77 Chapter-77 | Gobble Up Wolves... (3)

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Of course, it's impossible to expect the whole of Gotham to listen to the Godfather's commands.

Gotham doesn't lack for rebellious leaders, and currently the most notable among them is Sal Maroni. Maroni is a man with ambition, which is evident from the name he's given his own gang.

In Gotham, not all gangs can be named after a person's surname. Initially, only the Falcone family was allowed to do so, and now the twelve families established by the Falcones are also named after their surnames. All other smaller gangs are named after their own code names.

Naming a gang after one's surname is a very honorable thing to do in Gotham, because Falcone was the first to do it and achieved unparalleled success. By doing this, Maroni is indicating that he has always had the ambition to challenge the Godfather.

After the Red Raven Gang was eliminated, Maroni consumed most of its remains and also eliminated another rival gang in the process. On that big street in the East Side, almost no one can compete with him. Of course, he wants to go further, especially since he knows that the Godfather is getting old and the time when the Falcone family was changing from old to new was the best opportunity to do something about it.

Falcone handed over many industries to Evans to take care of, although Evans is also clever, he lacks some experience and toughness compared to the old Godfather. The two bartenders who were attacked by the outsiders from the metropolis were from the two bars that Evans wanted to reform.

Maroni keenly smelled the fact of the Godfather's successor's incompetence from this incident. Young Falcone is still too young, he wants to reform but lacks the tough methods of the old Godfather, wants to stabilize but lacks enough experience. Maroni thought that this was the perfect opportunity to give the Falcone family a fatal blow.

In Maroni's speculation, he thinks that the Godfather will not make a big fuss to deal with those thugs, although losing face may shake his prestige, but the Godfather is already old, more important than face is the transfer of power. In this very important moment, once the energy is dispersed, it is likely that a big mess will occur, Falcone will not lose everything for a small thing.

Originally, Maroni had planned to take advantage of this incident to further shake the Godfather's prestige, and even planned to pretend to be a metropolis person to attack the Godfather's other industries, but who would have known, Schiller took a hands-off approach and the gang began to crazily hunt down those thugs.

This really threw Maroni off.

Originally, he thought that even if the Godfather went to hunt down those thugs it didn't matter, as long as his energy was tied up, he would always find an opportunity to nibble on the Falcone family's industries.

Maroni is a bold person, he does not think that the Godfather has any unshakable ruling power, even if there is, he also wants to take a piece of meat from him.

But what was completely unexpected for him is that this time, the entire Gotham city is in turmoil, almost all the gangs have started digging three feet deep.

In such a big commotion, Maroni also couldn't make up his mind, if he moves now, will the Godfather go crazy and target him? He wants to do sneak attacks, not really stand on the stage and fight with the Falcone family, he also can't win.

But if he doesn't make a move, Maroni had already made some small moves before, if this wave passes, and he hasn't stood firm, when the Godfather settles accounts in the fall, he will be completely finished.

Just when he was struggling, what he never expected is that the leader of those bandits voluntarily came to him.

These people are also quite unlucky, they were originally a group of terrorists active in the Middle East, they often did group mercenary work. They were originally brought to the East Coast by another order, but ended up getting another order from Gotham.

The employer was very generous, so they worked hard, but who knew that Gotham is such a devilish place, even Satan wouldn't be able to do anything, they were chased all over the city, beaten up until bruised, and the docks were also under the control of the gang families, they couldn't leave.

They had no choice but to cooperate with the enemy of the enemy.

Maroni's provocations towards the Godfather were known even by Gordon, these bandits of course knew as well, they wanted to make a deal with Maroni, as long as Maroni was willing to help them leave Gotham, then they would be able to solve a problem for Maroni before they left.

Maroni originally didn't want to do this business, but he thought, these people being able to survive in the midst of the black market's pursuit in Gotham for so long, they must have something going for them, with such a group of killers, he could do more things.

Of course, Maroni wouldn't let these people go assassinate the Godfather, it was pointless, they wouldn't do it, so he aimed his sights at the other aspect of the Godfather's newly developed industry chain, the police.

