Peace Hotel 2

Peace Hotel 2

Sheriff's words were overheard by an elderly Black man nearby, who cursed angrily, "You greedy xx, you corner-cutting xx, not even God can save your xxx, and you still want people to respect you? Alvin must have lost his mind to trust an xxx like you."

The old Black man spoke very quickly. He seemed accustomed to the rules here; whenever he needed to swear, he substituted Black slang that nobody else understood. Yet he could still curse so fluently that one had to admire the Black talent for rap.

Fudge excitedly ran over and high-fived the old man, laughing. "Old Kent, nicely done!"

Sheriff glared angrily at the two of them and waved his fist, but he never dared put it into action. Alvin did not allow anyone to fight here. There had once been people who refused to believe it and came here looking for trouble, but none of them had ended well.

Just then, the Restaurant's wooden door was pushed open, and a stunningly dressed Eastern European woman entered. After sweeping her eyes over the Restaurant, she walked straight to the bar, tilted her chin up, and cocked her head at Sheriff, signaling for him to move aside.

Sheriff, who had been furious just moments ago, unexpectedly gave an awkward smile and said, "Hi, Dalia," as a greeting. Carrying his cup of water, he found a seat that a customer had just vacated and sat down.

The beautiful young woman, Dalia, gracefully sat on a barstool and nodded greetings to the people beside her. With alluring poise, she took out a cigarette and lit it. Resting her cheek on one hand and holding the cigarette in the other, she watched Alvin busily working in the depths of the bar.

Jessica heavily set a glass of lemonade in front of Dalia and said stiffly, "Miss Dalia, smoking isn't allowed here."

Dalia looked Jessica over and smiled. "Oh, lucky girl. Could you let me finish this cigarette? I'm sure several gentlemen around here wouldn't mind." Her sparkling eyes swept over the seats on both sides of the bar. Several nearby men, with the exception of Matt, all nodded involuntarily.

Jessica shot the useless men a furious glare, ignored their protests, and delivered the first finished steak to blind Matt. Thoughtfully, she placed the knife and fork directly in Matt's hands.

With all ten burners blazing, the steaks were quickly finished and delivered to the customers. Alvin wiped his hands on a Towel, walked to the bar, and poured himself a beer.

"Alvin, you need to keep Thor and Dom in line. I just saw them block a real beauty from entering the Restaurant. No wonder this place is always full of nothing but stinky men." Seeing that Alvin had finished working, Dalia covered her mouth and giggled coquettishly, completely ignoring the looks from the crowd of "stinky men."

Alvin ignored Dalia and instead shouted at Nick, who was arguing with Old Stan over whether Batman or Captain America was stronger, "Nick Castle, it's eight thirty. I'll check your homework at ten. If you haven't finished it, you have an hour and a half left. Kid, you don't want to find out how I punish lazy children."

Nick clasped his head in frustration and let out a pained cry. He shoved his wheelchair and shot behind the bar. Reaching a small door beside the stove, he opened it, stood on one leg, and hopped rapidly upstairs.

The Restaurant's customers burst into laughter. Fudge even called out teasingly, "Nick, you'd better hurry up! I don't want to see you pushing that wheelchair down the street sweeping the road, hahaha!"

Hearing that, Nick grabbed the handrail, turned back, and made a face at Fudge before quickly hopping up to the second floor.

Once the small door automatically closed, Dalia extinguished her cigarette. She took ten bundles of twenty-dollar bills from her small handbag and pushed them toward Alvin. Her eyes held pleading, longing, and a trace of uncertainty.

Alvin looked at the twenty thousand dollars before him, shook his head, took half of it, and pushed the other half back to Dalia. "I know you have a few girls who were recently smuggled in from Eastern Europe. Send the minors to school. From now on, just pay me a hundred dollars every month. Let the girls who want respectable work save enough money to leave this place."

Dalia shook her head. "That isn't how things are done. If you only take a hundred dollars from me, the other gangs will find out, and we'll all be in trouble. The girls and I are doing well now. Their earnings are actually quite good.

"Just last week, two girls saved enough money to move to Los Angeles." As she spoke, she pushed the money toward Alvin again.

"Please take it, Alvin. You're a good man. I know you don't want money earned from women selling their bodies, but I'm begging you to accept it. I truly can't bear being controlled by other gangs again." The pleading expression on Dalia's face made her impossibly pitiable.

"Take it, Alvin. We all know you're a good man. You'll protect them, but if you don't take her money, you'll be breaking Hell's Kitchen's rules. Every gang nearby will go crazy. We know you aren't afraid of them, but that would put the girls in danger instead," Old Kent chimed in from the side.

Alvin was a straightforward man, and Old Kent had a point. After hesitating briefly, he called to the pudgy Sheriff. "Come take it. Fifteen days, two food trucks. If you cut corners again, I'll have Thor come chat with you."

Sheriff slumped his shoulders and protested quietly, "Twenty thousand dollars is only enough for one food truck. Alvin, you're a fair guy. You can't make me take a loss."

Alvin poured another beer and handed it to Sheriff. "This is punishment for your greed. There won't be a next time, understand?"

Alvin's gentle expression only frightened Sheriff more. He hurriedly said, "Okay, okay, I understand. There definitely won't be any more problems. I promise!"

"Old Kent, who's having the hardest time in the neighborhood? Go ask if they want to run a food truck." Alvin ignored Sheriff's assurances. He believed Sheriff would not dare play tricks again, and instead turned to Old Kent.

Old Kent thought for a moment. "Lilith is raising three children alone. It's hard for her, and she'll need one. Archie's family has six people, and none of them have jobs. They'll need one too."

"Then let them know. Have them go to Sheriff's garage and keep an eye on things. If they have any special requests, tell Sheriff to make the changes directly." With that, he waved off Sheriff, who was desperately clutching the bag of money.

Alvin said to JJ, a huge Black man seated at a table near the door and wolfing down his food, "JJ, when you leave, see Sheriff home. It isn't safe for him alone."

JJ was a Marine Corps veteran. After getting into a bit of trouble, he had fled to Hell's Kitchen and become the Restaurant's security guard and driver.

"Okay, Boss." JJ tilted back his head and swallowed the last bit of steak, drained a huge glass of lemonade in one gulp, stood up, answered Alvin, and called Sheriff out of the Restaurant.

The moment they opened the Restaurant door, they saw a woman even more beautiful than Dalia enter the Restaurant with two police officers behind her.

Seeing that the two officers were familiar faces, JJ gave it no further thought. He took Sheriff to the car and left.