Chapter 99 — Estefania, and Monica Returning Liam
After giving Karen a few more instructions about transferring the car title…
William left the Jackson house, leaving the BMW keys behind for her.
Lake Michigan
On the beach, William stretched out his hand.
A small sphere—made of iron sand—floated quietly in front of him.
These iron particles had been sifted out of the beach sand.
To be honest…
Level 3 Metal Manipulation was a lot more underwhelming than he'd expected.
At best, he could control a few knives, making them fly around within roughly a hundred-meter radius.
It wasn't even close to the stuff Magneto pulled off in movies—no lifting the Golden Gate Bridge, no casually ripping metal apart—
And definitely no levitating himself into the air like some metal god.
Though… it was possible his body was still adapting to the changes brought by this ability, so he couldn't fully unleash it yet.
William released his grip on the metal sand.
The floating sphere immediately collapsed, scattering across the ground.
He pulled out his phone, found Steve's number, and called.
Beep… beep… beep…
"Hello?" Steve's voice came through.
"Steve. Get me a motorcycle. A street bike—preferably with some off-road capability."
"Well…" Steve hesitated. "You'll have to ask someone else for that."
William frowned. "Huh? Why? Don't you deal in bikes?"
"It's not that." Steve's tone turned serious. "Something came up. I'm leaving Chicago tonight."
William froze for a second.
So the plot really is unavoidable…
---
[Ding!] System Notification
Mission detected: Intercept Steve and Estefania's encounter.
Reward: Flame Manipulation (Level 3).
---
William immediately understood.
Steve was about to head to Brazil.
Meaning his meeting with Estefania was basically inevitable.
"Tch…"
William wanted Flame Manipulation badly.
But to intercept Estefania, he'd have to go all the way to Brazil.
And that woman…
She was easily one of the most outrageously promiscuous characters in the entire series.
From Brazil to the U.S., she never stopped fooling around.
Still—considering she was the daughter of a Brazilian drug lord, she was surprisingly clean.
At least she wasn't a drug addict.
At worst, she was like Karen and Fiona:
a sex addict.
And to be fair…
Her looks and figure were top-tier.
That kind of Latin exotic charm was honestly hard to beat.
But the issue was…
How the hell was he supposed to intercept that?
Was he really going to fly to Brazil for this?
William rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Then—
his eyes lit up.
A plan formed in his mind.
He immediately checked his Disease Storage, confirming he still had the debuff:
[Erectile Dysfunction]
He grinned.
"Come on, Steve. It's just a motorcycle. We still have an entire day before tonight—don't tell me someone at your level can't get your hands on a bike."
Hearing William say that, Steve hesitated.
After all, William was an old client.
He thought it over, then finally gave in with a reluctant sigh. "Alright. I'll try to find one for you. What engine size do you want?"
"Hmm… three to four hundred cc is fine. Doesn't need to be huge. Preferably a KTM."
If it was too big, William was worried it wouldn't fit inside his storage space.
At William's request, Steve rubbed his temples.
"Fine. I got it. Wait for my call."
As soon as Steve hung up, William smiled—an unmistakable everything-is-going-according-to-plan grin.
---
South Side — The Black Neighborhood
At Bob's house.
Bob hadn't come back for several days, but Monica wasn't in a hurry.
She drove long-haul trucks—being gone for a week at a time was normal.
Besides…
In these past few days, just taking care of Liam had already pushed her to the edge. She barely had the mental space to wonder why Bob still hadn't returned.
Ever since she left the Gallagher house when Fiona was nine, she hadn't taken care of kids again.
Twelve years had passed.
So suddenly being stuck raising a child Liam's age again…
Monica was getting absolutely destroyed.
No proper sleep. No proper meals.
And with her bipolar disorder, the constant stress of looking after Liam was triggering symptoms—she could feel the relapse creeping in.
Bang bang bang.
At that moment, Monica was standing there with a miserable expression, mixing formula for Liam.
Suddenly, loud knocking came from outside.
She set everything down and rushed to the door.
She thought it was Bob—finally coming back so she could get some help.
But when she opened the door…
Two police officers stood outside.
"Hello. Monica Gallagher? Roberta's… girlfriend?"
"Yes, that's me. What happened?"
"Well… Ms. Gallagher, we regret to inform you that Ms. Roberta has unfortunately passed away. We're here to ask a few questions and investigate the circumstances."
"What? What did you just say? Bob is dead?"
Monica froze for a second, then stared at them in a daze.
"We're sorry for your loss. May we come in?"
The cops assumed she was grieving.
And she was—just not for the reason they thought.
What Monica was really panicking about was:
If Bob was dead, who the hell was going to help her take care of Liam now?
Twenty minutes later, after the officers asked some routine questions—whether Bob had enemies, past disputes, anything suspicious—they left.
Monica also learned it wasn't an accident.
But she didn't care about that.
The only thing she cared about was—
Did Bob leave her any money?
If not, then she'd be stuck paying rent, buying formula, diapers…
All kinds of expenses that made her scalp tingle just thinking about them.
For the first time, Monica looked at Liam…
and realized she wasn't as fond of the kid as she'd thought.
"No…"
Suddenly, Monica stood up.
She didn't care that Liam was still hungry, wailing his lungs out.
She simply picked him up and headed straight out the door.
---
North Wallace 2119
Having barely scraped together the rent, Fiona decided to give herself half a day off.
These past few days had been so exhausting she didn't even have the energy to look for William—let alone sleep with him.
Work. Sleep. Work. Sleep.
That was her entire life.
"FIONA! Are you home?!"
Outside, Monica stood with Liam in one arm, hammering the door with the other.
"Fuck—what the hell?!"
At first, Fiona thought she was hallucinating. Monica's voice was the last thing she expected to hear.
But minutes passed, and the screaming didn't stop.
Only then did Fiona realize—
Monica was really outside.
Instantly, Fiona sobered up.
She went downstairs and opened the door—only to see Monica standing there holding Liam.
"Mom…? You—"
Before Fiona could even finish, Monica shoved Liam into Fiona's arms.
"Fiona… I thought about it. Liam shouldn't be away from you guys. I'm really sorry for what I did before. Can you forgive me?"
Monica's words sounded so sincere it was almost convincing.
Fiona's eyes turned red immediately.
For her, this felt like the first genuinely good thing to happen in ages.
"Really?"
Fiona hugged Liam tightly and kissed him on the forehead.
She'd missed her little brother these past days more than she wanted to admit.
"Of course it's real, sweetheart."
Monica pulled Fiona into a warm embrace.
"Thank you…"
Seeing Monica apparently not faking it, Fiona's eyes welled with tears. She looked at her with pure gratitude.
"Thank you, Monica."