Maroni knows that the Godfather has made a lot of profit from this new industry chain and if it continues, the rule of the Falcone family will still be stable, leaving him no chance. So he must destroy this industry chain and not allow the private prison model controlled by the Falcone family to continue providing so much profit.

The police and judges are also an important part of this industry chain, as they are the ones who legally and reasonably arrest people and then sentence them to be sent to mental hospitals. Falcone will put a lot of effort into protecting Schiller, as he thinks he is not very capable of self-protection, but he provides the police with enough firepower so he wounldn't need pay much attention to them.

After all, it is normal for the police in Gotham to cooperate with the gangs, even the small clerks in the office have at least one gang behind them. Maroni's target is now Gordon.

Initially, in order to deal with the old chief, Victor, Maroni chose to help Gordon rise to power. He didn't really know the police officer at the time, and he didn't think he needed to know him. All the police in Gotham are the same, cooperating with the gangs is normal.

Maroni feels that since he helped Gordon ascend to his position, he should just go talk to him and naturally Gordon will work for him. Although it is dangerous to take money from the Godfather's business chain and bring it to his side, now that he has these thugs, the soft approach won't work and he can resort to the hard approach.

Gordon is now very happy because his fiancée Barbara has finally arrived in Gotham. They met in Chicago's police training school, where he was a trainee and Barbara was an intern lawyer. They worked on the same case and fell in love and got engaged. Then, Gordon came to Gotham for his job and they could only have a long distance relationship because both of their financial situations were not good and they couldn't quit their jobs or consider marriage or having children. But now, Gordon's financial situation has improved and they have chosen to live together in Gotham.

This day, Gordon comes home from work as usual, and although he hasn't had much extra income recently, Barbara also has some savings. Together, their money is just enough to buy a decent apartment.

He made plans with Barbara and they are going to look at a house tonight. If everything goes well, they can move into their new home within two weeks and no longer have to live in the old, cramped rental.

He came home and heard Barbara coming out and the smell of food wafting from the kitchen.

Gordon took off his coat and said "What did you make? It smells great!"

Barbara blinked and said "Your favorite roasted lamb chops."

Gordon put his arm around her shoulders and they walked to the dining room together.

Gordon said "My friend gave me a good suggestion and I contacted the landlord in Pelican Bay community. We'll go see the house tomorrow and if we like it, we can put down a deposit to move in."

Barbara said "That's great. You know my family's living conditions aren't very good. I've never lived in a high-end apartment before. Does that house have a nursery? I really want a daughter, my little princess."

Gordon said "Of course, I want that too."

He kissed Barbara's cheek and they sat down to eat.

Barbara said "I want my daughter to learn dance. I always wanted to be a dancer but didn't have the chance."

"If you had become a dance performer, we would never have met," Gordon said with a smile. He said "I think our daughter should be free to do whatever she wants, whether it's dancing or painting or becoming a successful lawyer like you."

"Come on," Barbara made a helpless expression and said "That job is exhausting, I don't want her to be a lawyer. I hope she can live a little more easily."

"Dancing is the same, it's just that because you haven't learned it, you have this longing for it. I see the cheerleaders and dance students at Gotham University, they have to practice every day, and some dance students have complained that this field is a youth feast, and it's easy to be unemployed when they get older..."

"You are putting a lot of pressure on me, what should we do if our child doesn't have a good life?" Barbara asked.

"You have to have confidence in her, and what kind of life she lives is her own choice."

"Even if it's something dangerous like being a police officer in this city?"

"Oh, dear..." Gordon said, "Don't say that."

[ShaneFreak: XD...]

"I know, you've told me before that your dream is to become a police officer, because you were born in Chicago, a similarly dangerous city, and a police officer saved your mother, so you also want to be a police officer who upholds justice."

"But this job is really too dangerous, I've already said it more than once, we can go back to my mother's house to live together, even if the economy is a little bit difficult, it's still safe."

Gordon sighed, he also knew that Barbara's words made sense. With the money he's earning now, if he went to the countryside of Arizona, he could buy a villa. He could find a job as a local auxiliary police officer, and Barbara could be a legal consultant. That would be comfortable and happy.

But even though Gordon knew Gotham is a dangerous place, he didn't want to leave.

He thought, if police officers can't stay in the most dangerous places to protect people, then what's the point?

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