JOSI

Idris has been out of sight for the past week or so. Word is he's returning the following day, leaving Josi with a little over thirteen hours to enjoy the peace.

The rule states that Josi doesn't leave the safety of the estate when Idris is away from the city. It's been that way since their first day together as a couple. He tells her the same thing he always does when she brings up the topic. He tells her it's to keep her safe, to prevent the worst from happening. But under that blanket of protection is an implicit motive. He wants her where he can monitor her.

This time, Josi doesn't mind staying home — not when there's an entire mafia family out to get her. She walks the halls of the estate and busies herself with what little entertainment it has to offer. Rosari even paid a visit upon request, which was gleefully granted.

Their meetup consisted of a stroll by the pond while complaining about issues at hand, which seemed to better Josi's mood greatly. Nothing spells relaxing than ranting about Idris.

"If I were you, I'd cut off his dick in the middle of the night. So now, we're both miserable." Was Rosari's response. Josi found it humorous.

No word has come from Dami since she left. Josi thinks she must be hard at work, so she allows her be. She sits and waits for news that will hopefully flip her life upside-down.

Josi takes her usual stroll around the mansion that afternoon. She starts at the sunroom and makes her way around the interior. There's no clear destination, just a means to pass time.

It isn't until she comes across a scene in the dining room does her interest spike. There are three guards there, along with a housekeeping maid who looks just about old enough for a high school. She has a mop handle against her body to barricade herself from the men. They taunt her and spew impudent remarks in no manner of respect. One guard even has enough gall to grab her waist.

"Is this what you were hired to do?" Josi asks.

The guards all turn to her, and immediately their frowns take over. "We weren't doing anything." Says a guard whose legs are a tad longer than his upper body. He says it with enough scorn to drive his point. That he dislikes Josi.

"And that's the problem. You don't do anything." Josi goes and grabs a bottle of wine from the cabinet, along with a glass. "I think it's high time we start firing some of you around here, don't you think? Because really, you're all very useless."

Now their irritation settles. "With all due respect, you don't know the first thing about our jobs." Says the second guard. He's the shortest of them all.

Josi doesn't reply, but instead fills up her glass with wine until it overflows and begins pouring. She drops the glass to the floor, then lets the wine bottle slip from her grasp a second later. Bits and shards of glass scatter across the floor with red wine staining the tiles.

"You," Josi snaps at the third guard, a brunette. "Clean this up."

Brunette looks at the other two as if he'd misheard her. "That's not my job."

He must think Josi is some fool. She goes and stands in front of him. "Who do you work for?"

Brunette looks lost. "Idris Verdonni."

"Good. And who am I?"

"Josita Cade," He looks at the two guards again, baffled. "Idris's girlfriend."

Josi takes a couple more steps towards him.

"As long as I remain his girlfriend, you will answer to me. I don't give a fuck if Idris picked you up from the slums and changed your life. You will do as I say, when I say it, and how I say it. Do we have an understanding here?"

No response. Just a thick fog of silence.

"I don't believe you heard me." She steps closer, to the point of their noses almost touching. "Do we have an understanding here?"

Brunette slowly nods his head yes, although reluctantly. This brings a smile to Josi. She turns to the maid. "You can have the rest of the day off."

"Yes, ma'am." She sets the mop down and quickly flees the scene.

And now it's just the three stooges. "I want this floor spotless by the time I get back." Josi tells Brunette before turning to leave.

But things don't quite end there. Brunette takes it upon himself to mouth an insult. "Bitch."

Josi is quick to catch on despite the guard's hushed tone. She pulls out her gun, clicks the safety back, and without a second thought, fires at the guard. But the bullet doesn't connect. It flies past Brunette's head with a graze to his cheek.

Josi meets the guard's eyes. "Look at that. I missed."

The guard can't even move, and neither can his buddies. Josi suspects they'll remain that way for a while, but as long as they get her job done then it matters little how much time it takes for them to snap back to reality.

Then the sound of clapping erupts from the doorway, drawing the attention of Josi only because the three guards are still frozen. Ainse continues his standing ovation for seconds longer. Then he stops and ties his hands behind the same way he always does.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Cade."

