Dex Fruit Shop.
Sales had been brisk today. By this time in the evening, most of the regular fruit was sold out.
With no customers for the moment, Svetlana sat behind the counter, lit a cigarette, and popped open the register. Smoking casually, she started counting the day's take.
A few minutes later, she finished counting. She did a quick mental calculation of how much of that cash would end up in her pocket...
Svetlana grinned.
She'd been running this fruit stand for months now. As of right now, she had saved up twenty-eight thousand dollars.
At this rate, saving fifty grand a year should be no problem.
And she was only twenty-one.
One year, two years, three years, four years... by the time she was twenty-five, she could have two hundred grand saved up. In the meantime, she'd secure her green card and become a legal US citizen...
The future was looking bright!
The only problem was the speed. It was a little slow.
Svetlana wanted to accelerate the process. She took a hard drag on her cigarette, thought for a moment, and decided to call Dexter. She wanted to discuss opening a second location.
One fruit stand had a limit on monthly profit.
Open a few more, manage them right, and the profits would be serious.
Svetlana dialed the number.
Dexter had just started driving back and wasn't far away when his phone rang. "Yeah?"
"Boss, is now a good time? I have something I want to discuss with you," Svetlana said, her tone slightly formal.
Dexter hit the brakes. "Your timing is perfect. I'm actually heading over right now."
"Good. I'll wait for you," Svetlana replied.
The call ended.
A few moments later.
Dexter pulled up to the fruit shop with Bianca. "Ms. Greene, want to buy some fruit?"
Bianca rolled her eyes slightly. "Mr. King, if you call me Ms. Greene one more time, I'm going to punch you."
Dexter laughed. "Understood, Ms. Greene."
Bianca: "..."
They got out of the car and walked into Dex Fruit Shop.
Knowing Dexter and Svetlana had business to discuss, Bianca tactfully didn't interrupt and went to browse the fruit.
Svetlana glanced at Bianca without showing any emotion... truthfully, she was jealous.
But Svetlana was smart. She buried that jealousy deep inside, saying nothing and showing nothing.
"Business looks good today," Dexter said, looking around the shop with a smile. "What did you want to talk about?"
Svetlana cut to the chase. She summarized the shop's performance, analyzed the growth potential, and then hit the main point. "I think we're ready to open a branch store."
Dexter pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
This fruit shop...
The net profit was about fifteen grand a month.
Was that a lot?
Not really. That was basically one day's profit for Dex Restaurant.
But compared to other shops on the South Side?
Damn, it was actually pretty impressive.
"How is your immigration status coming along?" Dexter exhaled a cloud of smoke and asked.
Svetlana shook her head. "I've been looking, but haven't found a suitable candidate yet."
"Are you being too picky? There are plenty of men around here," Dexter joked.
The truth was, Svetlana was picky. She looked down on most of the men around here. Otherwise, this problem would have been solved ages ago.
"I'm looking for a husband, after all. I can't just pick anyone," Svetlana replied.
"I suggest you get it sorted out ASAP. Otherwise, if ICE grabs you, you lose everything," Dexter warned. "As for the branch store, you figure it out. I'm fine with it. Once you decide on a location and the budget, write up a proposal for me, and we'll do it."
For an illegal immigrant like Svetlana, ICE was the ultimate nightmare.
Getting caught and deported back to that hellhole in Russia...
Svetlana couldn't accept that. Her expression shifted, and she nodded seriously. "Okay. I will find a husband as soon as possible."
"Good. Solve that major problem first. After that, we'll open fruit shops all over Chicago," Dexter smiled. "Without legal status, you can't run an empire."
Fruit shops all over Chicago?
Becoming the Fruit Queen?
The thought was beautiful!
"Okay. Thank you, Boss," Svetlana said, a little excitement in her voice.
"Don't mention it," Dexter smiled. "Anything else?"
"No."
"Alright then," Dexter turned to Bianca. "Bianca, you pick something out?"
"Got it," Bianca replied.
They bought some fruit, left the shop, and drove home.
Svetlana watched the Mercedes G-Wagon drive away. She was still jealous, but at the same time, she was fired up. She was confident that before long, she would have nice things too.
---
Back Home.
Dexter casually walked to the backyard, summoned Little Crow, and retrieved the camera. He went inside, fired up his computer, and checked the footage.
There was a lot of useless filler.
But luckily, he got the money shot.
Dexter quietly watched Comrade Debbie's treatment of the two little boys locked in the dog cage...
He had to admit, it made him a little sick to his stomach.
He didn't particularly like kids, but this level of abuse was just gross.
