23

Alexis stopped and turned around. Suddenly, she was walking quickly back to me and shaking the bundle of wires in my face.

"It's a bug, you idiot! I have a warrant to wire your house and your car. Soon I'll have one to snoop around the butcher shop too. We're close to wiping you and your friends out for good!" (Requires 70 Alexis Relationship)

(Ratio Alexis -10)

It seems like it never ended. Day by day, week by week and month by month, the money had to roll in. A successful capo could sit back and let his crew earn a good living, but until things went well I was always in danger of being short on my paychecks.

The crew:

Jimmy: Earned the required amount.

Freddie: Short $2000.

Lisa: Earned the required amount.

Daniel: Earned the necessary amount.

Rest of Crew: short $3,000.

That meant I owed $5,000. It was a lot. It made me wonder if I should have forced Freddie to make the Depraved pay right away.

I sent what I could.

(Lost $200, Don Harcourt Relationship -20, Lost 10 Family Respect and Reputation -10 in Life Sketch)

I knew that being short was dangerous to my health. The last thing I wanted was for Don Harcourt to think I was holding him. He charged me interest, increasing the total by $1,440, meaning I still owed Don Harcourt $6,240.

My line of work meant I spent a lot of time clubbing. It was a good place to discuss business as it was full of noise and many people were going there. Unfortunately, this meant that we sometimes got into trouble with people who had nothing to do with us.

This was the case on a Saturday night. We had completed a meeting and I was about to leave when a drunk guy bumped into Doug. That shouldn't have been a big deal, except he just stood there and didn't say anything.

"You owe me a drink," the drunk said, slapping Doug across the face to get his attention. "Are you listening to me?"

This was going too far. This was where most of my team would have hit the drunk. Unfortunately, Doug didn't say anything! I could see him shaking from where I was. He was afraid of the drunk man! To make matters worse, everyone was now watching the fight.

I wasn't going to let anyone talk to one of my crew that way. The man was too intoxicated to react properly when I hit him with my fists. Security stayed behind and watched until I was done. Meanwhile, I saw that Doug seemed very shy about me solving problems for him. The security guards knew who I was and knew better than to interfere. Then they took the drunk out the door and threw him in the street.

(Fight +5 and Relationship Doug -10)

Nova Daria was always changing. Old buildings have fallen, new buildings have been erected. Each time this happened, many opportunities were created. Like when the Sunshine Mall was built. It was a multi-million dollar project involving dozens of companies with a lot of money to be made from each one. Lisa came to me first about this. She wanted to use my influence to get put on the planning committee so we could get our fingers in all the pies at once. It was a great idea. Unfortunately, Freddie and Jimmy disagreed. They felt that Lisa was still too inexperienced and that one of them would be better suited for the job.

Although Lisa showed me the respect I deserved, at least to my face, I could tell she wasn't happy with me. It was her idea to start from the top instead of dealing with each new entrepreneur individually. Jimmy didn't like my choice either, as he wanted the lucrative position for himself.

(Smooth Ratio -25, Freddie Ratio +20 and Jimmy Ratio -15)

The land had been purchased, but demolition had not yet begun. The plans themselves were still being put together. The first job was to get Freddie a position on the planning committee. It would include a city representative, legal counsel, business planners, investor representatives and concerned citizens.

It was very frustrating. There was a lot of money to be made on this project and I was being blocked from the start. I didn't give up, of course. Many of the meetings would be open to the public, so I made sure Freddie was still there.

It was nice to have an experienced person involved. Even though Freddie didn't make the committee, he was quick to point out the flaws of all the construction and demolition companies that were recommended for the job. This started the ball rolling. Then he bribed and scared the right committee members until the contracts went to the companies we represented. Honoring our Family had its benefits, and this was one of them.

(Citizen Reputation +10)

One of the most profitable sports in the country was MMA. In my parents' time, everything was boxing. Las Vegas, the crime capital of the world, quickly became the boxing capital of the world as well. But for my generation, boxing was an old man's sport. When I heard that one of the big names in MMA wanted to host an event in New Daria, I knew who I had to talk to. Vic Brown was the president of the company and the person in charge.

I know who you are and would love to work with you," he said before I even had a chance to speak. "I can't get into the Japanese or Mexican markets because of organizations like yours. I'm willing to play ball, but I'm a businessman and if I can't make a profit, I can't do it."

"Pedro Sanchez offered me a lot," he said, referring to the head of the Martinez family. "He has connections that could put me on the Mexican market. I'll pay my share to whoever's in charge, but you'll have to talk to him."

I didn't want to give up. A part of Nova Daria events would be very profitable. But I had nothing comparable to what Pedro was offering. I knew I couldn't beat his deal.