American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

One of them, a middle-aged Italian man with a gloomy expression, sat behind his desk with a cup of coffee in his hand.

He was Eddie Sgapar, the third-ranking member of the Moretti family, one of the three major families in the Chicago Mafia.

The original owner of this place, the black market car dealer named Mike, was kneeling in front of his desk, with the car thief Joe beside him.

Judging from their bruised and swollen faces, they had clearly received enthusiastic care from Eddie's men.

The atmosphere inside the warehouse was very heavy. As a high-ranking member of the Mafia, Eddie Sgapar was a complete antisocial individual. Back in the Prohibition era of the 20s, he had followed Carlo Faconi, the current head of the Moretti family.

Of course, at that time, the two of them were about the same age as Josie.

After nearly twenty years of hard work, the two men have grown from small-time bootlegging vendors on the street to top bosses in the Chicago Mafia, with countless lives on their hands.

Faced with such a vicious man, Mike and Joe were filled with extreme fear.

Mike was already regretting taking this job.

Just as the two were feeling uneasy, another of Eddie's men walked into the warehouse.

"Boss, we have news. Someone saw that car leave the city from the west and never come back," the subordinate whispered to Eddie.

Eddie nodded upon hearing this, then stood up and walked over to Mike and Joe.

“My men have news. It seems you weren’t lying. The other party is indeed not a local and has already left Chicago. It’s probably going to be difficult to find this car now,” Eddie said slowly.

"Boss Eddie, now that we've investigated everything, can I leave?" Upon hearing Eddie's words, Joe forced an awkward smile and tried to ingratiate himself.

But Mike, standing to the side, looked at him as if he were an idiot.

Did they think that once the matter was investigated, this person would let them go? This young man is too naive.

If the Mafia were truly reasonable, would it still be the Mafia?

"Heh, leave? Sure, that car is worth eight thousand dollars. Mike will pay half, and you'll pay the other half. Pay up, and you can leave." Sure enough, Eddie sneered and stated his terms.

"Huh?" Joe was dumbfounded. Four thousand dollars? He was just a petty thief, where was he supposed to get so much money?

"What? Yes, I can't find the person who stole the car, but the car was stolen from you. You failed to protect it properly, so you should be responsible."

"Don't say I'm being unreasonable. I'll give you a week. I don't care if you steal or rob, just get me the money. Of course, if you can get the same car, that's fine too."

"If I don't see the money in a week, I'll use you all to fill the lake!"

"Don't even think about running away. I'll have people watching you and your family. If you dare to run, I guarantee it won't just be you who die. Of course, Joe, I know you don't have family, but you have friends. You wouldn't want your little brothers to be implicated because of your own problems, right?"

Eddie patted Joe's face and snarled.

Without saying a word, he left the warehouse without looking back, and a group of his men followed him.

Only Mike and Joe, their faces pale, remained.

That's eight thousand dollars!

For mafia bosses, such a sum of money is naturally just a small amount, easily obtained with a few words.

But Joe and Mike are different. To be precise, they aren't even official members of the Mafia; they're just peripheral figures who eat the remnants of the Mafia.

For people from the lower classes like them, it might take several years of not eating or drinking to save up that much money.

But they only gave me a week...

“What should we do?” Joe asked Mike, his voice trembling slightly.

In his view, he was the most innocent one; he had only come to sell a stolen old used car and hadn't made much money, but ended up getting into this mess.

"I don't know either, figure it out yourself!" Mike avoided Joe's pleading gaze and said with a somewhat evasive look.

Unlike Joe, Mike, though only an outsider in the Mafia, had some savings due to his extensive knowledge of black market car sales. He couldn't come up with eight thousand dollars, but he could scrape together four thousand dollars by selling everything he owned.

So for him, it was incredibly lucky that Joe took half the responsibility for this matter. If he had been the only one when Joe came to steal the car, he would be in real trouble now.

Now, at worst I'll feel the pinch, but at least I won't die.

As for Joe, he didn't care about any of that.

Of course, if he knew that it was because of Joe's car theft that Josie was attracted, he probably wouldn't think that way.

Seeing Mike's evasive gaze, Joe knew he couldn't expect to get any help from this old fox.

He could only drag his battered and bruised body, looking utterly dejected, out of the old warehouse.

Watching Joe's departing figure, Mike sighed inwardly. To get four thousand dollars in a short time, the only option was probably to rob a bank. Of course, there were other ways to steal, rob, or smuggle, but most of those required time to convert the money into cash, and a week was simply not enough.

Josie was unaware of what had happened inside the abandoned warehouse, and even if she had, she wouldn't have cared.

