Chapter 165: The Final Piece in Fiona and Lip's Fallout Falls into Place
William's twisted schemes hadn't gone unnoticed—Svetlana had been watching everything unfold from the sidelines.
"What's wrong?" William glanced at her with amusement. "Feeling sorry for your Irish boy?"
"Not really," Svetlana replied calmly. "It's just… we Russians don't like dragging things out. If someone's an enemy, we prefer to stab them once and be done with it."
Her tone was flat, her words cold.
William, however, showed no fear.
Compared to her straightforward brutality, he found far more pleasure in breaking people slowly.
"You're too merciful," he said lightly. "Letting an enemy die so easily is a waste. They should suffer first."
He paused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"Though… come to think of it, Lip isn't really my enemy."
Svetlana stood silently beside him, back straight, not daring to comment.
By now, one thing was deeply ingrained in her mind—
William was a complete psychopath.
And she had no intention of ever getting on his bad side.
Southside Restaurant
Max was clearing plates off the tables.
Business was booming.
The location guaranteed heavy foot traffic—and with William quietly funneling money through the restaurant, profits looked even better on paper.
Fiona, who had no real education, couldn't make sense of the accounts anyway.
All she saw was one thing:
The restaurant was making money.
So in her mind, everything must be fine.
In reality, it only proved one thing—
If Fiona had been given money to run a business on her own, she'd probably lose everything down to her last cent.
In the original timeline, the only reason she managed to leave Chicago with some savings was sheer luck.
If property prices in the South Side hadn't surged, she likely would've been stuck there forever.
"Lip! Orders are up!"
Max called out as she placed a stack of dirty plates by the kitchen counter.
"Got it."
Lip, wearing sleeves and a cap, grabbed the dishes and began washing them.
Since the restaurant was doing well, Fiona wasn't stingy—she even paid him a wage.
And Lip worked hard.
Especially now that he didn't have to rely on stealing or hustling to survive, he found himself surprisingly comfortable with this life.
Which completely contradicted everything he used to believe—
That people from the South Side could only get ahead through crime.
But that was Lip.
He could always rewrite the narrative to suit himself.
Whatever he said… became the truth.
"Hey, Lip. Got a minute? I need to talk to you."
Sniqua suddenly walked up beside him.
Lip glanced back at her. Seeing how serious she looked, he hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the sink full of dishes in front of him.
In the end, he nodded. "Alright. I was about to step out for a smoke anyway."
A few minutes later, after drying the last plate, he headed out to the back alley.
"What's going on?"
Because Sniqua had become the only person he could be intimate with, even with his usual temper, Lip found himself being unusually cautious around her.
---
Sniqua didn't answer immediately.
She simply handed him the pregnancy test.
"What?"
Lip blinked in surprise, taking it from her hand. When he saw the two lines, his heart started pounding.
"I… I'm going to be… a dad?"
His voice trembled—caught between confusion, excitement, fear, and uncertainty.
Sniqua shook her head.
"It's not certain. I haven't only been with you recently."
Lip knew about her past, knew she had only recently quit that life.
So he didn't find anything strange about what she said.
Still, the fact that she was pregnant filled him with a complicated mix of shock and joy.
"What… what do you want to do?" he asked nervously.
Deep down, Lip had an almost obsessive attachment to the idea of "family."
Naturally, he wanted her to keep the child.
"I don't know. My head's a mess right now," Sniqua said, shaking her head.
Lip didn't know what to do either. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it—
But after one drag, he suddenly remembered she was pregnant.
He immediately tossed it to the ground and crushed it under his foot.
"Keep it. I'll raise it."
The decision came out suddenly—but firmly.
The logic wasn't complicated.
Part of it was his personality—he didn't mind accepting things that weren't fully his.
But more importantly…
After everything that had happened, he believed he could only be with Sniqua.
If he wanted a family, she was his only option.
Of course, he still thought it might just be psychological—something that could "recover" later.
But for now, she was all he had.
And based on how often they'd been sleeping together, he was convinced the child was most likely his.
What Lip didn't know…
Was that William had already placed infertility on him.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so confident.
"Really?" Sniqua asked softly. "What if the baby isn't yours?"
"I'll raise it anyway," Lip said without hesitation.
Hearing that, she finally relaxed.
In her mind, she had completed the task her boss gave her.
Still, she played her part perfectly, showing just the right amount of surprise.
"Really?"
"Of course." He hesitated, then asked carefully, "Can I… touch?"
"Yeah. You probably are the father, after all," she replied smoothly.
With her permission, Lip gently placed his hand on her stomach.
At this early stage, there was no physical change.
So in reality, he felt nothing.
It was all psychological.
But even so—he was excited.
He was going to be a father.
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
William was on the phone with Veronica.
"So, everything's ready?"
"Yeah," she replied. "But I'm curious—why are you putting so much effort into this?"
She couldn't understand why William would go this far to help the brother of a woman he was casually involved with get into college.
She couldn't bring herself to care much, considering they'd only shared a single night.
William sighed lightly.
"Well… I think Lip has potential. Setting aside my relationship with his sister, I'd still help him."
"It's just a bit of money."
"As for tuition… that's on him."
Veronica had nothing more to say.
"Alright. I'll have someone deliver the admission letter to you."
She hung up.
---
William sat at his desk, fingers interlocked, a faint smile on his lips.
"Now all the pieces are in place…"
He murmured to himself.
"The only question left is—"
"How big will the fallout between Fiona and Lip be this time?"