Immediately, the pistol in her hands come to her attention, and she tucks the weapon away. Ainse's sudden appearance doesn't surprise her. He's been in and out the estate ever since his arrival. What Josi can't figure out is why he hangs around so often.

Ainse motions for Josi to join him on a little stroll around the mansion. He engages her in some conversation about himself, and Josi finds this the perfect opportunity to gain a little more insight on the underboss-to-be.

"I grew up in this establishment," Ainse tells her. "With a maid I was born to. We lived in the scout quarters since my father was a guard. Never saw much of him."

"How was it like growing up in the middle of all . . . this."

Ainse is quick to catch on. The mob influence. The violence. "It wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I loved it here. The people were all another part of my family."

That's when Josi finally understands. The place holds memories of him. "How was Idris like back then?"

"He was a bit trigger happy and never took anything seriously."

"So not much different from the one now."

Ainse laughs at this, then simmers down. "He's a bit of a character. That and the fact that he's where he currently is due to blood ties alone. Not all of us are built for the roles we currently serve."

Josi gives him a hard stare, but Ainse only steers the conversation towards a different direction. "It truly was an outstanding performance, if I must say. Never knew you owned a weapon. What was it, an M9?"

Josi nods. "Idris gifted it to me. It's supposed to come in handy in times of dire need."

"In times of dire need indeed." Ainse chuckles.

Josi then looks at him, trying to study him. He seems rather calm despite just witnessing her attempt at putting Brunette out of his misery. He must be used to such scenes.

"So how did you and Idris meet?" Ainse asks.

Josi ponders on some lie to feed him. "At a bar. Idris caught my attention right away and I caught his. But I didn't want anything to do with him because of his reputation." She even smiles. "But he wouldn't stop pestering me to give him a chance. So I did and here we are."

Ainse just stares at her, perhaps a moment too long. Until he chuckles and looks away. "I see."

They're then plunged into silence, and Josi is left wondering what the look was for. The two end their stroll after deciding to settle down in the sunroom. Ainse tells Josi about Bruno Verdonni and his rule before his untimely death. He tells her about how different things were when he was around. And from the things learned so far, Josi can't decide who's worse: Idris or his father.

A maid comes minutes later with a tray of drinks; bourbon for Ainse and a glass of lemonade for Josi. But there's something peculiar about this maid. She seems almost spooked, panicky even. The trembling certainly doesn't go unnoticed either. She clutches the bourbon tight in her hands, afraid to allow it go. Josi is baffled by it all.

Ainse doesn't seem to notice these things. He keeps on with his story about Bruno Verdonni and simply waits for his drink to be poured. Meanwhile, Josi still can't pry her attention off the maid. She watches her serve the lemonade before turning to serve Ainse. But there's a brief appearance of uneasiness. Like she would rather be anywhere else.

Then it all falls apart. In the midst of filling Ainse's glass, the maid spills the liquor, staining his shirt in the process. The color all but drains from her face. "I . . . I'm so sorry, Mr. Vanetti, I wasn't–"

Ainse pulls out a gun and fires at the maid in all under a second. A silence so deafening follows, and all there is in Josi's ears is ringing. Ringing and more ringing. The maid's body lays on the floor, blood oozing from the hole in her head. Josi just sits there frozen, unable to react. Unable to even think.

Finally, the gears in her head begin turning, and the shock is immediately replaced with anger. "It was clearly an accident!"

"An accident that shouldn't have happened, Ms. Cade."

The blood continues spewing from the body. Josi glues her eyes to the corpse, to the eyes that still hang open from the shock of the bullet's impact.

"Oh, don't pretend to be so virtuous." Ainse continues. "I know all about it, you know. The guard you killed . . . accidentally."

Now Josi's attention is pulled away from the maid. Except all she can do is stare at Ainse, whose face currently carries a smile. "No need to look so bent, Ms. Cade, because unlike you," He wakes from his seat. "I don't judge."

The underboss-to-be then exits, leaving Josi and the dead body to soak in the unsettling stillness of the sunroom.

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