America: Starting with the Last Liberty

Chapter 123 Incompetent... 6K

The recording is indeed fake, because the plan to murder Martin Jr. was carried out by Francis alone, and Antonio was actually unaware of it.

At least while Martin was still lucid, neither Felice nor Antonio had any intention of becoming the leader.

Later, Antonio cooperated with Francis because Francis discovered his cooperation with the Irish, so Antonio had no choice but to side with Francis.

This recording was evidence that Rosen fabricated using the Mockingbird Ace, combined with information he had previously obtained from Alberto.

In this era, there was no AI-generated voiceover, so even though Antonio repeatedly claimed that the recording was fake, the way people looked at him still changed.

Even Antonio's own men looked a little off.

The recording that Rosen fabricated was incredibly explosive, containing details of Francis and Antonio's lust for Sofia.

Yes, information containing ethical considerations is always easier to spread, and people are naturally more likely to believe it.

The recording finished playing quickly, and Antonio found himself abandoned by everyone, with everyone looking at him with hostility.

"This is all fake! I never said any of those things!"

However, the Bonanno family members, who were indignant, clearly wouldn't listen to Antonio, especially after they discovered that he was actually cooperating with Francis.

Francis is now the most hated person in the Bonanno family because he transferred the family's liquid assets, causing everyone to live in fear and anxiety.

Luca looked at Antonio with disappointment; he no longer wanted to hear any of the other's explanations.

"Arrest Antonio Costa; those who betray the family must be punished."

Seeing that the situation was not good, Felice shrank his body as much as possible in an attempt to reduce his presence.

However, Rosen still remembered this old guy; it was he who had been making things difficult for Sophia just now.

That's right. Rosen knew what was happening inside St. Lucy's Church the whole time because Eva was on the phone with him, allowing him to assess the situation inside.

The recording that was just played was hastily produced by Rosen after he heard what was happening inside the church.

The recording itself has some flaws, and if the police or FBI were to examine it, they would definitely find problems.

But for gangsters, this kind of audio evidence is enough.

"Gentlemen, let's not forget about Mr. Marino!"

Only then did everyone notice Felice, who was almost backed out of the crowd and towards the church entrance.

Felice gave an awkward laugh.

"I don't know anything! I was also deceived!"

These two sentences perfectly illustrate what it means to flee in times of great trouble; clearly, Felice has already wanted to distance himself from Antonio.

Felice's past prestige played a role, and some family members seemed to have doubts, as there was indeed no direct evidence to prove that Felice had any problems.

Although this prestige will be completely exhausted today, and Felice should not even think about sitting in that position again, he will be lucky to be able to retire peacefully.

Unfortunately, Rosen didn't want Felice to get away with it so easily.

"No way? You just said you were fooled by Black Sonny, and now you say you were fooled by Antonio. How come you always get fooled? Are you a conman?"

These words once again made the other Bonanno family members look at Felice with a dangerous glint in their eyes.

Rosen is right. Being fooled once is understandable, but being fooled twice is a problem. Who knows what will happen if Felice is fooled a third time?

Even Luca has completely lost trust in Felice.

"Arrest Felice Costa too!"

"Wait! Luca, I've really been fooled!"

"I will investigate whether you have been deceived or not. For now, I can only ask you to bear with this."

Since Luca was able to "insult" Sofia before, he can naturally "insult" Felice now. This has nothing to do with right or wrong, it's just a matter of perspective.

Felice has clearly aroused public anger, so arresting him is definitely the best option.

In the end, Felice and Antonio were tied up and taken away.

The two kept shouting their explanations, which annoyed the people around them so much that they simply took off their smelly socks and stuffed them into their mouths.

Well, at least you got to enjoy the original flavor.

A farce seems to be coming to an end, with the two self-proclaimed protagonists both turning into Gotham nightmares.

It can only be said that some people are just wearing a clown mask, while others are born clowns.

Luca just wanted to end this farce as soon as possible, so after Felice and Antonio were taken away, he asked to end the gathering.

"Gentlemen, let's end today's gathering here. Let's forget about these unpleasant things and continue tomorrow."

But at this moment, Rosen spoke up again.

"Mr. Pastore, now that everyone is gathered here, why not settle the matter of the family head?"

Luca paused for a moment, then frowned and looked at Rosen.

"What do you mean?! When did it become your place as an ordinary family member to speak?"

Rosen's meaning couldn't be clearer.

Now that Felice and Antonio have both been eliminated, they have completely lost any chance of competing for the position of head of the Bonanno family.

Unless Luca steps up to compete with Sofia, no one can stop Sofia from taking that position.

