Chapter 43: A New Path and Old Grudges
"Listen, brother, stop causing trouble. We've had enough bad luck lately." Franklin frowned, leaning back in the uncomfortable Shake Shack booth.
He and Lamar had been tight since childhood, attending the same high school. Due to the ingrained prejudices of the city, they suffered constant discrimination. Young and hot-blooded, Franklin couldn't tolerate the injustice and often fought, with his good friend Lama by his side, against the classmates who targeted them. Over time, the two earned the reputation of being the school's number one problem students. After stern discussions by the school administration, both were eventually forced to drop out.
Neither of their families were wealthy, so they naturally couldn't get much support from home and had to immediately find a way to make a living. But that was the real difficulty. In America, it was virtually impossible for young men with dark skin who hadn't finished high school to land a decent, legitimate job.
Therefore, Franklin and Lamar were forced to carve out their existence on the streets. Once, desperate, with his pockets jingling with nothing but lint, Franklin set his sights on a small local bank, planning to pull off a 'big job.' The final result was laughably pathetic. Though he was on tenterhooks with fear, he only managed to rob two thousand dollars. He thought he could use the money to live a carefree life for a while.
What he didn't expect was that the damned banks had equipped their bags with anti-theft dye packs, which immediately ruined all the money he stole, making it impossible to spend a single cent.
Despite that failed experience, Franklin was not discouraged. After that, he grew bolder, continuing down the winding path of petty crime and street hustle. That trajectory only ended one day when he was carelessly caught by the NYPD and locked up for a long time. It wasn't until today that he was finally released, becoming a free man once again.
Recalling those wasted years, Franklin couldn't help but feel emotional. Life in prison was a soul-crushing experience; he had spent the time thinking about many things. He suddenly felt that his past life had been such a profound failure, so muddled. Perhaps, it was also because of this that his beloved Tanisha eventually left him.
As soon as he thought of Tanisha, Franklin's mood sank further.
His downtrodden attitude was noticed by Lamar across the table, who complained unhappily, "Come on, brother, be happy now that you're out! Do you know how much I spent on this Shake Shack 'gourmet' burger? It's supposed to be classy!" Lamar wasn't lying. To welcome Franklin, he specifically chose what he considered the most upscale restaurant he could afford. The resulting bill had practically exhausted all his savings; he even had to pawn his beloved necklace.
"Lamar, I'm just thinking about whether I should live a different way." Franklin was very serious.
But Lamar couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Brother, what kind of nonsense are you talking about? Have you been locked up so long you've gone crazy? Listen to me, times have changed. Those clowns on Grove Street are all finished. There are no powerful gangs running the streets now. As long as we two brothers work hard enough, we can definitely carve out our own piece of the sky." Lama gestured wildly as he spoke, as if envisioning a massive feast.
Franklin was not as excited as his friend; his mood remained gloomy. He didn't want to be in a gang anymore; that was simply a road of no return. If possible, he now genuinely wanted to pursue a legitimate career, first finding a job to make a stable living. Once he saved enough money, he would start his own company. Maybe in the future, he could also become a CEO or something, drive a nice SUV, and travel with his wife and children.
"Damn it!" Lamar's sudden, loud shout interrupted his daydream.
Following his friend's gaze, Franklin looked out the window and immediately understood why Lama was so surprised. "Is that a Ferrari? That guy is really rich, and he has that beautiful girl with a super-curvy butt! Shit, why does God always shower good luck on such bastards!" Lama rambled on in a kind of frustrated rapping cadence, stuffing fries into his mouth as he spoke.
He was completely unaware that his good brother's heart had already moved toward the audacious idea of joining that man. Franklin had overheard fragments of the conversation between Tommy Vercetti and Jin moments before. Although he didn't understand the specifics of the business jargon, he felt that the man had incredible ambition and foresight. Most importantly, Tommy Vercetti possessed the goals and direction that Franklin most desperately lacked. If he could somehow follow that man, perhaps his entire life could finally undergo the transformation he craved.
One month later. New York. Midtown Manhattan.
A large restaurant called Crab Burger King was undergoing renovations in full swing. Although there was still some time until its grand opening, Tommy Vercetti had already completed many preparations in advance.
He hired a group of people to do some initial online promotion. At the time, the internet wasn't as universally popular as it is now, but social networking sites like Facebook already existed, though they were often limited to various universities. Tommy Vercetti knew these details because he had the fragmented memories of Rishi, the college-educated office worker.
"It's just a pity I knew too late," he mused. If Rishi had known about Facebook earlier, maybe he could have invested some capital into it and made a killing when the stock price inevitably rose. However, after a quick calculation, he decided against it. The internet was too much of a money pit for his current operational needs; his little fortune probably wouldn't even be enough to be a significant throwaway investment. He still preferred to work diligently in his traditional business; once his financial foundation was solid, there would be Twitter and Instagram waiting for him, so there was no need to rush too much.
Not only the internet, but Tommy Vercetti also planned to use traditional media for promotion. He still remembered the special guest he met in the prison restaurant back in Italy. At that time, not wanting to draw attention, he had concealed his identity, not letting the famous chef from England know his name. However, this time, he was prepared to make use of that contact.
Now, Tommy Vercetti no longer needed to hide his identity at all. Through Gianna's powerful manipulation, the "Tommy Vercett" who was on parole in Italy had recently died in a sudden car accident, completely bidding farewell to the world. And he, although also named Tommy Vercetti and looking exactly the same as before, was, from a legal standpoint, a completely new person. He had a legitimate birth certificate, a new driver's license, and was even on social security. No matter how thoroughly the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated, he was legally clean, with not a single criminal record.
Achieving this was actually an incredibly difficult feat. Tommy Vercetti wasn't sure how it was done, but he understood that Gianna must have leveraged an enormous amount of effort and high-level connections to make it seamless. For this, he knew he had to be genuinely grateful to her.
Today, Tommy Vercetti could appear openly and no longer needed to hide his face. However, before officially starting his new life as a respected businessman, he still had one last piece of unfinished business.
"It's time to act."
After waiting for a full month, all the commotion and public attention surrounding the bar massacre had completely passed, and his enemy—the one who set him up—had surely relaxed their guard. This time, he was determined to get back at the Russian Gang with significant interest!
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