BENJI

Another dead body. Another rubik's cube too difficult to solve. Rand Vero is dead, but not by the hands of the Verdonnis. He's the third wonder to currently plague the family, deriving questions that urgently need answers, but are left alone to ponder on.

Rand turned his back on the Verdonnis. He took his loyalty and shredded it up into pieces along with the invisible fine print he signed before becoming a household figure. But now he's been found dead. How fortunate!

Fortunate, but mind-boggling. Who went after Rand Vero? Who else had a vendetta against him aside from the Verdonni family? Sure, there may have been enemies from the past who had more to lose from his mere existence alone, but no one outside the Verdonni family knew he'd gone AWOL. No one knew he betrayed the family and decided to side with the enemy - a decision he made all on his own with no known cause.

It's all politics to Benji Yarrow. Politics, mind games, escape rooms. It requires too much brain power. He's come to accept it as all another part of his job. His job, the only thing he seems to care about - second only to his family, of course.

Benji has no pledged loyalty to the Verdonnis, only to the person he works for. He was hired for a complex job - a job he knows how to handle well. It just so happens that specific job caters towards one of the Verdonni family's capos.

There's lots to be done when you act as a capo's bodyguard. You feel a certain level of power that is big enough, but also shouldn't be pushed to the limit. Benji isn't on the same level as Five's inner circle, but he knows things. He's known things since he got hired almost a decade ago.

It was a simple concept of "returning the favor", a debt that Benji felt he had to repay. His life was saved in the midst of a gang war, and now he follows the Capo around ensuring no harm comes to him.

While he likes to stay out of drama, he still can't help but engross himself in the tumultuous world of the Verdonni family. He knows their previous underboss was sold out to the authorities by their gunsmith, Kasper. He knows their replacement tried pulling off some stunt which still isn't quite clear to him, but he knows it landed him six feet underground. He knows their consigliere abandoned his post and ran off to join the opposing team.

And now he knows the consigliere is dead, binded down and utilized as a target board's substitute. It is to a point where he has come to expect these things, these mishappenings. What he wants to know now is who's next on the roster.

Mornings are Benji's least favorite time of day because he's reminded of what little time he spends with his family. He stands in front of the mirror and surveys the scars on his body. There's a stab wound from when an attack against Five ensued in a club. He was able to put a lid on it, but still ended up with a beer bottle lodged in his abdomen. The other scars tell like stories. He has traveled through a rugged path for the capo.

And yet he has no gratitude to show for it.

Benji spends time making sure he's clean-shaven, which takes a couple minutes. He's thankful his hair hasn't grown much from the buzz cut he gave himself, but he will have to trim again, because it's the only style he allows on himself. It's easier to deal with and much more practical given his line of work. He's been sporting the same hair ever since he joined that disbanded gang over a decade ago, and now he's thirty-four still in the same world of violence.

Benji descends to the kitchen with a table full of breakfast waiting for him. His wife, Nora, is already there along with his daughter who beams at the sight of him.

"Daddy!"

Benji picks his daughter off the floor and spins her around. "Morning, sweetheart."

"Good morning." She gives him the usual kiss on the cheek. The one that always makes him smile.

Benji looks his daughter over; short hair that once used to be long, but winded up that way since she was convinced she could mimic her father's barbering skills. Two front teeth whose disappearances were celebrated once the tooth fairy visited. And a pair of brown eyes she got from him.

Then he gets to his wife and hugs her close, because his time with her is as certain as the day his debt to Five will cease. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too." Nora tells him, trying to erase the fact that he dropped in late last night from his last mundane adventure with Five. Then she steps back and begins asking him the same questions she always asks when he pops up after days of no physical contact.

How was the trip? Benji's response is the same dull answer. He tells her nothing much happened, that guarding his boss is the same tedious activity it always is. While this is sometimes true, what he doesn't tell her is the numerous times he's had to put himself in danger for Five's safety.

Then she moves on to the question that always kills Benji inside. "When next are you leaving?"

He tells her straight and simple, because if there's one thing Nora dislikes it's beating around the bush. "I'm going to be gone for a couple weeks this time. Orlando is traveling and he wants me there with him."

Nora doesn't reply. It's Alice that begs the question. "Is daddy leaving again?"

Nora turns to her daughter and gives her a smile for reassurance. "Alice, sweety, why don't you go finish that drawing you wanted to show daddy?"

