JOSI

Her family come to visit that day. Despite the fact that they live miles away, physical contact with them still isn't limited. Visits home are an occasional thing for Josi, and the trip between New York City and Northern Virginia isn't that great a distance, which just makes the process even more convenient.

Only when she sees her parents does it come to pass how much she misses them. A bit dramatic, seeing as the last trip home was only a week ago. But the sentiment remains the same. It's been well over five years since she left home; four spent in a university, and the remainder under an apartment with Bradley. Prior to that change, a household with her parents was the par for the course.

Then comes Aspen who gives her an embrace worthy of a six year old charged with energy. "Josi! I missed you."

Josi has to squat down to meet her sister. Then with a smile, asks her, "My visit last weekend wasn't enough?"

Aspen shakes her head, and the beads on the edge of her braided hair all clatter. "You stayed a single day only."

The disappointment comes to Josi in the form of a pout, which all but melts right through her. She gathers Aspen's hands into her own. "How about you come visit me next time?"

Aspen begins bouncing. Too much excitement to contain. "Can I, really?"

Josi nods and receives one last embrace from Aspen, then heads for where the rest of her family is in the living room. Her parents brought with them drinks as they always do, and when Josi visits, she returns the favor. Though she suspects the wine they bring her are just the ones she gifts them.

Josi is a carbon copy of her parents. The height she gets from her father and the looks from her mother-or as they often told her teenage self, "the perfect mix." Even now as the years have passed, she sees herself more in them. Though there have been increasing bleats about how difficult it is aging, particularly from her mother who says hitting forty is like the second bullet sent to finish the first's job. Josi thinks it's an exaggeration.

Then there's her father whose love for literature, and what Josi describes as "influencing the masses", has landed him a job as an English professor. He speaks with so many grammatically condensed sentences that it has even begun rubbing off on Aspen.

"This juice isn't eloquent enough."

Josi swallows down laughter. "That's not really what that means."

Aspen takes one more sip from the juice box. "Well, how do I make it taste not eloquent?"

From their mother, "Let's ask your father. Maybe he'll start reading you the dictionary during bedtime."

"Great idea, Sofia." He tells his wife, with a tone that lets Josi know he failed to read into the sarcasm. "Starting early is always a good thing." Then he takes Aspen to have her juice box swapped for a better one.

Bradley arrives later when ideas for dinner have begun surfacing. He pitches his own idea of pot roast which everyone thinks is the winning contestant. Then they get right down to it as the sun begins disappearing behind the horizon. Even Aspen is there helping with peeling potatoes, an idea she herself came up with and wouldn't take no for an answer. She butchers it to the point where it becomes inedible.

Once they've all settled down for dinner, Aspen takes off digging into her food as though it were a race, and has to be decelerated by her mother. "Sweety, slow down."

"Shawwry," She gulps down the last of the meal with a glass of water. "Can I have my dessert now?"

Their father sighs. "We just started eating."

"You said I'll have dessert when I finish my food." Aspen pushes her plate forward. "I'm done."

No rebuttals. It would seem dishonest if they did so. They serve her lava cake for dessert, which makes the six year old salivate to a point where she almost drools.

"We have to do something about that sweet tooth of yours." Says their father, more to himself than to his daughter.

"But daddy, mommy tells you to stop eating so much junk food, but you still eat it anyway." Aspen tells him, her mouth coated in chocolate. "She says you'll grow fat."

A round of laughter from everyone present, except the victim. He gives his wife a look that doesn't go unnoticed, but is avoided.

The sound of Josi's phone ringing cuts right through the lively atmosphere. A call from the only person with the power to soil her mood. Idris Verdonni.

Josi goes stiff. It all comes back in stifling surges; the anxiousness, the anger. The fear. She'd held on to some chance that somehow, someway, he would forget about her and move on. How naive.

"Are you going to get that?" Bradley asks.