However, if Luca really wanted to compete for the headship of the Bonanno family, he wouldn't have waited until now.

The reason this guy is emotional now is mainly because Sophia has escaped his control.

Luca hopes that Sofia will rule the Bonanno family according to his ideas, so that the family can smoothly transition into a new era.

Unfortunately, Sofia clearly trusted Rosen more, and she directly voiced her support for him, making her stance clear.

"Mr. Rosen's meaning is my meaning."

Rosen clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention in the church.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. Sofia is Mr. Bonanno's wife, and during his hospitalization, she has devoted herself tirelessly to the family affairs. Who could be more suitable to head this family than Mrs. Sofia?"

Some people at the scene still had doubts, which may be related to Sofia's identity as a woman.

For traditional Italians, having a woman sit on their head is indeed quite unacceptable.

Felice compromised with Antonio for this very reason.

Left with no other option, Rosen had to resort to his last trump card.

"Just today, Mrs. Sophia finally succeeded in recovering the property that Francis Rich had transferred away."

Upon hearing this news, Luca looked at Sofia in surprise.

"Madam, is this true?"

Sophia had no idea whether it was true or not, but since Rosen said so, it must be true.

"It's true."

However, Luca still had some doubts, mainly because he had been fooled too many times tonight and had begun to doubt everything.

At that moment, Rosen took out his phone and made a call.

"Donnie, have you arrived yet?"

"Yes, but I was stopped by the Bonanno family."

"Hand your phone to the person blocking your way, Mr. Pastore. My friend has already brought the property over. Why don't you let the people outside pass?"

Luca thought for a moment, then spoke into the phone.

"Let that car in."

Donnie drove the garbage truck smoothly to the small square in front of St. Lucy's Church.

"Gentlemen, if you don't believe me, you can come and see for yourselves at the entrance."

As he spoke, Rosen made an invitation gesture.

Sofia set an example by being the first to walk out of St. Lucy's Church, and the others followed her out in single file.

Rosen shouted something at Donnie on the garbage truck.

"Donnie, unload the stuff from the car!"

"receive!"

Donnie pressed the button, raising the garbage truck's bed.

Several tons of gold were dumped directly onto the ground from the truck bed, deeply shocking all the Bonanno family members present.

The entire scene was filled with the sound of suction, as all the official members of the Bonanno family transformed into vacuum cleaners.

"So, do you believe me now?"

In the end, it was Rosen's words that brought everyone back to their senses.

At this point, no further explanation is needed.

All the official members of the Bonanno family walked in unison to the bottom of the church steps and bowed to Sofia.

The meaning couldn't be clearer: Sofia had truly gained the support of all the Bonanno family members.

Looking at the vast, dark mass, Sofia's heart was filled with excitement and anticipation.

Sophia instinctively looked at Rosen, hoping to get some hints.

However, Rosen obviously couldn't speak at this time, otherwise it would affect Sophia's prestige.

So Sophia could only try her best to organize her thoughts and say something.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Bonanno family has gone through a very difficult period over the past two months—I know there are still some doubts about my abilities, but I will do everything in my power to get the family back on track!"

Sofia stuttered a bit at first, but she got smoother and smoother as she spoke.

After her speech, the Bonanno family members below applauded Sofia from the bottom of their hearts.

Even Luca, who was standing to the side, had an extremely complicated expression. He walked over to Sofia and bowed.

"Madam, the Bonanno family is now in your hands."

Sofia gave a cold smile; she no longer had any good feelings towards Luca.

"Mr. Pastore, I will try my best."

Sophia looked at Rosen with her beautiful eyes, her gaze filled with barely suppressed emotions.

The turmoil came to an end, and Sofia, who was originally forcibly dragged into the trial, became the ultimate winner.

So, can the Bonanno family return to its peak under Sofia's leadership?

Rosen knew that this was absolutely impossible.

[The task at the St. Martin's Bank has been completed and is in the process of settlement.]

[Additional Condition 1: Successfully taking away at least 80% of Francis's transferred assets (currently 91%) has been completed]

[Additional Condition 2: No casualties or arrests during the operation have been completed]

[Additional condition 3: Finding Francis's ledger hidden in the San Martin bank is now complete]

[This mission received an S rating, granting 11 Underworld reputation and 5 card-flipping opportunities.]

Three days have passed since the gathering at St. Lucy's Church, and Sophia's power has become increasingly consolidated, with many group leaders directly expressing their loyalty to her.

Even if you have great power, there are some things you still have to pretend to be.

