Page 4 of Ruin

DECLAN

“Cain cameto me and said he wants to train one of you to oversee what happens down there.” Dad’s gaze shifts between the four of us. “Your mother and I have agreed with him.”

What the hell? Why would they agree to send one of us to The Pit? That place is fucking insane. I already feel sorry for Hayden. Twelve weeks down there will be brutal.

“You’ll spend the summer there,” Cain says, standing up with a twisted smile. “Lincoln or I will be in and out, but you need to learn to fight down there. Take control, show others what fear really means.”

Then, without hesitation, he points straight at me.

“You have one week. Then you go to The Pit.”

“What?” I choke out the word, it barely makes it past my lips. My brothers look just as surprised as me. If they had to pick someone, why the hell would they choose me?

If I had to pick one of us, it would be Mason. The man is fucking crazy. “I’m the youngest. The baby shouldn’t have to-”

“And that’s exactly the reason you’re going. You’re not a baby anymore—you’re a Crawford, and it’s time to act like one,” Cain snaps at me.

I look over at my brothers again, still trying to figure out why the hell it has to be me?

“We have the shooter, the hacker, and the one who doesn’t care. But you—you’re going to be the one who stays calm before the storm. I’m going to turn you into the kind of man who kills with his hands. The kind of man who walks into a room, and everyone knows not to fuck with. You are going to be the future me.”

Cain takes a step closer to me, and I hate that smug smile. You never know what’s going on in his head.

“First lesson—a poker face.”

“What if I die down there?” My voice is tight, my chest burning with the weight of it. “You said there are only two ways out. Kill the boss—which is you—and we both know I can’t take you in a fight. The other way is a body bag.” This is fucking insane, and I don’t care what anyone else says.

“There is a third way,” Cain says casually, like we’re talking about the weather. “If the boss lets you walk out. How do you think Lincoln got out?”

That doesn’t make me feel any better. Not even close.

“If it makes you feel better, you can pick your own number.”

My stomach twists. This has gone from bad to a full-blown nightmare.

He wants me to get numbers burned into my skin.

“What numbers make up the words fuck you?” I ask, making everyone laugh. I turn to my brothers. “Doesn’t it piss you three off that he picked the baby to oversee The Pit instead of one of the older ones?”

I expect at least one of them has to be annoyed, but they all shake their heads.

“I see it. You’re strong—like Cain,” Mason tells me.

“Like he said, the calm before the storm. That’s not us,” Hayden adds.

I snort at Hayden’s comment. The guy’s a closed book, always has been. After everything that happened to him, he’d handle The Pit better than I ever could.

“D, we keep telling you—trust the process with Cain. It will kill you, but in the end, you’ll be a machine,” Miles says, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “I might just be the hacker, but I know I can fight like a killer because of him. Trust him.”

I shake my head at the three of them.

Easy for them to say. They aren’t the ones about to spend the summer in hell—the summer I thought was going to be filled with women and parties.

I turn back to Cain and my dad, exhaling hard. “Just don’t let me die. I still plan on having a lot of sex.” My dad shoves me as I laugh alongside my brothers.

This summer is going to be hell, but I know it’s going to make me stronger. And it’s what the family needs.

Plus, I trust Cain with my life.

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