*Chapter Four.***
After Miguel left, They stayed up all night thinking of what to do. Isabella could not risk the life of her siblings. She had promised to protect them, the night her parents told them to hide in the store room. For years, she had done that perfectly well.
"We should leave the city for another," Rosa suggested. She could not come up with any better idea than this.
"You think it will stop Miguel?" her brother spoke for the first time since they started the conversation. His sisters were glad that he was participating. "It won't rather we will find ourselves new enemies. The people who killed our parents are still looking for me. They want me dead."
Isabella supported her chin with her left hand. She was still scared of the murderers from the past.
"I don't know but Miguel meant it this time" Rosa drank from the cup in her hand. She saw how he looked at her when he came closed. It was more than those stares. "I'm scared of him, Bella."
Isabella was confused. She would go on a job hunt to the neighboring town and see if any one would employ her.
"What do you think?" Rosa asked.
"I will try harder out there. If we start giving into Miguel's demands now…they will never end" her sister replied.
"What did he say he would do if we don't comply?" Their brother asked. He knew Miguel and his threats.
"The two of you," Isabella answered. Her eyes were filled with tears. She was going to fail her parents if she does not protect her siblings. It was not easy to survive in a strange city but it was better than the last.
They would have been dead by now if they have not left that city. She knew that he mob would have finish up what they started. They did not like unfinished business.
"Working for Miguel is suicide, Bella" Rosa advised. It was obvious that she hated him the most. "I will look for a job as well. Do not tell me no, it's not safe out there."
"Yes, I will say it. When you are eighteen, I will let you go out there and see how the world is," Isabella told her. She was still a child that needed protection. Rosa was very beautiful. If her beauty disturbs the eyes of a don…just like it disturbed Miguel's today. She will be taken away from them.
She would work as a prostitute.
**
For three days, she searched around. No one was willing to employ her. They slammed the door right in her face. It was obvious that Miguel distributed her picture.
Isabella had no property to sell or exchange her freedom with. It all left her with an option- agree to Miguel's terms.
"I think this will be the beginning of our problem," Rosa said, biting her fingers. When ever she was afraid, this happens. If Isabella accept to work for Miguel, he will demand for something else tomorrow.
"Maybe it's the opposite," Julian who sat across joined the conversation. He was reading for hours while the girls discussed. "For years, we have searched for the truth…I mean the people who killed our parents. I think this is the only way to find out. By working with such people."
"You are right," The oldest of the siblings nodded.
Rosa was not comfortable. It was more than they all thought "father and mother must be turning in their graves right now."
"They have to. We are suffering each day for something we knew nothing about," Isabella stood up from the chair. She took her hat and jacket. After the job hunt today, she got tired and wished to be alone in her room.
"It is called fate," Their brother told them. "This is our fate but we can change that, by taking the right steps."
"What right steps?" Rosa was confused. she did not like the way her siblings were sounding. Working for a Mafia was dangerous. It was a business for men and not for women. she did not want them to get caught up in it.
"I will change that fate," Isabella meant it. With her hands akimbo, she walked to where Rosa was. "Whether it means working for the Mafias."
"You should not work for mafias, I beg you," Her younger sister was almost in tears. She knew all the sacrifices her sister had made for them.
"I don't have a choice here" Isabella headed for her room. Life always made the wicked win….if not in all cases, but theirs. When she thought everything was going to calm down, things went out of control.
Tomorrow, she was going to meet Miguel and do as he says and only God knows what he was going to do to her.
That night, Isabella barely slept. She turned on her bed till morning with her eyes opened. She wondered if what she was about to do would protect her siblings or hurt them.
A knock came on her door and she sat up. It was Rosa, informing her that breakfast was set. Isabella was surprised. It was morning and the next day. She was going to start working for that ass hole called Miguel.