Today was the day Sophia was to visit Old Martin, and since Rosen had nothing else to do, he accompanied Sophia to the Mercy Hospital.

Sofia has been admitted to Old Martin's ICU ward, and she must have a lot to say to her husband now.

As for Rosen, he could only sit idly on a chair outside the ward waiting for Sophia to come out.

Then, Rosen realized that he had been so busy these past few days that he had forgotten to settle his accounts.

[Get a folding walking stick!]

[Received $90000 in cash!]

[Received $70000 in cash!]

[Tactical smoke grenade acquired!]

[Get playing cards!]

Rosen was somewhat disappointed that he hadn't played his trump card, but he still checked the uses of the items.

Folding walking stick: A foldable walking stick, virtually indestructible, with ample internal space for modification, allowing for various forms of customization. Who would actually stuff another stick inside a walking stick?

(Lucius Malfoy: ???)

Can walking sticks be modified? They seem pretty good!

Most importantly, Harvest Day app says this stick is almost indestructible!

The item descriptions on the Harvest Day app have never had any issues, and the sturdiness of this walking stick certainly exceeded Lawson's expectations.

(Walking stick)

[Tactical Smoke Grenade: Provides smoke that lasts for 10 seconds, blocking thermal imaging and other reconnaissance methods. Maximum of 3 can be used, replenishing daily at 00:00. Headgear, Armor, Gun, Chest Patch, Backpack, and more!]

The standard props provided Rosen with more tactical options.

[Playing Cards: A deck of playing cards crafted from a mysterious metal. They appear the same quality as regular playing cards, but are exceptionally sharp. They automatically return to the deck at midnight every day. Wait, you're not really going to use playing cards as weapons, are you?]

This introduction made Rosen's expression turn strange, especially the last sentence.

Lawson still remembers some Hong Kong movies he watched in his past life, where the main characters could throw cards to injure their enemies, which was incredibly cool.

Even now, though he has long forgotten the plots of those Hong Kong movies, Lawson still remembers the appearance of the protagonist, Flying Card.

Many boys who have seen this kind of movie have probably tried it at home with playing cards, resulting in cards flying everywhere and then getting a beating from their parents.

Can I start throwing cards too?

It's unlikely he'll be able to play this kind of game anytime soon, so Rosen decided to practice hard and make the playing card weapon his exclusive weapon for the Jack Cole persona.

The first job has been settled, and Rosen is now settling the second job.

[Godmother's duties completed, settling accounts —]

[Additional condition 1: Completed the mission before Martin Bonanno's death - already achieved]

[Additional condition 2: Bonanno family unity is above 80% (currently 81%) when the mission is completed.]

[Additional condition 3: Upon completion of the task, the Bonanno family's wealth loss shall not exceed 50% (currently 31%).]

[Achieved]

[This mission received an S rating, granting 15 Underworld reputation and 5 card-flipping opportunities.]

The two errands increased Rosen's reputation in the Underworld, allowing his reputation to successfully break through 100 and reach 109.

Rosen's reputation level had just begun to rise, which meant he could now take on jobs of 4-star difficulty.

Let's see what we can find this time.

[Win $50000 in cash!]

[Obtain the ace "Spider"!]

[Win $90000 in cash!]

[Obtain the Magic Hat!]

[Win $40000 in cash!]

Shipped!

The seventh ace!

With the dollars he earned from these two jobs, Lawson's cash balance once again exceeded $40.

Of course, this is just cash; there's also gold acquired from the Bank of San Martin, plus various bearer bonds, totaling over seventy million.

Does anyone really think Rosen would return the money to Martin?

joke!

Rosen wants to play with Old Martin's woman.

Rosen will also spend Old Martin's money.

However, it's impossible to convert all of these gold and bearer bonds into cash at once, and Rosen doesn't want to be contacted by the IRS, so he has to take it slowly.

Let's take a look at the new items and trump cards we just got.

[Magic Hat: A top hat made with mysterious technology. You can actually take things out of it, but you can only put a maximum of 5 items inside, and they cannot exceed the width of the hat. It automatically replenishes at 00:00 every day. This hat won't make you a real magician, but it'll be very close!]

There's actually such cutting-edge technology?

Rosen was utterly shocked and immediately went to the bathroom to test it.

After Rosen placed the cigarette inside the magic hat with the brim facing down, the cigarette didn't fall out.

If you reach in with the cap facing up, you can feel the cigarette again.

Good guy!

Although everything in the Harvest Day app has a touch of fantasy, this magic hat is definitely the most fantastical.

(This is the one)

Okay, actually it's still a bit worse than Ace. Ace's effect is truly insane.

