently, glancing at Carl a couple of times, struggling with whether to tell Carl that starting tonight, she would be living outside with Jimmy and wouldn't be living in this house anymore.
Why struggle?
Although Fiona had many flaws, she wasn't completely unreasonable.
Back then, when Carl moved out, Fiona had so many emotions and said a lot of bad things. Now, she was going to do the same thing...
Fiona knew this wasn't very good.
But, as a selfish bitch, this matter concerned her own interests. Fiona felt she had the right to do things that were good for herself and didn't need to feel sorry about it.
In short.
A double-standard hypocrite.
Time flew by.
In the end, Fiona said nothing, thinking she would wait for Carl to find out and then talk about it.
After dinner, seeing it was about time, she told Carl to take good care of Liam and go to bed early. Fiona then grabbed her bag and went out with Jimmy to go to work.
In a blink of an eye, it was past 3:00 AM.
Jimmy drove Fiona back to the entrance of the newly rented house.
Getting out of the car, Fiona subconsciously turned around and looked at the Gallagher house, which was just across the road and not far away.
The Gallagher house was pitch black, without a single light.
Fiona couldn't control herself imagining the scene inside that house... Carl, Ian, and Liam were sleeping soundly in the room on the second floor.
Then, Fiona thought of Frank again.
Was Frank still in the hospital? Could he have returned to the Gallagher house already?
Beside her, Jimmy could understand Fiona's distraction. Knowing this was an important step in Fiona's life, he didn't disturb her, just silently smoking and waiting for Fiona to finish.
It took several minutes.
Fiona was done. She took a deep breath, turned around, forced a smile at Jimmy, and said, "Let's go in."
Jimmy nodded with a faint smile.
shortly after, the two entered the house and closed the door.
With this, Fiona had indeed taken a very important step in her life.
But how long could this step last?
In the air-conditioned bedroom, Fiona was upset and restless, without a shred of sleepiness. She really couldn't sleep.
So, in the middle of the night, besides Jimmy, what else could she do?
There was nothing else to do. Fiona turned over and started fucking Jimmy.
---
July 30th.
The South Side was basically calm. Everyone did what they were supposed to do.
Safely passing yesterday, Eddie recovered a lot this morning. Just like before, he skillfully got ready and went out to work.
Unknowingly, it was evening.
Juvenile Detention Center.
The male and female wards announced the list of early releases almost simultaneously.
Debbie Gallagher and Phillip Gallagher were impressively on the list.
Hearing his name, Lip was extremely excited. his heart was restless, wishing he could go out immediately, simply unable to wait until tomorrow morning.
Debbie's reaction was almost completely the opposite.
Just like that, really going out, Debbie suddenly missed this place very much and couldn't bear to leave her girlfriend and friends.
For Debbie, this place had really changed her.
Debbie didn't dare imagine what she would have become if she hadn't come to this place, if she hadn't luckily met that psychologist, and just stayed in the Gallagher house—a place that could only be described as terrible...
The more Debbie thought about it, the more reluctant she was to leave.
Her girlfriend and friends all came over and offered comfort.
Looking at Lip's side...
Lip never had real friends. At this moment, there was only his own self-absorbed excitement and thrill.
It was just one night, a dozen hours. Enduring it, it passed.
A new day arrived.
July 31st, 6:30 AM.
Debbie and Lip, led by guards respectively, walked out of the detention center. Then, they silently walked toward the bus stop outside the center.
Among the batch of juvenile prisoners released at the same time, most had family members picking them up. Only a very small portion was also walking toward the bus stop, having to take the bus back themselves.
The bus stop wasn't big, and gradually, it showed signs of overcrowding.
Debbie waited for the bus quietly, not looking around.
Lip did, and so he saw Debbie.
Debbie's sentence was set for a year. Lip didn't expect Debbie to be released early today too. Seeing Debbie, he immediately called out happily, "Debbie!"
Calling out, Lip squeezed toward Debbie.
Hearing the voice, Debbie turned her head. Seeing Lip, she was a bit stunned.
"Why are you here?" When Lip walked up to her, Debbie immediately asked in confusion, "You just got released?"
Debbie wasn't stupid. On one hand, it was too early. On the other hand, she hadn't called home, so she immediately determined Lip wasn't here to pick someone up. Then, only one possibility remained.
Hearing this, Lip habitually put on an indifferent smile. "Yeah, there was a little problem before, got locked up here for twenty-something days. You didn't know? Fiona didn't tell you?"
Debbie shook her head directly. "Fiona hasn't visited since the last time she came."
To his family, Lip was still pretty good.
Hearing this, Lip's smile vanished instantly, and he was unhappy. "Jesus, what is Fiona doing? Debbie, are you okay?"
Debbie smiled faintly. "I'm very good."