THIRD PERSON

Contrary to what he said, Domenico didn't go straight to bed. First, he went into the guest room, locked the windows, removed all objects that could be used in a suicide attempt, and activated the security system. The little girl seemed genuinely horrified by her attempt, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. He was still surprised that she was able to pretend to be a boy for so long and fool him and Vito, and how quickly she reached for his gun. Truly a surprising child, he thought, interrupted by his phone.

[00:03] J Have the names. Finish the job?

[00:04] Domenico Yes.

[00:05] J Done. Anything else?

[00:06] Domenico No. Wait. A beggar lived in one of the hallways. Pack everything up and bring it to me. Not a word to anyone.

[00:07] J Understood.

Domenico retired to his room and was very inclined to light a cigarette, although he never smoked in the house. However, this evening had been exciting enough to make an exception, even by his standards. He checked the video surveillance, which showed the whole room with their guest inside it. Hopefully, Vito remembered to bring the gun up with him. Domenico really didn't feel like walking back downstairs.

"Fuck it," he said to no one in particular and lit a cigarette. He took a deep drag, let himself fall backward onto his bed, and stared at the ceiling. Then he laughed.

"I can't quite understand what you find so funny about the whole situation," came his brother's voice. "Besides, there is no smoking in the house!" Undeterred, Domenico took another drag and watched the smoke rising into the air.

"Did she say anything more?" He didn't even bother to sit up; Vito would sit in the armchair next to his bed anyway, cross his legs while looking incredibly serious. Vito had the gift of knowing exactly what people needed to see in order to do what he wanted. Domenico didn't have this gift, but that didn't bother him either. Most people who dealt with him knew what to expect, and with the few exceptions, he could be friendly. Could be.

Vito sighed. "No. She just ate, and I took her upstairs. Did you prepare everything?" Without a word, Domenico handed him his cell phone, where the video was playing from the guest room. Vito took it and watched for a while. Josephine stood in the middle of the room, looking around carefully.

"Ten bucks that she'll check the windows," Domenico said without looking at the phone. He puffed on the cigarette again, letting the smoke make a circle. Vito made a disapproving face but said nothing. The girl went to the adjoining bathroom and looked in without going inside. Then she went to the windows. Wordlessly, Vito reached for his wallet and threw the money at his brother. Domenico laughed while turning to Vito to watch along. "Always a pleasure doing business with you, brother. I told J to collect her things and bring them to us. The other thing is taken care of too."

"At least something's going according to plan today," Vito sighed. "What is she doing?" he asked curiously. The two brothers leaned closer to the cell phone. Josephine was pulling the blanket off the bed and walked across the room to the wall behind which was the bathroom. Then she lay down, pulled the blanket over herself, and didn't move anymore. Her small body almost completely disappeared under the covers. Vito didn't know what it was that made him feel sorry for her, but something eventually did. It annoyed him even more that he couldn't think of a satisfying solution to the problem. "I want to know what happened. It's not normal for a 12 or 13-year-old, or whatever age she is, to just run away and then live on the streets. There has to be more to it than an argument about pocket money, but I don't think she will tell us the truth," he continued while taking his brother's cigarette and inhaling.

"Well, I could ask her nicely," suggested Domenico, not in the least disturbed by his brother's action. He just pulled out another one. "I'm good at making people talk."

Vito looked at him. "Fantastic. Take this,"—he took the gun out of his waistband—"here with you. That worked so damn well last time." It was clear who he blamed for the scene downstairs, and it wasn't Josephine.

Without reacting, Domenico took the gun and put it in his bedside cabinet. "Didn't it? But back to our problem here: She doesn't want to go to a shelter, she doesn't want to go back into the system, and we won't be able to take her in. Regardless of the fact that she wouldn't want that anyway. So why don't we just give her what she wants and let her back on the street? Who are we to tell her how to live when she has managed to do it on her own in recent years?" he stated.

"If we let her go, she might freeze to death," Vito argued, although he had to admit that his brother had a point. Valentino wouldn't be back for another week, Matteo and Riccardo in five, but keeping her here for that long wouldn't change the situation. Except that neither he nor Domenico could free up that much time to look after her. "Then we'll let her sleep here tonight, give her some more food tomorrow, some warm clothes, a nice warm blanket, a hat—maybe some gloves. That's more than she had before, and you won't save anyone who doesn't want to be saved, Vito." Sometimes Domenico wondered why his brother had to be so complicated. The little girl had neither asked for help nor expressed a desire to change her life. So why do it against her own will? As far as he could judge, enough people in her past had done something contrary to her consent.