The Gallaghers being shameless? Sure, no problem.
But Debbie's behavior crossed the line from shameless into something else entirely...
If the mother of those two boys knew she paid money just to have her sons locked in a crate, how would she feel?
Dexter sighed silently. He didn't waste time and started editing.
Video editing was a pain, but he didn't need it to be an Oscar winner. He just needed to clip the important parts.
About half an hour later.
Done.
Dexter thought for a moment. He found a proxy online to hide his IP, opened YouTube, registered a new account named [The Gallagher House], and uploaded the video.
[The Gallagher House Daycare is open for business! Bring your kids over! Address...]
Upload successful.
Now, he just had to wait.
Dexter smiled, logged out, shut down the computer, and got up to ask Bianca if she wanted to walk Dumb-Nine with him.
He had considered using the restaurant's Twitter account to share the link...
But after a second thought, he scrapped that idea.
The restaurant's Twitter had too many followers. If he shared it there...
Damn.
God knows how big this would blow up.
Fiona might end up going back to prison.
That wouldn't be fun anymore.
---
The power of the internet is mighty.
About an hour later.
Jasmine was hanging out at the club. She was always glued to her phone, scrolling through this and that. She stumbled across the video and immediately burst out laughing. She hurried over to find Fiona, who was serving drinks.
"Fiona, you are in big trouble," Jasmine laughed, handing over her phone.
Fiona was actually pretty annoyed with Jasmine, but she couldn't say anything. She patiently looked at the screen.
One look.
In the blink of an eye.
Thump!
Fiona's expression changed drastically. She hurriedly put down her tray, grabbed Jasmine's phone, eyes wide, and peered closer.
The video already had over ten thousand views, and the number was climbing. The comments section was blowing up, and it was basically a wall of fury.
Fiona wasn't stupid. She realized immediately how serious this was!
If the parents of the nine kids—especially the parents of the two boys in the cage—saw this video...
Heh.
The Gallagher Daycare was finished. Hell, the Gallagher house might get trashed!
If more people saw this...
The Gallagher family would become public enemy number one!
More importantly...
Child abuse is, you know, illegal!!
If the cops or DCFS caught wind of this... the consequences were unimaginable!
The more Fiona thought about it, the more terrified she got. Her face went dark.
After a few seconds of panic, Fiona blinked, handed the phone back to Jasmine with shaking hands, and pulled out her own phone to call Lip.
Lip was the smartest Gallagher...
In this situation, it was pure instinct for Fiona to turn to Lip for help.
Lip was currently in his room, balls deep in a 'session.' He was really going for it.
His phone rang.
Lip glanced at it. Seeing it was Fiona, he paused. He figured it might be important. "Hang on a sec. I gotta take this."
"Okay," Karen didn't mind. Honestly, Lip wasn't exactly packing heavy artillery, so it wasn't like she was losing much momentum.
Lip answered the phone.
Within moments, as he understood what was happening, his face changed completely. He abruptly ended the session, jumped out of bed, grabbed his laptop, and told Fiona, "Don't panic. I'll figure something out."
"Let me know as soon as you have news," Fiona's voice was trembling. How could she not panic?
"I will," Lip said, and hung up.
He tossed the phone aside and started typing furiously on his laptop.
Seeing this...
Karen knew something had gone down. Curious, she threw on some clothes and walked over to Lip.
Soon.
Both of them were watching the video.
The difference was:
Lip was watching the content of the video. Karen was looking at the camera angle and thinking about the context.
The video was clearly shot from outside the first-floor window...
Who filmed it? Why film it and upload it online?
Karen was a slut, sure, but she was a smart slut. Her mind worked quickly. She thought of Dexter almost instantly. She was basically certain Dexter did this.
Impressive, Karen thought to herself. She genuinely admired Dexter. The guy was a savage.
Video finished.
Lip grabbed a cigarette, lit it, and took several deep, desperate drags before silently scrolling down to the comments section.
The comments were refreshing constantly.
The vast majority were pure rage.
"Child abuse! I called the cops!"
As he read, that specific comment caught Lip's eye.
Instantly.
Lip's heart skipped a beat. He realized there was a high probability this was going to go completely FUBAR. His mind flashed back to the incident with the black guy, Kamala...
"Fxxk!" Lip couldn't even imagine what was coming next. He cursed viciously, frustration boiling over.
Right at that moment.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Violent pounding on the front door downstairs.
Followed by furious screaming!
"Fiona, you bitch! Get out here!!"
"I paid you to watch my son!"
"And you do this shit?!"
"Get your ass out here!!!"