Too eager to text Sadie, Gio knew he had to play it cool. But he was a very early riser, which meant he went to sleep very early, so he had the choice to text her early, possibly before she got off shift or wait until after practice. He decided to wait a full three days before texting her, mostly because he knew he held all the chips. He might have been a stranger to relationships, but he was no stranger to how the dating world operated. He'd heard words about it from many perspectives. But she was still his top target.
Emile was finally back home. Her business trip earned the family a potential billion dollar deal, and Gio was struggling with her new arrival, because she bought something well known to belong to the Triwizards, a restaurant chain called Floozies.
Dealing with the Triwizards in a business setting could be difficult for anyone, but Emile marched into the office and handled it with ease. Pep made her an excellent business woman, and she pushed the envelope a bit further by honing her skills with a degree in business administration she did online while Gio was only a baby.
But Emile was bio tagged by the Triwizards, and they now knew everywhere she went and everything she ate and drank. Emile put the family in greater danger, because now they could use her against Gio. It was never about Floozies, the restaurant was only a front for laundering money anyway.
The sheer number of Floozies restaurants made laundering money really easy for the gang. They would easily be able to claim millions in revenue each each, but millions were nothing to the trillions the bets on Gio were worth. It was a calculated risk by Viche, and he stood to lose his highest laundering income. After all, it could be replaced, but bio tagging Emile was worth selling at a fraction of the cost. Emile got a thriving restaurant, and Gio got screwed.
"You did what!" Gio shouted over breakfast.
"You know Floozies, we used to eat there when you were a child."
"I get it, mom. But Floozies was owned by a Garfnard. It's clearly a front."
"The chain itself is worth four billion dollars, I got it for a quarter billion. I could turn around and sell it tomorrow and increase my profit sixteen fold."
"Sell it immediately. It was a ruse."
"You're being paranoid again, Gio. I swear, we need to have your brain scanned for mental illness," she confronted.
"I'm going to work," Gio refused to be part of the conversation, "I have a big day today."
"More eating, I'd bet," his mom shot a cool reminder that he still wasn't training with the team unless they were doing strength workouts.
"It doesn't matter what I'm doing, anywhere would be better than with a profit-hungry idiot."
"Take that back or you won't have a place to come home to tonight!" she shouted.
"I have plenty of money to buy my own place now, thanks, mom."
"If this is what you want, it's what you got, big boy!"
Gio grabbed his bag and stormed out of the house. He needed to cool off before he saw her again. He didn't take her threats seriously, she often made empty threats.
She once threatened to make him sleep outside for going to a friend's house. He left expecting no real punishments, but once he returned. The locks on all the gates were different.
Gio called his mom, but she blocked his number. He didn't think she was serious. She never was, but the minor skirmish turned out to be the last straw for Emile. He found a note on the gate.
It read:
Giovanni Dos Jurgen,
You have two options. You can either start paying rent to live here or get fucked.
— Emile Jurgen
Gio didn't know what to say. He didn't even know if it was legal to kick a child out before the age of twenty. But he decided he would pay rent at his house, as long as the demands weren't ridiculous. He walked to the street phone on the corner of the street and called his mom.
"Mom, what are you doing?"
"I'm setting boundaries."
"How much do you want in rent?" Gio sighed.
"Ten thousand," she rang in his ears.
"Ten thousand a month? That's steep."
"Ten thousand a week," she corrected.
"Mom, that's absurd."
"Do you know how much this house is worth? You need to be taught a lesson in finances before you go off the deep end spending all the money you earned. I've seen your debit card statements. Who do you think used to make sure you always had money? Me— that's who! That ends now. You have a big boy job, so you'll start paying for your own things. And you're lucky too with how much you make. Most people start off making fifteen to twenty space dollars an hour. You're very lucky," she stressed.
"I know how money works, mom," Gio sighed, "they teach that from second year in academy."
"You didn't do too great in academy," Emile reminded.
"I still got the concepts, just let me in and give me the new frequency for the gate, and the new keys to the lock."
"Do you understand what I'm trying to teach you, Giovanni Jurgen?"
"Yes, the value of money. I'll pay the ten thousand a week, just let me in, mom."
"I'm no longer your mother either," she said as she buzzed him in, "I am your chief financial advisor."
"Whatever," he sighed as he walked through the gate.
The walk up to the house had never felt any longer than that day. Half a mile had never felt further to him, but he appreciated his mom's lesson. He needed to buckle down his finances, because between the Zetats and always paying for everything for everyone, he was stretching his money thin.
Two more days would pass, and Sadie was still on his mind, so he texted her. She seemed more distant over text, cold even. But Gio still wanted to know her.
Something about her was familiar. He didn't know what it was, but he knew he somehow knew her.
Tight on money now, Gio called Tue.
"Hello?" Tue answered.
"I no longer wish to be protected by the Zetats."
"And why is that?" Tue quizzed.
"I need the money more than the protection now, and I haven't seen a single escort. Having already paid you over half a million, I would've expected more. You can consider these negotiations over."
"Good luck, kid," Tue said as he shook his head and hung up.
Tue then phoned his boss, Emur.
"What do you want, Tue?" Holocano roared.
"The kid dropped out of the deal."
"What?" rage slipped from Emur's voice.
"He said we haven't done anything."
"He'll be dead in a ditch within the month."
Tue sulked, he liked the kid, and he didn't like the idea of him being dead. "I know we had a lot riding on the deal."
"It was funding our entire operation on Frithe!" Then Emur gave away what he was doing as Tue could barely make out him tell the ladies to get dressed and meet him downstairs.
"I can see you're busy, sir," Tue said the break the silence, "I just needed to inform you the deal has gone south."
"Tue, get him to reconsider the deal. That's all I can think to do. Use scare tactics if you must! We need that money!"
"Yes, sir, I'll see what I can do."
"Tue! Don't fail me again. Everyone thinks I'm too soft on you since you're blood. I can't be made to look weak at another failure."
"Understood," Tue said as he hung up and got back to playing a game on the PlayCube called Shout Cry. Tue wanted to forget about it, but his standing in the gang had finally started to waiver. He would need to score big to remain so high up the totem pole.
