Chapter 150: Fiona Feels Like Everything Is Finally Looking Up
Lip looked around the room.
No one cared.
Truth be told, nobody here ever really liked him.
A kid with American citizenship who constantly complained about how miserable his life was, never grateful for what he had—just another self-pitying punk.
Everyone present, except Mandy, was an undocumented immigrant.
Or born with disabilities.
Or had suffered hardships far worse than Lip ever had.
So no one felt sorry for him.
If anything, they found him melodramatic.
Ungrateful.
Especially after he'd tried to hire people to beat up William, the boss.
In their eyes, the punishment he'd received was far too light.
"Fine. Then I'm done."
Lip's face was flushed with anger as he threw out the words—acting as if he were the one quitting, not the one being pushed out.
As he slammed the door and stormed off, Svetlana smiled instead.
She'd never liked that Irish kid.
If William hadn't been gone for so long, she would've cut him loose ages ago and sent him back to freeze in the wind.
Outside the compound, Lip spotted a trash can on the curb and kicked it hard.
"Fuck!"
Without the gun money, what was he supposed to do about rent?
Get kicked out of 2119?
Have social services swoop in and scatter the kids into shelters and foster homes?
That wasn't the life he wanted.
"I've gotta figure something out…"
The more he thought about it, the more desperate he felt.
The fastest money he'd ever made in his life had been selling guns.
Compared to that, petty theft was child's play.
"No. I can't just do nothing."
As he punched the wall in frustration, a voice came from behind him.
"Lip?"
He turned around.
It was Fiona.
Behind her were Kevin, Veronica—and Sniqua, the girl he'd slept with that morning.
"Fiona… what are you guys doing here?"
"We were about to grab something to eat," Fiona said, concern written all over her face.
"What's going on with you?"
"I'm fine," Lip said, lighting up a Marlboro.
"But why are you all over here?"
"Oh—William's restaurant is right nearby. We were heading somewhere else to eat."
That's when it clicked.
If Fiona had a restaurant, she'd need staff.
If he helped out, that was one less person she'd have to hire.
With the restaurant's income, covering a $1,700 monthly rent would be easy.
And suddenly, Lip understood why William wasn't afraid of him telling Fiona the truth.
Because Lip couldn't afford to.
If Fiona and William fell out, the whole family would be screwed.
The restaurant only worked because it was laundering money for William.
Even if Fiona didn't know the details, she was already involved.
Backing out wouldn't just be messy—it could be dangerous.
After what he'd seen from the Black gangs, Lip finally understood the kind of power William really had.
"Uh… Fi," Lip said awkwardly,
"I just lost my job. Does your restaurant need help?"
Fiona's eyes lit up.
If there was one thing she lived for, it was her siblings.
Lip wanting to work with her?
That made her genuinely happy.
For the first time, she felt like her life was actually taking off.
From wage slave to business owner.
A brother who'd lost his job—but was coming back to her side.
Rent, once a crushing weight, now barely registered.
Everything felt like it was finally moving forward.
"Of course we need people!" Fiona said brightly.
"A three-thousand-square-foot place needs at least ten servers."
She ruffled Lip's hair affectionately.
And just like that, Lip joined the group.
As they walked past Sniqua, he nodded at her.
"Hey."
"Hey, handsome," she said with a sultry smile.
Lip's heart skipped—not because she was beautiful,
but because he suddenly remembered what had happened that morning.
The thought struck Lip almost instantly.
"Are you free later?" he asked without thinking.
Sniqua smiled faintly. "That depends on what you have in mind."
As an undocumented immigrant from Haiti, all she had ever wanted was a chance to live like a legitimate American.
Now that William had placed an opportunity right in front of her, there was no reason to let it slip away.
While the two of them drifted closer, Veronica was the first to notice.
She nudged Fiona with her elbow. "Hey—your brother's got moves. He barely started working and he's already chatting up the new hire."
Fiona turned around.
Sure enough, Lip and Sniqua were laughing and talking like they'd known each other for years.
Fiona frowned slightly.
It wasn't that she looked down on Sniqua—
it was just that Sniqua was undocumented.
Still, knowing Lip, it was probably nothing serious. Just another fling. So Fiona let it go.
What she didn't know was that Lip was already impotent—and that, under William's manipulation, he had already slept with Sniqua once.
By noon, everyone was back at the restaurant.
Veronica's connections proved invaluable. She quickly lined up two Black cooks who specialized in Southern food.
Fiona didn't mind at all.
This was the red-light district—people came from all walks of life. As long as the food was decent, it would sell.
With the kitchen staff settled, the next issue was front-of-house.
Fiona handed that over to Veronica, while she focused on finances.
With that in mind, she turned on the office computer.
"Lip, come help me for a second," she called.
Lip answered Sniqua with a quick word, then stepped into the office.
"Help me draft a hiring notice," Fiona said. "We're short on servers and cashiers."
Lip nodded and got to work.
Fiona, having done plenty of temp jobs herself, knew the going wages by heart. After explaining the pay rates, the hiring notice was printed out.
Glue and paper in hand, Fiona walked to the front door.
She taped the notice up, patted it flat, and dusted off her hands.
Honestly, her luck had been pretty good lately.
She had just finished posting it when a voice spoke from behind her.
"Hi—are you hiring servers here?"