Chapter 35 — Frank's Revenge & the Momentum of the Plot
Thrown out onto the streets—
and his own kids still thought they had the right to keep living in his house?
Even if he could never get Ginger's pension again, Frank sure as hell wasn't going to let those ungrateful brats have it easy.
He took another swig of beer, mind spinning.
There had to be a legal way to transfer the house into his name without causing trouble.
Once the place was his, he could sell it for cash—
and those ungrateful little shits could freeze outside for all he cared.
Just then, a rare figure walked into the bar.
Eddie Jackson.
"What's wrong, man? You get kicked out too, like me?"
Frank threw out the insult automatically.
But Eddie didn't fire back.
He simply ordered a beer from Kevin.
"Fuck—don't tell me you actually got kicked out?"
Eddie's expression said everything.
Frank's scheming instincts immediately kicked in.
Maybe he could squeeze something out of Eddie—
at the very least, get the guy to buy him a drink.
And Eddie, at that moment, looked like a man desperately needing someone to vent to.
Their eyes met.
A few minutes later—
"I don't know how you see it, Frank…
but suddenly it hit me.
You and I—we're the same.
Both victims."
Eddie lifted his beer in a small, bitter salute.
"Two hardworking, devout men.
Trying to raise our kids right.
Teaching them morality, discipline, proper principles."
He paused.
"My Karen…
When she was twelve, I heard her spewing vulgarity.
On a Sunday."
A Sunday—
when Eddie, as a devout Christian, would always take Karen to church.
Meaning Karen had spoken those foul words practically in front of Eddie's God.
The blow had nearly shattered him.
And considering Eddie was a certified lunatic, it hit twice as hard.
"Damn…" Frank couldn't help whispering.
"And her mother?" Eddie continued, shifting the blame toward Sheila.
But when her name came up, his expression turned strange—complicated, almost conflicted.
After a long pause, he went on:
"A woman obsessed with sex and cooking shows.
Scheming every day to squeeze the biggest benefits from the government—hundreds of dollars a week!
And what's her excuse?"
He scoffed.
"Agoraphobia?
A made-up illness for people who just want to rot on the couch watching daytime TV."
His voice grew cold.
"Sometimes I wonder where Sheila put her dignity."
Eddie sighed.
"Then again… maybe she never had any to begin with."
"Her entire world was only that big.
The less she worked, the more benefits she got.
And now I've had enough. I walked out on them.
I'm not proud of it—
not at all.
But I'm also not sorry, because…
Because…"
Eddie's voice cracked.
He choked on a few sobs, emotions boiling over.
"I'm not sorry because—"
But when he turned back toward Frank, ready to explain the reason—
Frank was already gone.
As always, the shameless bastard didn't empathize with Eddie at all.
Instead, he picked up on something else entirely:
Hundreds of government dollars a week—
without doing a damn thing.
A woman addicted to sex.
And most importantly—
A house.
What else could that be but heaven?
Frank's mind immediately began hatching a plan.
---
The next morning
William woke up in a half-daze.
Bianca was drooling on his arm, clinging to him like a warm octopus.
His phone was vibrating on the nightstand.
He glanced at it—
a message from Karen.
"Help. Emergency. Call me."
Karen was smart.
She figured calling might wake him up, so she'd sent a text instead.
William gently pried Bianca's arm off him, washed up, threw on his leather jacket, and hopped onto the S1000RR.
He headed straight for South Side High.
Compared to the black BMW he used before, this BMW superbike was even more eye-catching to the local teens.
He'd only been parked for ten minutes—
and he'd already turned down five or six flirtatious girls.
"Whoa—why'd you switch to a motorcycle? What happened to your BMW?"
Karen ran up to him excitedly.
She had only expected him to call her back—
not show up in person.
It gave her an unexpected jolt of happiness.
"Get on. We'll talk somewhere else."
A motorcycle wasn't exactly private, and William wasn't the type to stand on the street and chat while being stared at.
Karen nodded and skipped class without hesitation.
School never meant much to her anyway.
William took Karen to a coffee shop.
The moment they sat down, Karen jumped back to her earlier question.
"So why aren't you driving today? It's freezing—aren't you cold on a motorcycle?"
She tilted her head, studying him.
"No choice. The car's in the shop. This bike is the owner's—just a temporary loan."
"You crashed? Why's the car in the shop?"
"Not a crash," William said casually. "Lip smashed it.
I was actually planning to give that BMW to you for your birthday.
But now…"
If he didn't take the opportunity to stir up conflict between Lip and Karen, would he even be William?
As he expected, Karen's expression brightened instantly at the mention of the BMW being intended for her—
but it quickly soured into anger.
Lip had destroyed her birthday present?
Unforgivable.
Satisfied at having planted that little bomb, William didn't stick to the topic.
"What about you? Why'd you message me first thing in the morning?"
He pulled a Franklin from his wallet and handed it to her without even thinking.
Karen took the money, then complained, annoyed:
"Last night, Frank somehow managed to break into my house…
and he convinced my mom to let him stay."
William: "???"
The inertia of this world's plot was that strong?
"What about your dad? He didn't do anything?"
Karen shook her head.
"He already got kicked out by me and my mom.
He's insane."
The plot inertia really was ridiculous.
Even without Lip asking Karen to spy on Ian's sexuality, Eddie still ended up getting thrown out.
"So what do you want me to do? Kick Frank out?"
William asked, amused.
"Yeah. That's exactly it.
He smells disgusting. I can't stand him."
Thanks to William's previous manipulation, Karen already disliked Lip—
and by extension, Frank as well.
Now that she knew Lip had smashed her birthday gift?
Her hatred for anything Gallagher-related only grew deeper.
Then—
[Ding!
New Task Detected: Help Karen kick Frank out of her house.
Reward: MotoGP Champion Riding Experience.]
William had originally planned to refuse.
But the system cut him off.
Since there was a reward…
He didn't mind teaching Frank another lesson.