We got back home and it was time to give them the initiation to become made men. I had all of the supplies that I needed. Nicolò, Araldo, Bernardo, Ronan and Cameron were ready to do things for the Diamond Butterflies. The ceremony went well and they were made men now. They had a vote at the table of what happened in their own area. As the only lieutenant here, I would be the one that would be making all of the big decisions for Askill Town. It suited me just fine. We had what I wanted. All of them got to own their own rackets. That made them richer. Bernardo opened up a brewery. He was going to take the place and rise it to the best place in the nation. That was fine with me. Until the higher ups gave us another lieutenant for the Payday district, I would be skimming off the top of their rackets as well each week. That made me a richer man too. We were also doing the other stuff that we had been doing before. Making their rounds back to Gravitt and bribing each month was important. It made all of us money. It also served to keep all of the cops off of our backs. I was up to the big challenge.
I was focused on the task for the next 3 in-game weeks. There were the occasional raids on our rackets by others. Because our district had multiple brothels that catered to gay men, it became the most accepting and open area in the whole nation. Even beyond the mafia, gay and bisexual men were starting to hear of us. When they came for "a holiday" we sent them to out hotels. That brought lots of money in. It also brought a lot of homophobes to our doors. Street level thugs would try to bother the whores and patrons. Some of the bolder ones tried to steal directly from us. That simply could not stand. We had to deal with that or we would look weak. Lots of people were killed as an example. Due to the increase in our customer base, the whores naturally leveled up as they did their best to please their johns. Cameron's place had a few women, so there were some straight men that came in from time to time as well. I still had to pay my dues to those higher up than me. It was fine. My burden was not going to break their bank anytime soon. I bought some land and planned to build a house there.
There were brief calls between Daphne and I during this time, but nothing much. I was way too busy. When she called me close to midnight, I was tempted to ignore it. It was a mean thought. I shook my head. It was not like I would die if I talked to her. As soon as I picked up, I heard gun shots. That was concerning. I said "Daphne! What happened!? Where the hell are you!? Are you okay!?" She sounded panicked. "Martino! I'm at Lazy Kitty. Some guys came in the speakeasy and started shooting! You have to come here! I'm scared!" she sobbed into the phone. "Do not worry. I'm coming. Get somewhere safe and wait for me." I said to her. I then hung up the phone. It was time. This had to be her lover mission. I was wondering when it would fire off. Since it was so late, I was already at the hotel. Lazy Kitty was not that far away. There was not time to waste. I got my gun and started running to the speakeasy. It certainly was a crime scene. There was a guard dead outside. I drew my gun and run inside their racket. As soon as I got in, I was part of a combat. Glimmering Lions were fighting 4 thugs.
