Chapter 136 — News Brought by the White Moonlight
Fueled by anger, Lip let his resentment spill over—until even Fiona started to look unbearable to him.
"Going to make money."
"Wait—aren't you eating breakfast?"
Fiona called after him as he slammed the door and stormed out.
Lip didn't answer.
He charged down the street, still seething.
Watching him leave like he'd swallowed a stick of dynamite, Fiona frowned.
But she didn't dwell on it.
With so many kids in the Gallagher household, she didn't have the luxury of micromanaging every emotion.
Keeping them fed and alive was already the limit of her strength.
---
Outside, Lip stood on the sidewalk, staring at the pink BMW for a long, silent moment.
"Fuck… damn it."
After cursing under his breath, he turned and walked away fast.
He was afraid that if he looked at it one second longer, he'd lose control and smash Karen's car to pieces.
And the last time he smashed a car... well, that didn't end well.
---
Meanwhile, inside 2118.
The moment Karen walked in, she started stripping.
After all this time apart, the priority was obvious—talk could wait.
For Karen, resisting her urges just to make money had already been a major sacrifice.
If she finally met William and he didn't satisfy her, then no amount of money would make up for it.
Luckily for her, that wasn't something William needed to worry about.
---
Two hours later.
Karen lay sprawled on the tiled floor, drenched in sweat.
"By the way," William said as he sat up and started getting dressed, smiling,
"you didn't come just for that, did you?"
Karen lay on her side, propping her head with one hand while lazily twirling a strand of hair with the other.
"No."
"Then what is it?" William asked, intrigued.
"Something happened to Eddie. You know about it?"
Her expression didn't change at all.
"Something happened? What could've happened?" William was genuinely surprised.
Eddie shouldn't have had any issues—William had already arranged for Terry to castrate him.
In this timeline, Karen never recorded a video with Frank and sent it to Eddie.
So logically, Eddie shouldn't have jumped into the lake.
Which made this… interesting.
"You didn't know?" Karen blinked her big eyes.
"Then it wasn't you."
"What do you mean me?" William raised an eyebrow.
"What happened to Eddie?"
"You really don't know?" she asked again, clearly enjoying the suspense.
"He's dead. A fisherman found the body in Lake Michigan. The police are investigating."
She said it calmly—without a trace of emotion, as if Eddie had nothing to do with her at all.
William hadn't expected the pull of fate to be this strong.
Eddie still ended up jumping.
But thinking it through, it made sense.
News of Eddie being castrated would've spread sooner or later.
For someone who cared obsessively about how others saw him, suicide wasn't unthinkable.
In the original story, Eddie killed himself after his pedophilia and the video of Karen and Frank were exposed—total social death.
This time, the trigger was different, but the outcome was the same.
"Well," Karen said, sitting up and putting on her clothes,
"since it wasn't you, I don't need to warn you. I'm going to pick out a coffin for him later. Want to come?"
William shook his head.
"I'll pass. I've got plans."
It was a lie—he didn't have any.
What he actually wanted was to find Theresa and have her buy the lot at 2120.
"Alright then. I'll go by myself. Bye~"
Karen didn't seem bothered at all that William wouldn't join her to choose a coffin.
She grabbed her things and left, just as casually as she'd arrived.
In the end, their relationship was held together by money, not feelings.
Not long after Karen left, William got up as well.
He called Theresa, set a meeting place, and headed out.
---
Meanwhile, at the Alibi.
Frank had a cigarette dangling from his lips, one hand clutching his ass as he carefully lowered himself onto a barstool.
"Holy shit…"
The moment he sat down, a sharp wave of pain shot through him.
Under pressure from that gangbanger the night before, Frank had worked himself to the bone—literally.
The bad news was that his body was close to giving out.
The good news was that a decent chunk of his debt had been paid off.
At this rate, two or three more nights like that and he'd finally clear what he owed.
"Frank, what the hell happened to you?" Kevin laughed.
"Get hemorrhoids or something?"
"Hah… hah… sure, let's go with that," Frank shrugged.
Being laughed at didn't bother him in the slightest.
What really mattered was surviving the next few days without dying.
"A beer," he called out, gritting his teeth through the pain.
"Wow, Frank," Tommy chimed in, smirking.
"Clean clothes for once. What, you finally find a place to live?"
"Nah. Not yet," Frank said after taking a swig.
"Society today—no love between people at all."
Kate, who was busy behind the bar with Kevin, glanced at him.
"Why don't you just live with your family?"
"I don't like them!" Frank snapped instantly.
"And they don't like me either!"
The moment Fiona was mentioned, Frank reacted like he'd been shocked.
Tommy nodded knowingly.
"Frank stayed at my place for six months once.
I had to buy tear gas just to smoke him out."
Kate added calmly,
"I gave myself pubic lice to make him move."
Kevin burst out laughing.
"That wasn't pubic lice—it was just your empty fridge!"
Frank couldn't care less about lice.
As long as there was food, he'd squat there forever.
The bar erupted in laughter.
"Go on, laugh!" Frank said magnanimously.
"If mocking me boosts your self-worth, consider it my gift to you."
As always, Frank genuinely didn't care what people thought of him.
If he did, he wouldn't have sunk to this level in the first place.
"Kevin!"
A voice cut through the laughter.
"Oh—Antoine!" Kevin greeted.
The newcomer was Antoine, a restaurant delivery driver.
"Pour me some rum," Antoine said. "I need something to take the edge off."
Kevin teased,
"Drinking while delivering again?"
Antoine shook his head.
"Nah. Just one order left."
"Then deliver it and come back," Kevin said seriously.
"Drunk driving's no joke."
"The last delivery's for Dottie Coronis," Antoine replied.
"I can walk there."
At that, Kevin finally poured him a drink.
"What's wrong with Butterface?"
Kate immediately cut in, annoyed.
"Don't call her that."