Page 14 of Riot

The tailor’s shop was tucked off a quiet street in Manhattan, appointment-only, champagne-on-arrival type shit. I stepped in and immediately spotted the crew.

Creed stood by the fitting platform, arms crossed, already halfway into his tux. Havoc sat in the corner, scrolling on his phone, face unreadable. Our cousins—KC and Rollo—were posted up near the window, talking shit and laughing about something wild from last weekend.

“Look who decided to finally show up,” Creed said, giving me that classic big brother smirk.

I smirked right back. “I’ve been busy, but I ain’t missin’ this.”

KC grinned. “Ain’t this some shit.Creedgettin’ married. Whole damn city about to be shook.”

“Facts,” Rollo added. “Never thought we’d see the day. Thought this nigga was married to the grind.”

Creed shrugged, but I could see the pride in his eyes. “Still am. I’ll just have two wives now.”

I clapped him on the back. “Nah, you did good. Sloane a real one. Smart. Sharp. Don’t take your shit. You need that.” I really did like Sloane. Seeing the way she improved my brother’s life touched me. There were fleeting moments when I wanted something like that for myself, but I couldn’t bring myself to ever letting another woman in. I wasn’t even sure if I deserved it.

He nodded once. “I know.”

Everyone was in good spirits. Laughing. Talking tux styles. Matching accessories. Shit felt like a celebration already. The room was loud with energy—until it wasn’t.

Havoc had been quiet the whole time, barely glancing up from his phone.

Then outta nowhere, he snapped.

The energy in the tailor’s shop shifted the second Havoc opened his mouth.

“Y’all really leave me out of everything, huh?”

The room went quiet, like somebody hit the mute button. KC stopped laughing. Rollo froze mid-sip of champagne. EvenCreed paused, staring like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

I turned toward Havoc, already feeling heat crawl up my spine. “The fuck you talkin’ about?”

Havoc stood up from the corner, slow, dramatic. His whole posture changed. “I’m talkin’ about this whole damn wedding. You’re the best man. I didn’t even get a consideration. I’m talkin’ about the company. About the family. I’ve always been on the outside. Pops treated me like I barely existed, and you two carried that shit on like it was your birthright.”

The reality was, Pops was hard on all of us. Havoc wasn’t special. Yeah, maybe Pops didn’t give him as much attention as he gave me and Creed—but honestly, he should feellucky for that. It wasn’t until Creed met Sloane that I realized that nigga straight up abused us. He wasn’t just hard. He was calculated. Cruel. He tortured us.

He’s part of the reason I never believed I deserved love. Made me do something so unforgivable, I still can’t look at myself the same.

But Havoc? He didn’t live with us. He was spared. He didn’t have to play Russian roulette for punishment. Pops didn’t lock him in a dungeon with a chained-up hyena, barely five inches away. Any closer and that wild mutt would’ve ripped me to pieces. That was how Pops got down. Sick games. Psychological warfare. Straight-up torture.

So what the fuck was Havoc even talking about?

Creed stepped forward, his voice low and calm. “You doing too much, bruh. You’ve always had a seat at the table.”

“Bullshit,” Havoc snapped. “You made Riot your best man. You two move like a unit and I’m just the spare. And don’t even get me started on your mother—Tessa never wanted me around. She made that clear from day one.”

My jaw flexed. My hands balled into fists.

“She didn’t let him see me ‘til I was ten,” Havoc went on, bitter. “She was so busy playin’ the perfect wife, protectin’ Silas, pretending like she ain’t know what he was really about. But she knew. Ain’t no way a woman that deep in a man’s world don’t know what’s goin’ on.”

Creed’s voice dropped another octave. “Watch it, Havoc.”

But I didn’t wait.

I moved.

Fast.

Closed the space between us and cracked him in the face, clean across the jaw with a right hook that sent him stumbling back into the mirror that cracked. It shook on the wall from the force.

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