章 10: Chapter 10 - Moving Gears

3RD PERSON POV

A few days ago at a deserted lot, far away from Los Santos. A fancy black car was parked, with four people standing beside it. The first one was Devin Weston in a white dress shirt tucked into grey suit pants. The second one was Molly Schultz, Weston's secretary. The other two were his security guards wearing all-black suits, with an earpiece hanging on their ears.

Devin was tapping his foot in impatience as he looked at his silver watch over and over again. A frown adorning his face. A few minutes later, a black SUV came into view. Devin sighed as he saw it, but his irritation still lingered.

The SUV then came to a stop, parking a few meters away from Weston and his entourage. The door opened, revealing an elderly gentleman in a brown suit and a white cowboy hat. It was Avery Duggan. As soon as he got out, two security guards also followed suit.

"You have some nerve to make wait, geezer," Devin spoke first as he crossed his arms. Avery only scoffed at his words.

"I'm already old Mr. Weston. Why don't you take it easy on this old man's bones, aye?" Avery said as he made his way towards Devin, then stopped two meters away from him.

"Old yet still impudent. And here I thought they said wisdom comes with age." Weston mocked.

"Oh, you want wisdom? I'll give you some. Never, ever, f*ck with someone you can't handle. Or there will be consequences." Avery glared at Weston.

"Is that a threat now, old man?" Devin snickered.

"A threat? No, no. Just an advice from your senior. I've been in this game far longer than you after all. It would be a shame to see the younger generation fall before their twilight years." Avery replied with a wry smile. Weston only clicked his tongue.

"Enough, I'm not here to play respect your elders. I'll get straight to the point. Give me back my money." Devin glared.

"Respectfully, I don't know what you're talking about" Avery looked at Weston confused. "I've no reason to take your money." He looked at Devin incredulously, letting out a confused chuckle.

"Oh, don't give me that bullsh*t." Weston spat. "Everyone knows you've been trying to take over the Casino and failing quite miserably at it." He looked at Avery with mocking eyes. "I mean what'd you expect from these cousin-f*cking, brainless redneck c*nts, am I right?" He looked at Molly as he gave out a mocking laugh, the former doing the same.

"Watch your tongue, boy," Avery spoke in a dark tone. "I may be old, but I still have enough strength to shoot you in the head."

"Ooohhh, scary." Weston raised his arms in surrender with a mocking tone. Avery's brows twitched in annoyance.

Avery pinched the bridge of his nose as sighed, exasperated. "Meeting with you really was a waste of time," Avery spoke. "I came here to have a civil talk with you. But not only do you accuse me of a crime I didn't commit, you also insult my people." Avery glared at Weston. "I really want to avoid a war, I really do. But the damages have been done. So you really give me no choice."

Devin snickered. "War?" He chuckled. "Very funny. If you think there's even gonna be a war, your delusional. I have enough manpower to end you in one night. The only reason you survived last time was because I was taking it easy on you." Weston looked at Avery with mocking eyes. "But of course, I can still be talked out of it. Hell, you can even keep my money. Just give me the Clifford AI." He said with a grin.

Avery was stunned for a bit when Weston mentioned the AI. 'How does he know about Clifford?' He immediately snapped out of it. "I'm afraid that's gonna be difficult."

"Then I have no choice but to end the Duggan family line" Weston spoke. Avery grit his teeth in anger.

"Then there's no point in speaking with you any longer." Avery started walking back towards his vehicle but stopped and turned his head to Weston "Oh, and young man. Do watch your back." Avery said before finally entering his SUV and driving away.

Devin Weston only snickered at the elder Duggan's provocation. Then he entered his own car as well and drove away.

In the Marlowe Vineyard Mansion.

Mason Duggan was sitting by the dinner table, waiting for the other Duggans to arrive after Avery sent out a message for them to gather. After a few minutes, Avery arrived at the Dining Room, seemingly irritated.

"So, how did it go?" Mason asked. He knew the answer but wanted to hear what Avery would say.

"What'd you think" Avery spoke, his exasperation clear in his tone. "The prick's too full of himself." He said as he sat down on the table as well.

"Then I guess war it is then." Mason grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "I've been itching to shoot those Merryweather f*cks for a loooongg time."

Not a minute later, Thornton walked in on the Dining Room as well. He seemed jittery as he made his way to the table.

"What's got your panties in a twist?" Mason chuckled but looked at him curious. Avery did the same.

"We have a problem," Thornton said as he massaged his forehead.

"What is it?" Avery questioned. Thornton seemed reluctant to say it.

"Our money… It's gone." Thornton spoke. The other two Duggans froze at his words.

"WHAT?!"

***

MICHAEL'S POV

Present Day.

As soon as I got Lester's text. I jogged towards the garage door of the Arcade. I leaned down to unlatch the lock and pulled the door up, opening it. I saw Lester leaning on his car, a red Chevrolet Aveo. He had a cane in his hand.

I opened my arms as soon as the doors reached their limit and were now fully open. "Welcome to Motherbase," I said in a grandiose tone. Lester raised his brows as he started making his way towards me with a cane for support.

He whistled in surprise as he saw the inside. "Well, ain't this fancy." He said as he looked around. I grinned at his words.

"Come in, I'll give you a tour," I said as I ushered him in.

I pointed towards the space to the left divided into three rooms. "Over there, is where we will keep most of our equipment, the armoury, and the workshop/maintenance area for our vehicles." I then pointed towards a large open space to the right with dim lighting. "Over there to the right, is our Garage. It should have enough space for ten vehicles." Lester looked impressed as I continued the tour.

"Over here is the planning area," I said as I led him towards an elevated area with three whiteboards surrounding a grey steel table that was wide enough to seat nine office chairs. "At the back is a room with a bed if any of us wants to sleep over." Lester continued to look with intrigue.

"You're gonna love this one, next up is the Master Control Terminal." I led him to the next area.

"Holy sh*t." He laughed in surprise. The next area consisted of several steel filing cabinets leaning on the wall and a large table beside. What surprised Lester was what was on the table. The Master Control Terminal. It consisted of seven monitors, one of them vertical, attached to the wall with three high-end PCs connected to it.

"Where'd you even get the money for this place?" Lester looked at me curious.

"I got lucky in the Casino, I guess," I said with a shrug.

"Hm… Okay, you've got my interest piqued" He said as he looked at me with curiosity. " I thought we were just gonna do it like the old times, you know, robbing banks. But with all these, surely you've got something bigger in mind, right?" He asked with anticipation. I grinned at his question.

I walked towards the filing cabinets and fished out a folder. I then walked towards Lester and gave him the folder. He looked at it curiously before opening it and flipping through the documents inside.

"Well, haven't you been more ambitious than the last time I saw you." After he flipped through all the documents, he looked at me, seemingly excited.

"I did say I wanted to build a legacy, right? And what's a better way to start my story than with a Big Bang." I replied with a grin.

***

That's it for Chapter 10!

Thank you so much for the suggestions from the last chapter! I've read all your comments and compiled them. I'm currently in the process of rewriting my plans for Volume 1. If you have any more, let me know in the comments!

Also, don't worry! I'm not dropping this. The updates are still inconsistent 'cause of my work, but I've no plans on leaving this. I have more stories to write!