Chapter 76 – Future Had Long Been Foreshadowed
William answered the phone.
No one spoke on the other end—only the sound of sobbing.
After a long while, a hoarse voice finally broke through:
"William… where are you? I need you."
The same old routine—crying first, then saying she needed him.
No need to guess. It was Fiona.
Ten minutes later, North Wallace Street, No. 2119.
An old-model Honda Civic rolled into the neighborhood.
William parked in front of Fiona's house, then frowned.
"Hm? That truck looks kind of familiar…"
He stopped the car as he passed a massive truck cab and studied it carefully.
"Don't tell me Monica, that bitch, is back."
Judging by the black truck, it was probably the vehicle of Monica's Black girlfriend.
He glanced next door at No. 2118.
The main structure of the house had already reached the topping-out stage.
To be fair, as long as you paid on time, Tommy's construction crew delivered.
At this pace, the house would be livable in half a month—
assuming no one went for some flashy, war-zone-style "Syrian aesthetic" renovation.
William walked up to the door of 2119 and knocked.
A moment later, the door opened.
Lip stood there. When he saw William, he froze for a second.
"William? Why are you here?"
"Your sister called me."
Without waiting for an invitation, William pushed past Lip and walked inside.
Lip was furious at being brushed aside—but there was nothing he could do.
Not only was Fiona clearly fond of William, but even Lip and Ian were currently relying on the small jobs William threw their way.
After all, Ian getting together with Mickey had caused a massive blow-up between them and Kash.
Ian had lost his job.
Mickey had ended up in juvie.
Without Karen meddling, Lip's exam-cheating business never took off.
Aside from scams and petty cons, their only source of income now was helping William collect some crpto from small-time holders.
Until Lip found a new way to make money, he had no choice but to swallow his pride around William.
As for the fact that William had paid for lawyers to bail Lip, Ian, and Debbie out not long ago?
That debt of gratitude had already been flung straight to Pluto by this human-shaped piece of trash.
Lip was even more ungrateful than Fiona.
Inside the house, everyone in the Gallagher family was present—except Frank.
And there were two extra people.
Well… one extra.
Monica Gallagher was still one of the trashiest members of the Gallagher clan.
The moment William saw her, a flood of revolting plotlines surfaced in his mind.
Back when he watched Shameless in his previous life, his most hated characters were:
Lip first.
Monica second.
Frank and Debbie tied for third.
Even without Monica stirring shit, the Gallaghers probably would've self-destructed eventually.
But Monica's antics were on a whole different level of disgusting.
At that moment, a system notification popped up.
[Ding! Detected mission: Help Fiona regain custody of Liam.]
[Reward: Japanese Language Proficiency]
William paused.
"Huh?"
This mission… something was off.
In the original storyline, Monica never actually took Liam away in the end.
So why did this mission appear?
Was the system really just handing him a free reward?
William didn't believe it for a second.
With the system's usual temperament, that was impossible.
"William, you're here!"
The moment Fiona saw him, she could no longer hold back the misery bottled up inside her.
She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him.
Seeing the system prompt—and Monica sitting right there—William immediately understood why Fiona had called him.
It was about Liam's custody.
Tsk. This was going to be interesting.
Given Frank's current situation, this family probably wouldn't survive the winter intact.
And if Monica really wanted to, getting custody of Liam would actually be very easy.
In the original plot, Monica had a brief moment of conscience and gave Liam back to Fiona.
But now, with the system issuing this mission, William was convinced of one thing:
There was no such thing as a free reward.
Which meant that this time—without Frank present—Monica probably wouldn't change her mind.
Japanese Proficiency wasn't a bad reward, but it wasn't especially tempting either.
What William was interested in, though, was something else entirely.
Killing plot-relevant characters to obtain energy points.
And right now, wasn't Monica—and her Black lesbian girlfriend—the perfect test sample?
"Fiona, is this your boyfriend?" Monica said with a syrupy, auntie-like smile as she looked at William.
"He's very handsome."
"That has nothing to do with you! Fuck off!"
Instead of being pleased, Fiona snapped back viciously.
As mother and daughter began arguing, William quietly shifted closer to Liam and discreetly placed a mark on him.
"Hey—watch your mouth!"
Bob, Monica's Black girlfriend, immediately stepped in, standing protectively beside Monica, as if she were Fiona's parent.
"Shut the fuck up!" Fiona shot back.
"This is my family business. It has nothing to do with you!"
Ever since William had become someone she could lean on—someone in front of whom she could safely show vulnerability—Fiona had grown much tougher with everyone else.
And with William present, her backbone only stiffened further.
After snapping at Bob, Fiona stared coldly at Monica.
"Monica—if you have even the slightest bit of feeling left for any of us six…
Then leave Liam behind. Take your girlfriend and get out of here.
And never come back."
With that, Fiona grabbed William's hand and went upstairs.
Once Fiona left the dining room, the younger kids followed one after another.
Soon, only Monica—reduced to tears by Fiona's words—and Bob were left behind.
To be honest, Monica wasn't so much feeling guilty as she was completely unable to think of a way to argue back—and ended up crying instead.
She was mentally ill.
Deeply self-destructive.
And not just toward herself—she wanted to destroy everyone around her too.
Only someone as fundamentally broken as Frank could ever fall in love with a woman like that.
Up on the second floor, everyone gathered in Frank's bedroom.
Veronica had rushed over by now and was comforting her best friend.
William looked around at all the gloomy faces and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
Everyone got one—except Veronica, Debbie, and Carl.
In moments, the room filled with smoke.
"How are the cases for the three kids going?" William asked casually, leaning against the bed as if making small talk.
If he remembered correctly, Monica and Bob would soon try to sneak Liam away.
"They're going well," Fiona replied, her voice subdued.
"Veronica's lawyer helped us a lot."
She was clearly still shaken by Monica's appearance.
Just then, Monica and Bob began carrying large bags out of 2119.
Had Frank not coming home today somehow changed Monica's mind?
As William was thinking this through, Lip—standing by the window—suddenly spoke up in surprise.
"Huh? What are they doing?"
Fiona immediately tensed and rushed over.
Downstairs, Monica and her girlfriend Bob were packing up—
carrying things piece by piece into Bob's truck.
"They're… packing," Fiona murmured.
Which meant—
Liam was about to be taken away.
Debbie panicked.
"Then what about Liam?"