By the time Frederico Corleone and the others come out of the office, the entire family has gathered together again, sipping drinks and chatting late into the night.
The moment the four men appear, Connie’s husband Carlo quickly stands up, greets Sonny, and pulls him aside.
Fredo doesn’t even need to guess what Carlo wants.
Same old story.
He wants the Corleone family to arrange something for him.
A position.
Power.
Status.
Something.
Fredo sits down beside Monica, pours himself a little wine, and listens as his mother talks about old family stories—stories from when the children are young, stories about how his father raises him and his siblings back in the day.
The listener pays attention.
The storyteller speaks from the heart.
Nobody else truly understands the feeling.
The moon hangs high in the sky, and before long, midnight arrives.
Everyone gradually starts leaving after the gathering.
Connie and Carlo leave first.
Nobody knows exactly how Sonny’s conversation with Carlo goes, but Sonny probably doesn’t dare go too far anyway.
The Don has already spoken.
After that, Tom leaves with his wife.
That’s right—Tom is married too.
The Corleone family firmly believes in one thing:
First build a family, then build a career.
Once everyone disperses, Fredo also brings Monica upstairs.
The servants already carry up their luggage earlier, though honestly there isn’t much besides some clothes Monica packs for the two of them.
After washing up, the couple stays in the room chatting together.
Monica happily shares everything to his mother, tells her earlier in the evening.
Every little detail.
Every warm moment.
Every bit of happiness.
And Fredo listens seriously, occasionally teasing her or adding a comment here and there, the two of them naturally growing closer through easy conversation.
The very first person to personally experience the changes brought by Fredo’s upgraded [Physique]…
…is Monica.
And her conclusion is simple:
He changes.
Changes so much she almost doesn’t recognize him anymore.
And honestly?
She really can’t handle it.
“Can’t handle it anymore…”
Anton sighs miserably.
“You’re already tapping out after this little bit?
Too bad.
You gotta endure it.”
Carson, who’s currently on surveillance duty with Anton, looks equally tortured.
The two men are monitoring Philip Tattaglia.
Unfortunately for them, the old man decides to get busy early in the morning.
And despite his age, the guy still has some fight left in him.
Sure, the whole thing finishes in under three minutes…
…but for an old man at his age, first thing in the morning?
That’s honestly pretty impressive.
Meanwhile, Carson and Anton—two healthy, hot-blooded dude—are suffering psychological damage listening to the entire thing.
Words cannot describe the pain.
Carson complains bitterly:
“This is all your fault.
It’s your shift.
I’m sleeping peacefully and you drag me awake for this crap.
Now how the hell am I supposed to go back to sleep?”
“Hahaha…”
After laughing for a bit, he quickly changes the topic.
“Boss got Mikey taking another job?”
The second Carson hears that, his eyes light up immediately.
“Yeah.
Wonder if I’ll get picked this time.
Surveillance work is boring as hell.
Pays good and isn’t dangerous, but still boring.”
Anton nods.
“Seriously.
I wanna go too.
Didn’t we just finish a job two days ago?
We’re already taking another one?”
Carson shrugs.
“No clue.
Heard the boss wants to hit a tough target this time.
Big payout too.”
Anton says quietly:
“Boss treats us pretty damn well already.”
Hearing the usually silent Anton talk this much surprises Carson a little, but he agrees immediately.
“That’s true.
Hell, college professors only make like eight hundred bucks a month.
We get bonuses on top of our salary.”
“Most months we clear over a grand easy.
Good months?
More than two thousand.”
“With conditions this good, I’m honestly thinking about settling down, starting a family, and just following the boss long-term.”
Anton nods in agreement.
Right then, the door opens.
Arthur walks in.
Earlier, he and another teammate go out to buy breakfast.
Their surveillance teams usually operate in groups of four—two veterans training two rookies.
At the moment, Arthur, who’s in his late thirties, is leading this group.
Officially, he’s a mechanic.
Unofficially?
He’s terrifyingly good at assassinations.
(TN: I think the Author wanna put The Mechanic in this alternate universe)
Even Mikey praises him for it.
That alone earns Arthur plenty of respect within Fredo’s crew.
Most of the group are former soldiers, and soldiers naturally respect strength.
Arthur is also the classic quiet killer type.
Few words.
Cold personality.
Always minding his own business.
But everybody trusts him.
Arthur asks simply:
“Anything happen?”
Carson grins.
“Nah.
Just old man Tattaglia doing morning cardio.
Lasted under three minutes.”
“Hahaha!”
The room erupts in laughter.
Arthur calmly replies:
“Save it for later if you need to handle business.
During missions, just endure it.”
The men exchange knowing looks and instantly drift into the kind of topic every group of guys eventually talks about.
The work still continues uninterrupted.
One person watches the target while the others eat breakfast and chat casually.
The mission isn’t difficult.
The atmosphere stays relaxed. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Outside, the streets gradually become lively again.
Cars honk.
Pedestrians fill the sidewalks.
The city wakes up.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
“Wake up!
Time to eat!”
Monica is still asleep when loud knocking suddenly explodes outside the door, accompanied by the shouting of three children.
Fredo, who already finishes his morning workout and shower, walks over just in time to see Sonny’s three little monsters pounding on the door like they’re competing in a contest.
After shooing away the three tiny agents of chaos, Fredo opens the door and heads inside.
Monica is already awake and getting dressed.
And honestly…
Damn.
Her figure is unreal.
Monica rolls her eyes at her man.
To be fair, waking up late really isn’t her fault.
It’s Fredo’s.
Last night, they’re staying in the Corleone villa, which means every little sound forces them into the world’s most restrained and awkward stealth mission imaginable.
But Fredo’s physical condition now is downright monstrous.
The man is basically worse than a beast.
Monica doesn’t fall asleep until extremely late, so naturally she ends up exhausted the next morning.
That’s why she wakes up late today.
Though technically speaking, it’s not even that late yet.
Breakfast hasn’t started.
At breakfast, Monica apologizes politely to Mr.
and Mrs.
Corleone.
Fredo, being a responsible man, immediately takes the blame himself.
He explains that he and Monica stay up too late talking and bonding last night, which causes them to oversleep.
The older couple are adults.
Experienced adults.
They instantly understand everything.
Naturally, they don’t blame Monica at all.
After breakfast, Fredo and Monica prepare to visit her aunt’s farm.
Today is the official handover.
The farm now legally belongs to Monica.
Just as they’re getting ready to leave, Rocco arrives at the villa with two soldiers.
These men are the new hidden security layer assigned to protect Don Corleone.
After greeting Rocco, Fredo personally brings the two men to meet the Don so everyone recognizes each other.
Better that than accidentally creating a “friendly fire” disaster later.
During the meeting, Fredo also asks Rocco about the status of Mikey’s new contract job.
“Find anything suitable yet?”
Rocco replies:
“Mikey’s still investigating and evaluating targets.
Needs more time.”
Fredo understands.
Everybody already has work assigned, and Mikey’s short on investigators right now.
Nothing moves that fast.
So Fredo simply nods.
“Alright.
Tell him to move as quickly as possible.”
After all…
Fredo Corleone—the man who’s now practically worse than a beast—can already feel the itch in his bones.
He desperately wants to test his current combat ability.
It’s basically the same feeling as finally getting your driver’s license and immediately wanting to hit the road.
Pure impatience.
Pure excitement.