In the end, they send out two undercover men—one into the Tattaglia Family, the other into the Barzini Family.
After assigning everyone their roles and preparing to move out, Mikey asks Fredo:
“So, boss, are we still taking underworld side jobs?”
Fredo thinks about it for a moment before nodding.
“We are.
Keep an eye on things, gather all the information, evaluate the jobs first.
I’ll personally lead the team when we move.”
“Got it, boss!”
As the crew leaves, Rocco heads off to help identify targets.
Soon, only Monica and Fredo remain outside in the quiet outskirts.
Fredo looks at her and asks softly:
“Are you scared?”
Monica blinks those beautiful eyes and smiles.
“No.
Because you’re here.”
Fredo gently strokes her hair and says in a low voice:
“It’s okay.
If one day you want to leave, just tell me.
We can part on good terms.”
Monica immediately wraps her arms tightly around him and says emotionally:
“If I hadn’t met you that night, I probably wouldn’t even be alive anymore.
The old me already died.
From now on… everything I am belongs to you.”
The two hold each other there in the lonely outskirts where nobody notices them.
If I never met you… where would I be now?
…
“Where…”
After Don Corleone agrees to let Fredo handle the investigation, he basically stops interfering.
Five days pass in the blink of an eye, and now he and Tom are busy trying to figure out how to make more money.
Because if Sollozzo successfully teams up with the other Families to push narcotics while the Corleone Family refuses to get involved, then they’ll need another source of revenue.
And naturally, Fredo is there too.
Thanks to his performance during the last couple of incidents, Don Corleone’s opinion of him improves quite a bit, so the Don deliberately includes him in the discussion.
“Las Vegas,” Fredo says.
“I think we should give it a shot.
Moe Greene already opens the door out there, right?
We could send people over and see what opportunities there are.
Vegas is close to Hollywood too.
There’s probably real money to be made.”
Of course, Fredo knows exactly what Las Vegas becomes in the future—a world-famous gambling capital—so his suggestion isn’t random at all.
“And honestly, we don’t have to limit ourselves to gambling.
Other businesses are worth trying too.
Johnny Fontaine’s movie industry, entertainment, hospitality… there’s a lot we can branch into.”
Don Corleone remains thoughtful, while Tom looks like he wants to say something but hesitates.
Eventually, Tom speaks up.
“I think checking out Las Vegas is a good idea.
But the movie business?
Not necessarily.
Making movies is basically gambling too, and we don’t really understand that industry.”
Don Corleone nods.
“Fine.
Then we start with Vegas.
Send people to scout the place first.
After leaving the office, Fredo finds Rocco.
“How’s Mikey’s side doing?
Any movement?”
Rocco immediately reports:
“Boss, Mikey says Barzini and Philip meet once.
Philip also meets Sollozzo twice after that.
We even got records of their conversations.”
Fredo nods with satisfaction.
“Good work.
Bring me the records later.
Drop them off at the apartment.”
“Understood, boss!”
By the time Fredo leaves the Corleone mansion and arrives at the apartment, Rocco is already there waiting with the surveillance notes.
After taking the documents, Fredo sends Rocco away.
Normally he doesn’t need bodyguards anyway.
With his current skills, it’s hard to tell who’s protecting who.
Just two days ago, Fredo even leads a crew on a side job—a simple and direct home invasion hit.
Now whenever he goes out on business, he carries two sawed-off shotguns under his trench coat, one on each side of his waist.
That kind of firepower inside a building?
Absolute heaven.
Fredo especially loves shotguns.
With his strength, he can easily wield the customized sawed-offs Arthur modifies for him one-handed.
In close quarters or alley fights, he alone is practically worth an entire squad.
He also likes sniper rifles.
As for pistols, Colt remains his favorite.
Still… sniper rifles in this era are honestly pretty terrible.
Heading upstairs, Fredo reads through the reports in his hand.
This really is a decapitation plan.
Barzini intends to wait for the Corleone Family to lower their guard before taking out Don Corleone.
They already start bribing people on the Corleone side.
No need to guess who.
Paulie.
The Godfather’s driver and bodyguard.
And judging from the timeline, the hit should happen around the same time as in the original story.
Christmas.
Getting this much intelligence in only five days surprises even Fredo himself.
Barzini, Philip, Sollozzo… these idiots really aren’t all that impressive.
Or maybe Mikey and his crew are just monsters at intelligence work.
That’s possible too, Fredo thinks.
He opens the apartment door.
Inside, Monica is hard at work studying how to become a proper farm owner.
The paperwork for inheriting her aunt’s farm is already completed.
Everything officially transfers over to her name.
The whole process goes surprisingly smoothly.
The documents are clean, and now all that’s left is for Monica to take over operations herself.
Fredo doesn’t think there’ll be any major problems.
Watching Monica seriously study the material gives him a strange feeling.
She really is charming no matter what she’s doing.
“Monica,” he says, “you don’t need to rush.
Worst-case scenario, just leave most of the work to the staff.
We can check in occasionally.
Nobody there dares pull any funny business.”
Hearing her man’s voice, Monica sets down the papers and sighs softly.
“I just want to do something for myself.
Otherwise, if you dump me one day, what am I supposed to do?”
Fredo feels helpless.
Seriously—it’s only been a little over a week, and she already has a full-blown crisis of confidence.
But from Monica’s perspective, her man is simply too outstanding.
She watches him casually dismantle grown men in the ring.
Then there’s the bedroom…
Honestly, she can barely keep up with him.
He’s rich, handsome, masculine, charismatic—
So naturally, she feels like she needs to become better too.
And she doesn’t mind his mafia background at all.
To Monica, as long as it’s him, nothing else matters.
If Fredo says he’s going to kill someone, she probably wouldn’t ask why.
She’d just hand him the knife.
Love makes people blind sometimes.
And honestly?
Plenty of women like that still exist even in the 21th century.
Fredo pulls her into his arms and sits down with her on the couch.
Then he asks gently:
“Are you really ready for this?”
Monica trembles slightly before answering firmly:
“Even if you don’t want me anymore, I’ll still follow you.”
Fredo laughs in disbelief.
“You really are stupid, huh?”
Monica smiles sweetly.
“Then I’m stupid.
Like a moth flying into a flame.
Even knowing it’ll get burned, it still rushes in anyway.”
What else can he even say to that?
To have a wife like this… what more could a man ask for?
Looking at those soft red lips, Fredo can’t hold back anymore.
After a long, lingering French kiss, Fredo says calmly without even breathing hard:
“Tomorrow, I’ll take you home to meet my family.
From now on, you’ll live with us.
Sound good?”
Monica’s eyes instantly light up.
“Really?”
“What do you think?”
The next second, she practically launches herself at him again.
Good thing Fredo’s strong enough to handle it.
That night, soft whispers echo through the room.
“Will your family be easy to get along with?”
“Will they like me?”
“Fredo…”
“Hmm?”
“I want…”
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