JOSI

As soon as the news meets Josi's ears, she immediately gets to plotting. The Verdonni family have this idea of running the card through a fingerprint scanner as their last attempt. The result will come back clear and concise. It will unravel the ploy down to its last string, until it eventually uncovers the truth. It will take days before the signs point to Josi and Benji.

At first Josi is dumbfounded, then she's exasperated. This was a plan that was supposed to run smoothly. There was nothing difficult or challenging about it. Drive the target to the location. A simple delivery mission. Yet, here she is with another problem she has to fix.

But that was all in the beginning. Now Josi is calm. She's out on the terrace, seated with a glass of whiskey neat that has met its halfway mark. The city's view has grown repetitive; a product of the numerous times she's been subjected to house arrest by Idris. She would sit there gazing out, trying to pinpoint where the city ended in the distance.

No house arrest this time. Josi is there on her own free will, but her trip to the penthouse wasn't much of a choice as it was an order. Where Idris Verdonni goes, Josita Cade goes as well. Except when he's out on some business trip. But with the way things are progressing, it won't be surprising if he starts demanding her presence wherever business takes him. He's turned into a sort of parasite as the current series of events tear him down. He wants Josi with him at all times possible.

As if dealing with Idris's need for attention isn't taxing enough, now there's a new threat in her path towards victory. She has come to expect these bumps in the road. Still, cooking up a plan in so little time is more suspecting than it is impressive.

Josi has already run through some options for damage control. She has picked the one best suitable for the issue at hand and has already set it in motion. This solution will tackle the problem from its roots. It's why she's on the terrace indulging in a glass of liquor. Josi has already found her ticket out.

Whatever happens next will propel her back into position. So Josi enjoys the rest of her day completely at peace, fully aware that her skin has already been saved.

__

It happens two days later.

Idris and a couple of his men are gathered in a den, along with Josi who is not only there to see how things pan out, but also because she knows Idris prefers her presence. She has become a pacifier, and like all pacifiers, she must bring him peace. Tranquility. Each time more issues arrive as in the current case of Five, Idris demands more. He keeps her around as a mood stabilizer.

There's ingrown chatter among Idris and some guards of his. He may look cool, but Josi knows the pressure is eating him up from the inside. The entire fiasco has him spinning in circles. He's exerted himself to the point of exhaustion.

Then the show begins. The door opens, and in comes more guards with a new captive of theirs. This is what Josi has been waiting for. Benji's arrest.

They have him bound and gagged, in addition to the injuries left by the beatings they put him through. The guards throw him in front of Idris who looks more than ready to get things over with. He pulls out a photo and studies it for just a few seconds. In that picture, Josi knows, is a candid snapshot of the perpetrator behind Five's kidnap. Their face remains a mystery, blurred by a reticent mask.

Idris shows the photo to Benji. "This is you, isn't it?"

Benji takes a look at the image. It is him. Josi should know. He kidnapped Five behind the club and dropped him off at the designated spot, all while keeping his identity under wraps. He built a story that would guarantee his innocence. And it worked. That alibi got him past the Verdonni family's suspicions. It all worked out well. Until the card was found.

Josi knows it must have been a simple mistake. It probably slipped out his pocket in the midst of the mission. And it cost them another conflict.

Once Benji is done studying the image, he looks to Josi in the back, and only when she avoids his gaze does it finally seem to sink in for him.

Benji's eyes widen. He was sold out.

Josi casts her eyes to the side. At this point, Benji is extra baggage. He was weighing her down, and to guarantee her safety, she needed to cut loose. Cut all losses. She can't have her plans ruined now. Now, that she's come this far. It may sting on Benji's end as she knows it currently is, but she's done what needed to be done. All for her survival.

In the end, it's every man for themselves.

Now Benji is going to pay for that false sense of alliance. Idris puts his gun up to his head, then pulls the trigger and allows the bullet do all the work.

Josi watches the body hit the floor. Her tracks have been covered, that alone matters. So she feels no remorse, only pity that the victim she sacrificed had a family. Whatever happens to that family now will be a domino effect, with the first chip propelled by Josi herself.

Things are over and done with. Or at least, Josi thinks. A guard comes to Idris with a message which he whispers into his ear. Idris doesn't react much, only gives him some hand signal as a command. The guard exits the room, and at first Josi thinks things have finally met their conclusion. Until she hears weeping. But the thing about these sobs is they don't seem to come from a full-grown adult, but someone much younger.

The guard comes back in with two brand new captives hauled by other guards. A woman and a sobbing child who she desperately clutches in her arms. Josi all but freezes when she realizes who they are. Nora and Alice.

Immediately, panic ensues. Josi knows why they're there. She'd somehow forgotten how the Verdonni family operated. Any relative or loved one of an offender is to be punished accordingly in the same manner. That's why Nora and Alice are there. They're heading off after Benji.

Alice continues weeping from the sheer amount of fright alone. Meanwhile, Nora tries her best to console her daughter, but it proves futile. She takes notice of Josi to the side whose eyes have expanded from shock . . . and regret.

Nora seems to communicate with Josi in this short second. She looks at her with an accusing glare, because how else do you look at the person who brought mayhem upon your family? Nora looks at Josi with her own sense of regret. Regret at having welcomed a disaster wrapped in salvation into her own home. She holds Josi's gaze until tears full of anger flow forward. Until Josi can no longer handle the accusation and avoids the stare.

Idris is ready yet again with his pistol. And things all become much more real.

"Wait . . ." Josi starts, but it's more of a croak than it is a protest. She has to gather some strength for a retrial. "Idris, stop!"

Idris doesn't even pay her any mind. And when he doesn't heed her words, she heads towards him in pursuit of his gun, but doesn't make it there fast enough.

Idris pulls the trigger once. Then twice. And now the last of the Yarrow family lay dead.

Josi stands there frozen, submerged in a sea of contrition and torment. Their bodies are lifeless. There's no pulse or even the weeping that once came from Alice. This is truly how things have turned out to be. This is a result of her actions.

A result that cost the family of three their lives. Now they lay deceased on the floor, covered in their own streams of blood. Together in death.

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Um...