Now it's Alice's turn to be naive. She smiles at her parents, mostly at her father, then heads to the living room to resume the arts and craft project.

"Can't you just quit?" Nora asks.

Another question Benji has to maneuver his way around. He can't exactly tell her he's in a binded contract which terms and conditions were set without much of his consent. He can't tell her Five won't allow him quit.

Benji sighs, then pulls his wife into the same tight hug. "One day I will. One day."

As much as he dreams of escaping, he's still nothing but a pawn in a grand chess board designed by Orlando Gianni. Or as the Verdonni family best knows him: Five.

So Benji will keep up the good work. He will follow Five around and guarantee his safety. Because he's the bodyguard.

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Before Benji takes off with Five, they pay a visit to the Verdonni estate. Benji has been there quite a lot, mostly with Five. But there have been times when he was sent on some message delivery mission. The two are received at the front door by some guards and are ushered into the mansion towards their destination.

But not even three minutes into their walk and Five already has Benji seething. "Walk behind me. Do you think I pay you to act as my equal?"

Benji slows his pace as requested, but shoots him daggers that could kill if looks meant anything. Once again, he buries his contempt for the capo and submits himself to his incivility. What is it about humans that makes them believe bigotry is exceptional so long as they have some power to their name?

Benji has come to find comfort in the fact that the capo is approaching his subordinate years. Maybe he'll drop dead from some unknown disease or the other. Maybe he'll grow senile and do the job himself.

The capo and bodyguard arrive in a room that has more windows than walls. They don't wait long before the second party arrives. Benji doesn't see much of Idris Verdonni unless he's accompanying Five, but from the last time he laid eyes on the Don, his appearance - and even demeanor - has changed.

He carries bags that are coated in thick shadows under his eyes. He doesn't walk with the same confidence as he had previously, but instead, keeps his gaze glued to the floor. Nothing about him is poised, calm or collected. He looks as though he's hit a wall, fallen into a stagnant state of depression. Idris Verdonni looks unrecognizable.

But the respect Five gives him remains the same. In fact, he pushes past Benji on his way to salute him and doesn't even give the guard some acknowledgement for his actions. He continues on as if nothing happened.

Another blanket of indignation that suffocates Benji. He balls a fist behind his back and swallows the anger down once again. What else is there to do? Retaliation is off the table. He would be going up against a notable figure, against a capo.

Benji spends the rest of the time there just standing and listening. He has no clue what the conversation is about. He zoned out the moment the two men began their discussion, but as soon as Idris left his seat, he pulled himself back to reality. The meeting has met its conclusion.

Once Idris takes his leave, Benji decides to strike up his own conversation with Five. "I would like some time off. To spend time with my family."

The silence Five gives him is deafening. He looks at the guard as if he just called him the most demeaning insult in the book. He spouts some curses in Italian, then says, "Are you fucking crazy?"

Benji goes stiff not with fear, but with the same pot of anger currently stewing.

"Lower your eyes when I'm talking to you." Five tells him, and he obliges. Because he has to. "As long as you work under me, your first and most vital priority will be me. You will devote your time to me and will protect me with your life. Do we have an understanding here?"

Benji nods his head yes and buries the matter as though it never existed. He should have expected such an outburst, but with the time he has devoted to the capo, was it foolish to believe he would grant him a break? So much for trying.

"Some fucking family you have. Why don't they just leave if they can't handle some minor issue." Five says, then heads towards the room's exit.

Benji has to take a couple minutes for himself. He feels like breaking something, but stops himself because Five will see it as an embarrassment to his name. There's no outlet for his anger or frustrations. He just stands there and lets the steam filter out the top of his head until his body has cooled off. Like the rest of the times Five has ridiculed him.

Before he's able to leave, however, the door opens and a new visitor comes in. She's all smiles when she sees him, and he thinks a girl as beautiful as she is doesn't belong in the estate. But he recognizes her. He's seen her with Idris on multiple occasions; more as a prop than an individual. The two are always together, and when they're not . . . Well, that he has no answer to.

But Benji thinks he's seen her somewhere else. Yes, somewhere in black. Then it finally clicks, though he's still a bit uncertain. But the scar on her cheek matches the one from the viral photo. So it is her. The Damsel in black.

She extends a hand, then gives him a smile that sets his destiny in stone. "Josita Cade."

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