[Spider: Grants you unparalleled sensory abilities, allowing you to easily detect hidden dangers and sense the gaze of others. With great power comes great responsibility!]

So, does this card refer to the slow, failed Spider-Sense?

Rosen was initially guessing what the Spider Ace was for, but he never expected it to be this.

It was indeed a very powerful ace; Rosen had been followed several times before, but he hadn't been able to find the other party's location.

With this trump card, Rosen should no longer need to worry about being followed or sniped.

That's a good thing.

However, Rosen seemed to have seen a meme in his past life: the birth of every failed Slow meant the death of an Uncle Ben.

Could it be that I—

No buying, no harm, Amen!

After looking at all the props, Rosen stretched and then returned to the door of the ICU ward.

Sofia had just come out of the ICU ward.

"Rosen, where did you go?"

"I went to the restroom for a cigarette, what's wrong?"

"Come in, I have something to tell you."

Sofia stared blankly at Rosen. In front of outsiders, she could only maintain this indifferent attitude. Felice's accusations had served as a reminder that before she was free from the identity of Mrs. Bonanno, she had better keep her distance from Rosen.

"Yes, madam."

As soon as Rosen entered the ICU ward and closed the door, Sophia couldn't wait to kiss him.

"Mmm--"

The two little goldfish were frantically entwined, plundering all the liquid and air around them.

It took Sofia quite a while to finally let go of Rosen.

"Rosen, I've made my decision!"

"Are you really decided?"

The day after the second gathering at St. Lucy's Church, Rosen told Sophia that he had obtained the ledgers that Francis Rich had hidden.

The information in the ledger could bring down most of the Bonanno family and send them to prison.

Alternatively, some information could be retained, and the perpetrators could target only the upper echelons of the Bonanno family, sending Luca Pastore and his associates to prison.

This way, Sofia would be free of any constraints.

Sofia had been thinking about how to deal with the ledger for the past few days, and today she finally made a decision.

"Continuing to be Mrs. Bonanno will not make me happy, because I cannot be with you openly. Let this family disappear into history."

It seems that Sofia has already moved past the joy of having just gained power, and she is not indulging in it.

After becoming the head of the Bonanno family, Sofia had to face more scrutiny, which forced her to distance herself from Rosen.

Sofia had had enough of this life and wanted to be with Rosen openly and honestly.

"Don't you regret it?"

"I'd much rather this guy just watch the Bonanno family crumble!"

Sofia looked at old Martin on the hospital bed with a hateful expression.

This upscale ICU ward is a sterile ward, and Rosen and Sophia are standing in a glass partition from Old Martin.

"As long as you don't regret it, I never force others to make choices."

Sofia, holding Rosen, suddenly made a very strange expression.

"By the way, Rosen, you know what? The doctor just told me that the guy is still conscious, but he can't speak or move."

"so what?"

Sofia's hand slowly moved downwards, and her eyes became moist.

"Do you want to take my virginity in front of him?"

Lawson knows this plot; isn't it just the classic storyline from "The Incompetent Husband"?

It's surprising that Italians also like this storyline; Italian adult films are quite impressive.

Especially a director named Tinto Brass.

But Rosen has always been a morally upright person, how could he possibly—

Okay, Sophia kept changing gears, so Rosen just stopped pretending.

"what!"

A suppressed gasp escaped Sofia's lips, and then her gaze turned to Old Martin inside the glass, trying to confirm whether he was still conscious.

Old Martin's eyes seemed to be really turning this way, and the instruments showed that his heart rate had increased significantly.

This filled Sofia with a sense of vengeful pleasure, and she even suppressed her physical pain for a time.

"Rosen, no, don't slow down! Go faster around the corner, I'm afraid the doctor will be here soon!"

Since Sophia had said so, Rosen had no choice but to step on the gas and activate the nitrous oxide system.

In this unusual environment, and with the constant threat of being discovered, Rosen's senses became exceptionally sharp.

Similarly, Sophia's reaction was unusually strong, to the point that Rosen felt he was the one who had suffered a loss.

So, after ten minutes of rapid descent, Rosen and Sophia completed their spiritual exchange.

At this moment, Old Martin's heart rate also reached a dangerous level.

Without a moment to catch his breath, Rosen immediately helped Sophia pack her clothes and took out air freshener to mask the odor in the room.

This is a lesson learned from my last visit to the hospital.

Sophia noticed Rosen's practiced movements, but she was too weak to speak; the conversation had left her feeling utterly exhausted.

Almost immediately after the two finished packing, the doctor entered the ICU ward.

(Sofia Bonanno)