Ultimately, the whole thing started because Joe stole his car. You have to pay the price for what you do. That's how simple the adult world is.

At this moment, he was being led by Margot to visit his new home.

Chapter 12 This food is delicious!

With a screeching sound, Packard came to a stop in front of the garage of a small villa.

This caught the attention of a middle-aged man who was watering flowers in the neighboring yard.

Then a handsome man and a beautiful woman stepped out of the car together; it was Josh and Margot.

Looking at the pair, the middle-aged man's expression was slightly strange.

Although Josie and Margot are a good match in terms of appearance, and Josie is also very tall.

However, with this middle-aged man's keen eyesight, it was easy to see that the childishness on Josie's face hadn't completely faded, indicating that he was not very old.

Margot, on the other hand, was clearly a fully mature young woman.

Besides that, the fabric of Josie's clothes, while not bad, was definitely not very good either.

Basically, it's a coat that costs around ten dollars, which is typical for working-class people. Theoretically speaking, someone at that level couldn't afford a house here.

In comparison, Margot's fur coat must have cost at least several hundred dollars.

Therefore, middle-aged people couldn't help but become a little interested in this seemingly mismatched couple.

After all, judging from the current situation, it seems that the other party may become their neighbor.

Next door, Josh, who had just gotten off the bus, seemed to sense something and subconsciously turned his head slightly, just in time to meet the middle-aged man's gaze.

The middle-aged man smiled and nodded in acknowledgment. Although Josh was somewhat surprised, he politely nodded back.

He then looked away and focused his attention back on the house in front of him.

This is a standard two-story American-style villa, with an exterior design that is no different from the villas commonly seen in the United States in the future.

The only difference is probably in the interior facilities and decoration.

"How does it feel? Do you like it?" Margot asked from the side.

"It's a very nice house, but it must be very expensive, right?" Josie asked subconsciously. Although he had expected that the house Margot showed him would be good, it still exceeded his expectations after seeing the actual property.

This style of mansion was common in the future America, but in this era, it was definitely considered a high-end property.

Moreover, this house is very large. Although we haven't seen what the back is like yet, judging from the size of the front alone, the area of ​​this house is probably no less than 500 square meters.

In addition, there are sizable yards in front of and behind this house.

So Josie suddenly realized that she might not have enough money.

"Don't worry, it's not expensive, just five hundred dollars, and it's yours!" Margot said with a smile.

Upon hearing the price, Josie's lips twitched involuntarily. This woman was really treating him like a child.

“Um, okay, its actual price is one… well, two thousand dollars. Do you have enough money?” Seeing Josie’s expression, Margot knew that the price she had quoted was too high, so she immediately changed her tune and said cautiously.

“Mrs. Wendy, you really don’t need to do this. I’m not as strapped for cash as you think,” Josie said with a hint of helplessness.

"Alright, alright, four thousand dollars, that's the most I can offer. That was the price when this neighborhood was first built, so you can't haggle anymore." Seeing that Josie's tone was a bit harsh, Margot had no choice but to compromise, but she also firmly stuck to the price once and for all. "Otherwise, you're not treating me like a friend."

Upon hearing the number, Josie nodded; at least the price wasn't too outrageous.

Of course, Josie knew that this price was definitely much lower than the actual price, but judging from Margot's expression, if he didn't accept this kindness, the other party would probably really get angry.

“Okay, that’s the price, but I’ll have to go back and get the money before I pay you!” Josie said.

“Don’t rush the money, you can pay me anytime. Let’s go inside and take a look at the decor first. See if you like it. If you don’t, let me know, and I’ll find someone to decorate for you.” Seeing that Josh wasn’t haggling anymore, Margot finally smiled with satisfaction and pulled Josh into the house.

It was only because the yard was big enough and the distance was far enough that the middle-aged man watering the flowers next door didn't hear their conversation; otherwise, he would have been spitting blood.

Margot's final asking price of $4,000 was not a lie; the initial asking price for this neighborhood was indeed only $4,000.

But the first thing we need to know is when this residential area was built.

That was in 1934, right after the Great Depression had ended.

Prices back then were incomparable to those today.

This middle-aged family also moved here last year. They spent a full twelve thousand US dollars on a house of the same size.

In fact, after Josie entered the house, he realized that he had underestimated its value.

While the house's decor couldn't be described as luxurious, it was certainly exquisite.

Moreover, it also has all kinds of electrical appliances such as radios, refrigerators, and telephones.

Josie even saw an air conditioner and a television!

In the United States, refrigerators were widely used relatively early, reaching 85% ownership by the early 40s, so this was not surprising to Josie.