"I-I will." Says Josi with a smile that is fake. If only they knew the harrowing cross she's been forced to bear. And now with all eyes on her, she wishes they truly knew, so they could ease some of that burden off her shoulders. But the fence has never been so apparent. Help so close, yet unattainable.

Josi pulls herself away from the table and heads towards the bedroom. She tries prepping herself for the call, but realizes she's taking too long and finally answers. "Hello?"

Josi is first greeted with profanities in Spanish, then is hit with, "For fuck's sake, don't keep me waiting."

"Sorry . . ."

Idris audibly sighs. "I need you to step outside."

"I'm with my family."

"How does that stop you from stepping outside?"

Josi sits in a puddle of hatred. This entire fiasco borders on blackmail, but would the authorities amount to much if she took matters into her own hands? They won't, not with the influence Idris has. And there's the possibility of him retaliating. He could take his anger out on her family. He would have the entire ordeal carried out in hours only. Then he would watch her mourn her family, have her take the blame, and tell her he did it all to set an example.

With a new sense of defeat, Josi sighs and solemnly exits the bedroom.

Idris is parked not too far down the street. He leans against his car with the familiar cigar, scrolling through some message on his phone that has him in a good mood as seen by the grin on his face. Instantly, Josi is vexed. So carefree he is, right there by her home, while she's been stuck with the short end of the very stick he forced upon her.

Even the look he gives her is insulting. He looks at her like she's nothing, like she's not even worth his time. But she must be if he's there by her home at that hour. Another thing Josi just can't seem to figure out: Idris's motives.

He reaches into his car for a shopping bag and hands it to her. From the name brand etched on the front, she can tell it's something expensive. Probably worth more than anything she owns. "What is it?"

"See for yourself."

Josi follows instructions. There's a dress inside, along with a pair of stilettos and a box which she concludes must be jewelry. What the gifts are for, Josi doesn't want to know. She has no interest in Idris's bribery, or whatever it is he's trying to accomplish.

"I'll pick you up at five this Friday, so cancel whatever plans you have."

Yet another validation to his character, which has been nothing short of haughty since their first encounter. Josi cannot be seen out in public with this level of arrogance. And there's Bradley, who Idris is clearly aware of. But that doesn't seem to stop him. Nothing seems to stop him.

"Listen, in case you forgot, I have-"

"A boyfriend, I know." Says Idris. "But that's a problem for you to handle."

Josi balls a fist. "I can't go running around with you when I have a life of my own."

The tone around Idris shifts. It sucks the air right out of Josi and sends her straight into lockdown. Eyes filled with so much scorn and disdain, it makes her shrink as the seconds tick by. Josi gulps down what she thinks is saliva, but it may just be her sinking fear.

"Do not let yourself think for a second that you have a choice just because I've been lenient with you." Idris tells her. "I can have your life ruined in a matter of seconds. But I've decided on something else, and I'm sure you don't want that either."

"Now," He takes the bag and dress away from her hands, "It'll do us both a favor if you wore that dress," Then places the dress into the bag, "Because I'll be sending a car for you." And hands it back to her.

Josi goes quiet, even going as far as holding her breath - for fear that he will somehow find some qualms with it. Contrast to this, Idris hops into his car all carefree and gives her a smile once he slams the door shut. "Tell your family I said Hi." He drives off.

Josi can't calm down. She stands there with hands gripping the shopping bag, trying to pull herself out of that trance for what length of time has been lost to her. Being in Idris's presence is miles harder than having to survive the harshest pressure underwater. Perhaps diving that deep will solve her issues.

Once inside, Josi's family showers her with questions about where she'd scurried off to, why she'd stayed out so long, and what the bag is for. All to which Josi replies, "It's work related."

Then she heads into the bedroom to put the gifts away. Her legs even give in, still a bit rickety from Idris's trial. She dreads the fact that she has now become another casualty in his woven web, that he has so seamlessly integrated himself in her life. But like the rest of the times Idris Night Verdonni has barged in on her, Josi realizes there's nothing much to be done. This will now be life as she knows it.

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