I am Mattia Saracen, and I do not stand in the rain for anybody.
But tonight I stood in the rain for Tobias, because Tobias owed my family money and Tobias was late.
His car came down the dock with one headlight out.
I put my hand up, and my men closed the road behind him.
Mattia: Cut the engine, Tobias. You're late and I'm wet.
He got out slow, and he smiled like a man who thought he had something to sell.
Tobias: Boss. I got your money. Mostly.
Mattia: Mostly is a word I hate.
Then I heard it. A small sound from the back seat, like a hurt animal trying not to be heard.
Mattia: Who's in the car, Tobias?
Tobias: Collateral. Nothing you want.
I opened the back door myself.
A small woman sat in the dark with her hands tied and blood on her chin.
Her hazel eyes were huge, and she looked at me like I was the next thing that would hurt her.
Tobias: That's Casper Hoke's stepdaughter. He owed me six grand, so he paid me in meat.
Tobias: She's a mute. She can't even scream. Six grand of ice-house cunt, and she's all mine.
The men behind me went quiet, and my hands turned into fists.
She lifted a little pad of paper with her tied hands.
Tobias: Put that down, you useless little bitch.
He smacked the pad out of her fingers and backhanded her across the mouth, and fresh blood ran down her chin.
He leaned down to her ear, and I heard every word.
Tobias: You run, you write one fucking note, and I'll cut your tongue out.
Tobias: I'll drop you in the harbor. Nobody's coming for a mute whore like you.
She believed him. I watched her believe him, and she went still like a caught rabbit.
Mattia: Touch her again and I'll break that hand off your wrist.
Tobias: She's mine, boss. Paid for. You want her, you buy her.
Mattia: She's not a fucking thing to buy.
I pulled her toward me, and Tobias grabbed her other arm to keep her.
His silver rings dug in and left white marks that turned red, and she made that small sound again.
I hit him once, and his nose broke under my knuckles.
He went down on the wet stone and stayed down.
Then I saw the pad on the ground, open at the page she had written.
The letters were shaky. Please. Help me. I don't want to go with him. I'll work. I'll be quiet.
I read it twice, and something in my chest cracked.
She thought she had to promise to be quiet to be worth saving.
Mattia: Cut her hands loose. Slow. Don't touch her.
When my knife came near, she flinched, so I crouched low and cut the rope slow.
My knuckles brushed her wrist, and her skin was cold and soft, and I felt it.
Mattia: I'm not going to hurt you. Nobody here is going to touch you.
She did not believe me. I could see it in her whole body.
She picked up her pad and wrote one word. Why.
Mattia: Because you asked.
In the car she sat as far from me as the seat allowed, her back against the door.
Mattia: There's a blanket behind you. Take it. Please.
She took it and held it like it could be taken back.
She wrote again, slow. You don't have to do this.
Mattia: I know I don't.
That scared her more than Tobias had.
My mother was in the door of the house above the club with the light on behind her.
Alba took one look at the blood and her eyes went wet and hard at the same time.
Alba: Oh, my poor baby. Who did this to you?
She reached out, and the girl flinched back against my chest.
Alba stopped her hand in the air and left it there, open, waiting.
Alba: It's all right. I can wait. I'm good at waiting.
The girl looked at that open hand for a long time.
Then she put her fingers in it, light as a bird, like she expected to be hit.
Alba: There she is. Come inside, piccola. You're safe now.
She wrote one more word and turned the pad around. Stay?
Mattia: We're staying. Nobody takes you out of this house.
Her chin shook, and for the first time all night she let herself cry.