Chapter 10: I Can Take It

“I know. But I cannot watch it happen to you either!” Tina’s response came sharp and fast, her own panic cutting through the air. She had always been softer than Vee, quicker to laugh, quicker to cry. “You think I can just sit here knowing they’ll hurt you instead? That I’ll breathe while you suffer?”

“I can take it,” Vee said immediately, desperation edging her words. She stepped closer, gripping Tina’s arms. “It will all work out, sweetie. I promise.”

She did not know if that promise was a lie or a prayer. Probably both.

Tina sank into her sister’s arms. They clung to each other, shoulders shaking, both girls crying now. “How can he do this?” Tina sobbed. “Why would he do this?”

Vee closed her eyes. “Who knows why dad does whatever he does,” she said quietly.

Tina pulled back suddenly, eyes red. “How about if we run away together?”

“And leave dad alone?” Vee asked instinctively, the reflexive loyalty still clinging to her ribs.

“Vee!” Tina snapped, incredulous. “He is trying to sell me! His own daughter. I don’t think he cares much what happens to us.”

Vee stared at her sister, realization dawning slowly, painfully.

“You think we should give it a shot?” Vee asked.

“Yes!” Tina answered enthusiastically.

“What if we get caught?”

“We wont.” Tina said it with the blind confidence of youth. Vee envied her for it.

“Alright,” Veronica said after a beat, exhaling slowly. “I don’t know exactly when they are coming for you but maybe we can try tonight.”

Tina’s eyes widened.

“We cannot leave together,” Vee continued, slipping into problem-solving mode, the manager in her rising to the surface. “Dad will get suspicious.” She gestured around the room. “We have to get a few of our things and maybe hide it in the dumpster down the road this evening. Then I tell dad I am going for a stroll and you will sneak out the window.”

Tina squeezed her hand. “We’re really doing this.”

Vee squeezed back, harder. “Yes. We are.”

“Okay. Lets do this!” Vee chuckled. “I’ll go make some withdrawals from the bank, okay? And I will stop by Cassidy’s to inform him I wont be checking in with him for a while.”

Vee grabbed her jacket, fingers trembling just slightly as she slid her arms into the sleeves.

“Alright. Hurry. I’ll have your things packed in the meantime. Say hi to Cassidy for me. I’m so sorry this is happening. I know you like him a lot.”

“Not as much as I like you.” Veronica said, kissed her sister and hurried out of the house.

Outside, the afternoon sun felt obscene in its brightness. People passed on the sidewalk laughing, living. Vee walked fast, head down, counting steps. At the bank, her hands shook as she filled out withdrawal slips. At Cassidy’s place, she lied through her teeth with a smile that nearly broke her face.

*****

That night, the plan was in place.

Darkness wrapped the neighborhood in a false sense of calm. Streetlights buzzed faintly, moths circling them. Veronica had their bags hidden in the dumpster, tucked beneath flattened cardboard and old pizza boxes that evening.

She walked into the living room where her dad was sitted in his chair watching a soap opera on TV. The screen flickered dramatically, lovers arguing in exaggerated tones. Vito stared at it glassy-eyed, beer bottle loose in his grip.

“Dad, I’m stepping out for a bit.”

Vito merely grunted in response.

She shook her head and walked out the front door, the hinges sighing softly behind her.

Her heart pounded as she stepped onto the porch, counting seconds. One. Two. Three.

Moments later, she heard her sister jogging towards her, breathless.

Tina burst into view, hair loose, eyes wide, chest heaving.

“Are you okay?” vee asked.

“Yes,” Valentina answered. Her eyes darted left and right, every shadow a potential threat, every sound magnified by fear.

“Tell me,” Vee said softly, “just how many times have you been using the window as an escape?”

Valentina shrugged, an exaggerated roll of her shoulders that did little to hide her nerves. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Vee smiled despite everything. They walked down the road hand in hand, their footsteps syncing naturally. The street was quiet. Shops were shuttered. Porch lights glowed faintly behind drawn curtains.

The dumpster sat exactly where Vee remembered it, squatting at the corner. Relief fluttered in her chest. She stepped forward quickly, heart hammering, and flipped the lid open.

The sound the metal lid made echoed far too loudly.

Her stomach dropped so fast she felt dizzy.

“Where is it?” she asked herself.

Valentina leaned forward, peering inside. “Maybe this is the wrong one?”

“No,” Vee said immediately, panic creeping into her voice. “I placed it in here. On this corner.”

“Maybe the dumpster was switched?” Tina offered, grasping for logic the way one reaches for a railing in the dark.

Vee turned to her slowly. “Why would anyone switch a dumpster?”

Valentina opened her mouth, closed it, then snapped her fingers. “Maybe some homeless person took it. I know a homeless guy. He sleeps on the corner over there.” She pointed vaguely down the street. “I’ll ask if he saw anyone fishing in the dumpster.”

Before Vee could argue, Tina was already moving, sneakers slapping softly against the pavement as she ran.

“Hurry,” Vee whispered after her. “I’ll wait here.”

She stood there alone, the night suddenly too big, too exposed. Every instinct screamed that this was wrong. That she had miscalculated. That escape had never really been an option.

Then a voice cut through the darkness behind her.

“Looking for this?”

Vee spun around.

He stepped out from the shadows. In his hand was the bag. Her bag. The one she had packed with shaking hands, with hope folded between clothes. The streetlight caught his face just enough for recognition to slam into her chest.

Her heart dropped straight to her stomach.

“Marco!” she blurted, shock stealing the air from her lungs. “What—” Her eyes flicked instantly toward the direction Tina had run, fear sharp and vicious. “What are you doing here?”

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