Vito remained silent as he considered the argument. He was impressed by Josephine in a certain way, and perhaps that was the reason why he felt responsible for her. On the other hand, Nico was right. But then again, she was just a child, almost the same age as his youngest brother.

He couldn't let her go so easily!

______________

"And you just let her go?" Valentino collapsed onto the sofa after listening to the whole story. Three weeks had now passed since Josephine left in the morning, and in the last few days, it had started to snow for the first time. Domenico looked at Vito meaningfully. He knew exactly what the look meant but preferred to turn to his other brother. Even though Valentino was in Spain for his studies, to Vito's eyes, he looked like he had spent more time on the beach than in university: his brown hair was lighter than before, and his skin was tanned. This boy was lucky that his midterm grades were so good. Otherwise, they would now be having a completely different kind of conversation! "What would you have done if you were us?"

"Kept her here? It's only mid-November, and it's already fucking 23°F."

"How do you imagine that? Should we have locked her up here and held her? That would have been kidnapping."

Valentino looked between his two older brothers. "Oh right, and you've never done anything worse than that. My mistake," he replied, rolling his eyes.

"Valentino." It was the first time that Domenico spoke that evening, and his voice sounded subtly menacing, as only he could make it. Valentino winced a little at the sound. Making Domenico angry was never a good idea.

"That was unnecessary. I also gave her my number and told her to contact me if she needed any help," Vito said before Valentino could apologize. He didn't mention that he had men searching for her for a week without success, and he cursed himself for not having planted a tracker on her belongings. But as long as she wasn't found, she still seemed to be alive. Of course, there was a slight chance her body simply wouldn't be found, but it was unlikely that something like that would get past the Marinis. Domenico looked at him again as if he knew exactly about the secret mission. Vito wasn't sure; his brother didn't pay attention to things he didn't care about.

"And you think she'll really come forward?" This time Valentino used a much more appropriate voice, trying not to look directly at Domenico.

Vito inhaled and exhaled deeply. "I hope, but I don't think so. The circumstances of our meeting weren't necessarily the best, as I have to admit. And from her perspective, I wouldn't see any reason to trust us enough."

"And you just know that her name is Josephine, she's 15 years old, and she escaped from a foster family?" Once again, Domenico wondered why, after two wonderful sons, his parents had decided to have three more children. Since they were no longer there, he couldn't ask them anymore. He loved his brothers, deep down in his heart, but sometimes they were so annoying with their constant nonsense speaking. It was so pleasant when it was just him and Vito at home! Even though Vito also had started talking too much lately. Maybe it was a good thing that the little birds slowly flew back to their nest. Then they could take Vito's attention solely on themselves, and he would regain his peace. "She must have told you something else," Valentino continued.

"She seems to eat at St. Benedict Church every now and then," Domenico boredly interjected.

"How do you know that?" Vito asked him in surprise, wondering how he could have missed such information.

"The patron saint around her neck. They hand it out at the food distribution. And no, she hasn't been there for weeks; I've already asked." The two eldest looked at each other. "Have you been looking for her?" asked Vito in surprise. His little brother just shrugged. "As if I were the only one here."

"God, I hate it when you do that. That's so scary," Valentino intervened in the conversation. "Back again: does that mean you're looking for her?"

Vito started to answer his brother when his cell phone began to ring. "Yes?"

"Mr. Marini? This is Dr. Yang from St. Charles Hospital. I'm sorry to disturb your evening, but we admitted a young girl with hypothermia and malnutrition who was found in the park by passersby. Don't worry; she's fine, but while going through her things, we found your card with this number on it. Do you happen to know the girl, and can you tell us more about her identity? We wanted to inform CPS, but—"

"I'm on my way," Vito interrupted and walked toward the garage. Valentino wanted to follow him but was stopped by Domenico's arm. The latter continued going himself while pulling out his car keys from his pants. Vito didn't have to look back to see that his brother was right behind him, as he always was.



Hello there,

Who would've thought that writing an a phone takes so much longer than writing on a laptop? I certainly didn't. Nevertheless, thanks to itsbaddiebitch, I added the main characters to the prologue. I'm not that happy with Josephine's photo yet but it's hard to find a picture where she looks the way I imagine her at this point. So if you have any suggestion feel free to send them to me :-)

How do you think will Josephine react when she sees them?

I hope you liked this chapter and see you soon! X