CHAPTER 70: LOYALTY.

He immediately knocked himself out when they arrived back at the house, straight went to the bed, didn’t even get out his clothes, just slept.... but to everybody’s surprise the next day he actually woke up rather early at 8 o’clock in the morning... and did not sleep through the whole day.

Though he looked nothing like how they imagined him... like yesterday when he woke up he looked slick, already dressed up, gun tucked in, like a boss, but now he was straight in underwear eating cereal at the counter and that’s it.

No phone, no TV on, he was just enjoying the moment of silence.... the awkward silence because the housekeepers were there... on the side watching him as he was munching the cereal... behaving like maids once again.

"Uhm, do y’all need to be this awkward?" He asked as glazed at them.

"We just accompany you, sir... Joseph." One of them slipped but corrected herself right away, though she still didn’t look into his eyes.

It was more than awkward... or not just awkward but it reminded Joseph of the past too much... and the wrong way.

Traumas can develop not just by experiencing it firsthand but, to see it play out in front of you with others... and well Joseph of course experienced things when he was young, when he was on the right path to be a good civilian... and it just hurted him more to see things.

See how his father treated those who worked for him, especially the women, women who had no power to talk back, shit nobody in the world had that power, so he sometimes beat the shit out of the cleaners, the cooks and sometimes he even... well sexually assaulted them.

And now this is just reminding him of that... the same thing as they just stand on the side, their eyes down... like back then those women who dared to not look into his father’s eyes because they thought if they met it even for a second once again, they’d get beat or worse.

But he is not like his father was.

"What’s your name?" He asked as he raised the bowl and drank the milk.

"My name is Hana, next to me is Jennifer, Clara and Amine, Charlotte is not here now."

What names... almost all of them unique. He thought as he looked at them, and well they looked more than housekeepers, all of them were gorgeous, brown, green eyes, their hairs braided, and they were just... gorgeous.

"What exactly y’all doing every day?" He asked as he looked at Hana, the one who had more confidence in her voice and she even looked into Joseph’s eyes.

"We are cleaning, making sure everything in the house is how it’s supposed to be, we also cook sometimes, and do everything in the house, and our main point is to protect you Joseph from everything that can cause danger." She sounded like she learned a prewritten thing... so Joseph thought he would ask something that... well there is not a straight answer to.

"Can I have sex with y’all?" He asked it straight away, the question itself was not really more like a little teasing for them, maybe for testing, and he looked serious about it... or at least tried to be serious as he was in the underwear... a heart printed one.

And to Joseph’s surprise, Hana’s reaction as well as the others were nothing... they didn’t seem disturbed by the question nor surprised by it.

"Our service does not cover sex or any sexual acts." She looked into Joseph’s eyes. "But if you need to be satisfied, yes, we can have sexual acts. We do everything for you."

Money huh... how much money do we pay them to be like this... enough to throw away their bodies... Yeah the one that got surprised was him rather than them... so he decided to go father with it.

"Hana, when I ask this question, answer it truly, do not lie because I will catch it, okay?" He looked more serious and she felt it.

That look was almost like a threat... his face seemed to be bored, the kind of bored that just screams he does not give a fuck about anything truly.

Like how Pablo said it.

"I will." She said as she bent her head down.

"Good, first look at my eyes Hana." He said and she did, immediately looked back up to those eyes. "Are you ready for the question?"

"I am." She said, keeping eye contact with Joseph, though she was gripping her hand behind her back.

"Would you die for me?"

"Yes I would—"

"Then let me ask this." Joseph interrupted her, and she just shook more now, even her eyes were filled with a bit of scariness. "Do you think I would die for you?"

It was a simple question and well the answer was as simple for it. Of course not, why would he die, a mafia boss, for a housekeeper... but to her the question was tricky, more like it felt like a trap, a well-set trap to her.

Joseph said to answer the truth, but if she lies then not just she but the others too would be in danger.

So she was thinking about it very much, what to answer, to give a short one or give a long explanation to try to talk it out. She was thinking and thinking about it, and Joseph could see it as her eyes were becoming more and more worried as her blinking just fastened up, and she played more with her hand.

"I wouldn’t die for you, Hana, nor for anybody." Joseph answered himself, still staring deep into her eyes. "I didn’t die for my family... I killed them... well it was more like a big misunderstanding, but yeah, they died."

"I–" She could say nothing as Joseph stood and stepped closer to her, not into her personal space, no, he did it to give more weight to his words, to let her taste a little of what he was and what he stood for.

"You know, I don’t even think we’re a mafia, not in the traditional way. No consiglieres, no capos, none of that. Just like the other families in this country... maybe one or two still stick to the old ways, but cocaine, weed, fentanyl, heroin, they’ve taken over, and everyone calls themselves a drug lord, or at least pretends to be one." He still held eye contact with her. "You know, to people like that, they throw their men and women away like they’re nothing, because their minds are corrupted by the money they make, the power they have." He made another step now he was in her personal space. "So, Hana... no, I wouldn’t die for you. Nor for you, Jennifer, Clara, or Amine." He looked at each of them one by one. "No... I wouldn’t..." He whispered and then turned and slowly walked back to the counter.

"We–" Again Hana wanted to speak but no, Joseph turned back the moment she wanted to speak, looking so deep into her eyes that she couldn’t look away, couldn’t even move.

It felt like somebody was going to die.

"But I would do anything to kill those, who want to cause harm to my family, those who want kill my people, I would do anything to catch them, to torture them, to behead them." A faint smile on his face. "That’s what family is supposed to be, or at least that’s what a Don is supposed to be, and those who work for me are not replaceable pieces that can be thrown away, I hope y’all get what I’m saying this early in the morning." He smiled and vanished from his face. "Though if any of you betray me, I’ll cut down your whole family tree, one by one..."

"Thank you... we appreciate your kindness." Amine spoke as she bent down, her voice soft, it wasn’t weakness, but something else... it was respect, the kind that came when words weren’t enough.

Hana followed, lowering her head slowly, then Jennifer followed her and Clara was the last, her eyes lingered on Joseph for a moment, but then she too bowed down her head.

For the first time in a long while, the room wasn’t filled with tension or fear, it was filled with something heavier, yet warmer.

Loyalty.

Though it was the strangest feeling of their entire lives... they were trained killers, ex-soldiers, agents, people who had once given their loyalty to governments, to war contractors, to defense companies, women who had been hitmen... yeah, they had given their loyalty before. But now, this loyalty was different.

It was threatening, yet at the same time it gave a comforting feeling they had never experienced before... it gave a sense of safety, as if their lives had shifted. What they used to feel, what they used to live with, no longer mattered in the same way.

"Yeah... and please, don’t act this way." Joseph’s voice broke the silence. "I’m not some aristocrat, and you’re not my maids. You’re housekeepers and bodyguards, so just act that way." He started to walk away but remembered one more thing. "Oh, and that sex thing... I would never do anything to you... because you’re family. That’s it."

They didn’t say anything back, but they just quietly smiled at him as he turned toward the hall and walked up the stairs.

Huh... at least now I’ve put some loyalty in them... but money still outweighs it, he thought as he climbed the stairs. Yeah, he wanted to show them something with it, to show that family is... family, even if it sounded strange coming from his mouth.

Still, he had indeed planted something in their hearts and heads with it.... some kind of loyalty, some attachment through a few small words. And sometimes, speaking the truth out loud was the best way to prevent problems that might arise later, though those questions could be handled with a single, straightforward solution.

Bullet in the head... not emotional talks.