Page 102 of Ruin

We all give him a nod and walk into the house, Cain doesn't even knock, just walks straight in.

Mason stands to the side of me, Miles on the other side and Cain, walks in front and Hayden watching my back. Do I feel like I've got a target on me with how my brothers are with me right now? Yes.

“Where is he?” Cain asks.

“Office, second door to the right,” one of the men replies and I look at each one of them as I walk past them. Jeans, t-shirt, black trainers, nothing special. The guns are probably tucked into the back of their jeans. There's no way these people don't have a gun. They could shoot me in a second, if they wanted to.

“Mr. Crawford, King of The Pit,” Mr. Riley says locking eyes with him. “We still wonder what it took for you to tell the world who you are. Brought the biggest target to you and your family.

“We knew the risk.” Hayden's the first to answer.

Cain didn't come out of The Pit and tell everyone who he was. Fuck, no. He hid himself from the world. Fuck, he hid himself from us for a while, but we told him the Crawford family stick together and to have faith in the family. Number one rule is to always have faith in the family.

“When you sent your son to The Pit, you knew the rules, every man for themselves, with only two ways out; one in a body bag or two he kills me. Your son came back in a body bag. You have no right to take revenge. No other family has taken revenge on anyone who has been killed, no one. So, what makes you so special that you think you can do this?” Mr. Riley starts laughing. “Now, Now Mr. Riley, if I wanted to, I could kill you before you even blinked.”

“And why haven't you?” he asks, and I take the time to look at the men in the room. Seven. Seven men, why does he need so many people around him?

“If this was about a year ago. I would have killed you without a second thought for putting harm to my family. Wouldn't have even blinked at the thought. But now, I have brothers who I need to look after. So, I always say, let's talk it out. If talking doesn't work, then we go in a different direction.” There is silence in the room for a moment, and I wonder what he’s thinking about

“Is the direction to kill me?

“No, not at all. When you contacted The Pit, you said your son needed to go down. If he stayed out here, he would have died.” Cain walks closer to the desk, making us all take a step forward, protecting our brother. “No one told him to start a fight. No one told him to get out of The Pit. That's the thing about The Pit, Mr. Riley, you make mistakes and die, or you grow up and learn to survive.” Cain taps the desk a few times, then stands up tall. “Your son died because he underestimated his competition. Now you tell me, is that fair?”

Wow, this man knows how to take over a room. He sent me to The Pit to become his second in command, but this moment right now, shows me one thing. I still have a lot to learn from him.

“He was my son!” Riley shouts.

“Yes, and you have one more. Do you really want him to die? You kill Declan, his brothers kill your son. Then you come for another brother, then they kill another member of your family. The circle continues to go around. Do you want the circle to continue?”

“I want revenge for my son.” I chuckle to myself, and he looks over at me.

“Everybody wants revenge,” I snap at him, and look around the room once again, making sure all his men are still there.

“You think you're untouchable, don't you?” Riley snarls back at me.

The corner of my lip curls. “No, I don't.”

“If I wanted you dead, I could have-”

“And yet you didn’t. I never once said I was untouchable, Mr. Riley. Your son wasn't the only person I killed down there. I killed a lot, and no one else is after me. No one else has even made contact with me to find out who killed their family member. Which makes me think, you want something. What do you want?” Big Man always told me, someone wants to start a fight, it's most likely they want something. No one starts a fight with anyone just to have a fight. “Not revenge for your son, though. No, you want something else.”

He looks to the side of the room, then quickly back to me. I glance over to where he was looking, and smile. “You want someone? Who do you want?” He doesn't reply and I take a step closer, standing next to Cain. “Someone you lost… Not your wife… not your daughter …Mistress?” He sits up in his chair and fidgets a little.

“So, you want the person who killed your mistress?” The four of us start laughing. Cain, still being Cain, he can keep it serious, and not laugh like we are.

“So, if they killed your wife, you would be okay with it?” Mason asks, but he doesn’t reply.

“And where is this person, The Pit?” Cain asks. “You can have him, but you'll have him dead, because no one comes out of The Pit alive.”

“I can say three people have come out of The Pit alive.” Riley points out to Cain, which makes Mason and Miles both chuckle.

“Yes, the King of The Pit, he's the successor, and his knight. See the pattern there?” Cain tells him, and Mr. Riley looks between me and Cain.

“You really thought we were going to come here and hand you a man from The Pit? You must be stupid.” I tell him, either he's been hit on the head one too many times or smoked something. Crazy man.

“You give me him in three days, or I will take something from you.” Riley looks straight into my eyes. That’s not a threat, it's a warning.

“We give you him, word gets around, then other families come knocking. No one is in The Pit because they want to be there. You were too scared for your son to be out here; he had enemies after him. You knew the risk,” Cain tells him. I’m starting to get bored of this conversation.

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