**Chapter Two**


"Mia, I'm sorry. I know business is bad, things have just, they've just been runnin' cold since that stuff that went down." His eyes arched in sincerity as he spoke. His deep voice, soft with concern and his words, well thought out. "I've been rackin' my brain for a way to make everything better, to make it all good again but I can't seem to come up with a plan. I'm burned out Mia." He whispered to himself, "burned out". He shook his head as he looked down toward the floor. Slowly he raised his head and began to speak again. "We need to sell the businesses Mia." He paused for a reply and leaned further on his knees moving closer to the table. "I'm sorry." He said with more sincerity than ever released from his mouth.

"Sorry for what?" Letty's voice interrupted.

Dom suddenly looked away from the mirror in his room and turned to see Letty standing in the doorway. He shook his head as if it were nothing to do with her, then went back to looking for a nice shirt for him to wear. "Don't worry about it. Nothin' that concerns you." He growled quietly, giving her a side-glance with his eyes as he continued sifting through his dresser drawers.

Letty's face turned from that hopeful, bug eyed expression to the hard, 'don't mess with me' look it always used to possess. "Why is it that nothing concerns me nowadays Dom? Answer me that. You've changed big time buddy and if you keep it up there's gonna be none of us anymore." Letty threatened as she went to storm out of his room.

Usually Dom would've just laughed her idle threats off because that was how they usually spoke to each other, it showed them that they weren't perfect and that they didn't expect each other to be perfect. But now the new Letty was here and she did expect Dom to be perfect. To hold a nine to five job, to mow the lawns on the weekend, to dress sensibly, to drive sensibly. None of which he wanted to be. He let her walk out the door. Things weren't the same anymore. Thank God he still had his boys.

"Hey Dom. Racing's about to start on the box, you comin' bro?" Vince asked as he swung around Dom's bedroom door.

"Na man not tonight. I'm takin' the little sister out to dinner. Got some things we need to sort out." Dom said pulling the shirt he had found over his bare, muscled chest.

Vince smiled that evil smile of his and laughed in mock humour. "Fine by me bro. Just don't come complainin' to me that you missed a good race." Vince left the room before Dom could throw anything at him.

Dom smiled then shook his head again, an action he had been doing a lot of lately with things being the way they were. "Yeah well, I've got more important things on my mind bro," he quietly said to himself as he continued to get dressed.


"So what's this all about Dom? Why are you playing nice brother all of a sudden?" Mia asked as she folded her napkin and placed it beside her dinner plate.

A waiter walking by the pair noticed they had finished their meal and began clearing away their dishes.

Dom looked up at the waiter, half wanting him to save him from having to tell his sister the real deal behind bringing her there. He watched the waiter walk away, wanting to trade places just for this moment. He took a deep breath then brought his sorry eyes to her face. "We have to sell Mia. I know things are bad, but they are worse than you could expect. I'd be lucky if I got a car a day to work on at the garage. The grocery seems to be holding it's own but it still can't keep us afloat."

Mia stared at her brother. She could feel the mixed emotions stirring in her stomach. Hate, anger, sadness, everything just churning away. But she knew that this was hurting him as much as her. "How bad is it?" She managed to say.

"We're $80,000 in debt. I've got tax bills, phone bills, parts bills, just bills comin' out my ears Mia. I've tried to think of a way where we wouldn't have to sell but there's nothing." Dom replied. He wanted to sound gentle but he was so frustrated about the whole issue.

Mia nodded her head slowly. "So. I guess there's nothing much we can do. Do we have a buyer?"

"I had a guy come 'round the day before yesterday looking at the place. Says it needs a bit of work. Yeah fucking right! But he made an offer, the real estate agent thinks it's the best I could probably get for what it's worth."

Mia placed her elbows on the table, something that had been frowned upon by her mother, and rested her head on her hands. "How much?"

Dom looked up from playing with his dessert spoon. "Thirty grand. It ain't much but, I don't think garage's are in hot demand on the property front." He laughed slightly, thinning the air between them. "I'm sorry Mia. If there was anything I could have done to prevent this I would have. You know that."

Mia smiled and placed her small, delicate hand over her brother's. She too had noticed that just by looking at him, Dom looked like he had aged about thirty years. "I know." She replied. "I'll go with whatever you think is best, but don't keep me in the dark. I want to know everything that happens. I need to know. We're in this together, and I don't want you to feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, ok?" Her light brown eyes lifting up to reveal her hope for the both of them to pull through this.

Dom smiled and covered her hand with his other one. "I promise. Now, that meal didn't even fill my left side! Where's dessert?" he said loud enough for the waiters on the other side of the room to hear.

He laughed at Mia as she sunk deeper into her chair, wanting not to be noticed while her brother acted like a baboon.



Brian opened the door to his apartment and was greeted with the scent of a house that had been closed up for weeks on end. He had just got back from visiting his family back in Arizona. He sifted through mail as he walked towards his answer machine. Pressing the button on the machine he continued to open and read his mail.

Beep. "You have three new messages." The voice over said. He sat down on his sofa and opened a letter that didn't have a return address on it.

"Brian it's Tanner. Just callin' to see if you'd reconsider your resignation. Give us a call Brian. You were a good cop and still are a good cop." Beep. Brian laughed as he listened to Tanner. He had respect for the guy but there was no way he was gonna go back.

"Hi Brian this is Vanessa from Blockbuster just calling to remind you that the DVD you rented on Thursday the 8th of last month, Joyride, is now over due. If you could return that as soon as possible that would be much appreciated." Brian looked up hearing her stress the words 'last month' and jumped off his couch to look under his coffee table for the DVD. Beep.

The sound of a girl laughing invaded his ears for a split second before the dial tone clicked on. Brian swung his head up from the floor and looked around. Faintly remembering that laugh he got off the floor and walked briskly back to the machine. Pressing rewind he focused solely on the machine as the message played again. The voice came back to him as soon as it played. "Aw shit!" he exclaimed as he grabbed his jacket and left his apartment as quickly as he could.