Selina basically used cash for her daily expenses, otherwise her and Gold Nugget's "little stash" wouldn't be of any use at all.
Luke had asked Jenny to give the phone company's shareholders a small year-end bonus not long ago. It wasn't a lot, but Selina still earned hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Compared with last year, Selina had too much money. She naturally chose to buy some good gifts for her family.
The things she bought last year weren't cheap, but they were all normal household necessities, such as clothes, accessories, alcohol, appliances, and so on.
This year, the gift she prepared for her father, Marino, was an Abby Royal Oak watch. It cost a little over 20,000 dollars, which wasn't too expensive, because her mother, Sandra, had given a diamond necklace that cost around 50,000 dollars.
But as long as Marino was willing, the watch could be worn at any time, and the diamond necklace was best kept in a jewelry box most of the time.
Selina had long heard Sandra joke that she would be lucky to have a diamond necklace worth a few thousand dollars in her lifetime.
This year was a new beginning for the Hayek "family," and she decided to give Sandra a happy Christmas.
Early on the 22nd, Luke drove Selina, Gold Nugget, and a few boxes of gifts to the plane.
Marino, who had become a rancher, didn't have to stay on the ranch like before. Thus, he would pick them up at Dallas Airport, and Selina wouldn't have to worry about moving their luggage.
After Selina left, Luke relaxed a little.
Seeing that it was still early, he called Elena.
The girl wouldn't be returning to France for Christmas this year. She said that the plane tickets were too expensive, so she had decided to work part-time in New York.
As smart as Luke was, he naturally wouldn't be so idiotic as to secretly buy her a plane ticket as a Christmas present. That kind of straight guy deserved to never have a girlfriend.
Parking the car at the villa in New Jersey, he called the rental company to send him a Ford Explorer, before he drove to Elena's school.
Coincidentally, Elena's school was in North Bergen.
A few kilometers north of the school was the Fraternity's textile factory.
As Luke drove, he thought about the Fraternity.
Recently, he would occasionally go out in casual clothes at night to the textile factory.
However, he didn't sneak in directly. Instead, he used the few micro-drones that were left inside to monitor the situation to obtain intelligence. After a long period of continuous monitoring, he obtained a large number of details of the Fraternity's activities, and the relevant intelligence in his hands became more complete.
In this world, it was very difficult to keep a complete secret.
It was even more difficult to persevere and not make any mistakes.
The Fraternity was an organization that had flourished for hundreds of years. It was inevitable that there would be many loopholes.
Even if they weren't really old antiques, even if they had professionals inspect the inside and outside of the textile factory almost every day, including all kinds of electronic equipment.
Unfortunately, the technology of their detection equipment was too inferior to that of Tony Stark's, and they couldn't find the mini drone that Luke had left behind.
Sloan, that sly old fox, also had some clues about the source of the raw materials for the medicinal bath.
Not long ago, the Exterminator informed Sloan when the medicinal bath was about to run out.
After that, Sloan went out again. When he came back, he handed the raw materials for the new medicinal bath to the Exterminator.
Thankfully, a mini drone had been keeping an eye on the bathroom, but if it wasn't for Little Snail's help, he might have missed this clue.
During the investigation of Sloan's trip, the polyhedron system found traces of him.
Sloan, this outdated old guy, had used a fake identity and done a lot of disguises, but a girl who loved to take selfies had accidentally taken him in. Thus, the polyhedron system still listed him as a highly suspicious target.
Little Snail then repeatedly investigated his possible routes of action, and more clues proved that this was Sloan himself.
The flight he had taken under his fake identity also had a clear destination — Iquitos, Peru.
Luke didn't have time to go to Iquitos himself.
He simply used online payments to find two famous private detective agencies to investigate Sloan's whereabouts, and to find out if there were any "legends" about the medicinal bath's effects.
It was just a matter of money. It would be best if he could get something out of it, but it wouldn't be a waste if he didn't.
Once the source of the raw materials for the medicinal bath was confirmed, the Fraternity would basically be useless.
At that time, Luke only needed to think about how to take down the Fraternity in one go and obtain as much experience and credit as possible.
Taking one last look north of North Bergen, Luke parked the car outside Paland School of the Arts and opened the door to get out.
On the side of the road, a petite figure was stomping her feet and trembling a little.
When the Ford Explorer drove over, she happened to turn around and walk toward the gate, so she didn't notice.
Luke picked her up and spun her around. "Aha, look what I've caught! A fragrant little beauty. "
Elena, who was picked up by him, didn't even have time to be surprised when she heard what he said. She immediately laughed and said, "No, I'm just a lost rabbit."
Luke put her down and led her to the car with one hand, while he patted the snow off her with the other. "Unfortunately, I'm not a big bad wolf, but a caring animal protector."
The girl let him clean the snow for her and said, "Huh, shouldn't you say you're a hunter?"
Luke pondered for a moment. "But hunters usually carry double-barreled shotguns, right?"
Elena was stumped for a moment, not understanding the logic behind that. The two of them arrived at the car.
Stuffing the petite Elena into the passenger seat and closing the door, Luke returned to the driver's seat and drove off.
The air conditioner in the car was very warm. Elena took off her beige beanie and thick coat and put them in the backseat. She looked at him with a smile. "Are you on leave?"
Luke shrugged. "Strictly speaking, I should be at work, but nobody checks my attendance."
Elena was curious. "Didn't you just come to NYPD? Why does your boss trust you so much? Hm, wait, don't tell me you've been sent to sit on the bench? "
Luke couldn't help but laugh. "I'm going to correct your misconception. The bench is only cold, but you have to sit there at work. You can't leave even if you're bored."
Elena said, "Then how can you skip work? Or are you going to have lunch with me and go back to work? "
Luke chuckled. "I'm not going to work today. I have a lot of time. I'll show you around New York."
Elena was happy at first, but then she thought of something and spat at him, blushing.
Well, she wasn't shy, but purely because of the heat from the air conditioner.
Not long after, the two of them drove to Times Square. After parking the car, the two of them started to play in the "crossroads of the world".
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