Having locked onto Mathilda's father contact, everything unraveled quickly.
Luca followed the trail to a run-down auto repair shop and parked at a discreet distance. He didn't stare directly. He never did. Reflections on glass, shifting shadows, door movements—those told him enough.
Soon, Henry and Jimmy arrived and slipped into his car.
"See that guy?" Luca pointed subtly toward the garage interior. "Bald. Black jacket. Jeans. He's connected to Stansfield."
The two exchanged looks of disbelief.
People had been digging for weeks and found nothing.
And Luca found it in days.
Henry clicked his tongue in admiration. "Luca… nothing escapes your eyes. No wonder you operate at that level."
Jimmy narrowed his gaze. "Who is he?"
"I don't know," Luca replied calmly. "That's your job. Find out who he is, who he meets, where he goes. Track down Stansfield's trustees. Once you've mapped the network, bring everything to me."
"And you?" Henry asked.
"I'll handle the harvesting."
They agreed immediately.
Then Luca asked casually, "You know Harlem well? Blue Magic—whose sell it?"
Jimmy snorted. "Whose? Half the city sells it. But the real Blue Magic? That's top-tier. High purity. Rich kids shoot it straight. No mixing."
He listed bars, clubs, laundromats—distribution nodes scattered across New York.
Henry added, "Anything else can't compete locally. I had to move product out of town last time just to avoid getting crushed."
Blue Magic.
A Heroin brand.
They had turned narcotics into a brand.
Luca remained silent.
He reopened the system panel in his mind.
__________________________________________________________________________
Frank Lucas—A-rank
Source: Real Life Gangster
Skills: Military logistics. Corruption infiltration.
Bond: Strangers
__________________________________________________________________________
The Harlem Drug Kingpin.
Direct Golden Triangle sourcing. No middlemen. High purity. Low price.
Efficient.
Too efficient.
If this expansion rate continued, federal attention would follow. And once the feds entered, they wouldn't just arrest dealers.
They would flip them.
Break them.
Turn silence into testimony.
In that kind of storm, even families drowned.
Mariggio had been in this business for years.
So had Luca.
Carefully. Indirectly. Never touching offline transactions. Always taking a smaller share to keep his hands clean.
But clean hands meant nothing if the entire table collapsed.
I need distance, Luca thought.
Finish Stansfield. Join family officially. Gain autonomy. Then cut away from this drug poison entirely.
He would not bet his future on a collapsing empire—
Over the next few days, reports came in.
The bald man?
A dismissed narcotics officer.
Still secretly working for Stansfield.
Additional stash locations surfaced too. But Henry and Jimmy hesitated.
"Too dangerous," they admitted. "They've got many armed man."
Luca nodded.
That part was simple.
But before starting his action, he made a detour.
He visited Tony—the middleman disguised as pasta seller—and placed a formal order.
Executor specified:
Leon.
Too aloof?
Hard to build bond?
Fine.
Then they would cooperate professionally.
Assassins spoke best through work.
That afternoon, Leon packed his gear and left with his suitcase.
Tony had told him something unusual:
"The employer's coming too."
Leon disliked that.
He worked alone. Preferred silence. Preferred predictability.
He even considered refusing.
Tony insisted.
"High price. No refusal."
Leon relented—for Tony's sake.
He decided he would exchange no words outside mission parameters.
When Leon saw Luca waiting outside the target neighborhood, he stopped.
Three seconds.
Recognition.
Suspicion.
"It's you?"
Under his sunglasses, Leon's posture shifted almost imperceptibly.
Danger assessment rising.
Coincidence threshold exceeded.
"First you move next door," Leon said evenly, "then you hire me through a mission. What do you want?"
Crowd flowed around them. Two still figures in a river of motion.
Luca smiled.
"No malice. Confirm with Tony."
He handed Leon the phone.
Tony vouched completely.
Background. Identity. Intent.
Leon listened silently.
If Tony said no problem—
Then no problem.
Tony had safeguarded his earnings for years. Leon trusted him more than any bank.
Luca reclaimed the phone.
"Now," he said lightly, extending his hand, "we can introduce ourselves properly. Luca Greco."
A pause.
Then Leon shook it.
"Leon."
System notification surfaced instantly.
Five skills unfolded in Luca's vision like gift-wrapped weapons.
__________________________________________________________________________
Character Card: Leon – Rank SSR
Source: Léon: The Professional
Bond: Strangers
Skills:
Silver Queen
– The Silver Queen you personally plant and care for can gradually purify negative emotions
Learning Requirement: Friend Bond + 50 Skill Fragments
Ring Trick
– +30% critical hit chance when using grenades, bombs, and thrown explosives
Learning Requirement: Close Friend Bond + 80 Skill Fragments
Shadow Strike
– −20% chance of enemy detection while concealed in shadows
– Reduced movement noise while in stealth state
Learning Requirement: Close Friend Bond + 80 Skill Fragments
Lone Assassin
– +100% combat power when number of Close Friend (or higher) bonds = 0
– −10% combat power for each additional Close Friend (or higher) bond
– Skill disappears automatically when Close Friend (or higher) bonds reach 10
Learning Requirement: Partner Bond + 150 Skill Fragments
Oath of Protection
– +30% combat power when protecting Close Friends or above
– +50% combat power when protecting Partner
– +100% combat power when protecting Symbiotic Partner
Learning Requirement: Partner Bond + 200 Skill Fragments
__________________________________________________________________________
Five luxury packages.
Silver Queen—probably related to Leon's love of growing potted plants. That Silver Queen was his only friend, a companion and a spiritual symbol during his lonely times
Assassin skills—I won't go into detail about the assassin skills; learning them will definitely enhance your strength.
And then—
Oath of Protection.
In another timeline, he sacrificed himself for a girl.
That wasn't cold-blooded.
That was conviction.
The Lone Assassin skill penalized bonds.
Interesting design.
The system rewarded isolation…
But also rewarded protection.
Two paths.
Luca's smile widened, white teeth flashing briefly.
Leon valued solitude.
Luca valued networks.
But strength?
Strength came from choosing the right moment to stand alone—
And the right moment to stand together.
Leon, my elusive neighbor…
We're definitely becoming friends.
Whether fate approves or not.
=========================================================
You Know this already:
Ｐａｔｒｅｏｎ:
рaтreоп.com/15608983/jоin
and don't forget the power stones tho