Darkness

26. Cain

Twenty-Six

Cain

“You know son, when you get out of here promise when you need help go to the family.” Grandad sits on the bed with me, and wipes the blood from the cut below my eye. It was a nasty fight, it took everything in me not to cry out in pain. One thing I’ve learned down here, never show them how much it hurts, because they will prey on that.

“When we get out, I leave with you,” I tell him and flinch when he presses the towel on my cheek. “Can I ask a question?” A question I’ve wanted to ask for a while now, but always too scared of what the answer would be.

“I was waiting for you to ask me.” Grandad rinses the towel in the dirty water. I will probably get more of an infection from the water, then not treating the cuts.

“Is this place really safer than what would happen on the outside?” There is no way this could have been any better than fighting as a family out there.

Grandad looks around the cage, then outside when we hear a loud roar. “There are two families after us in the outside world. One will be your mom’s new husband. If he can kill your dad the way he did, he wouldn’t be scared to kill you, and the other well they have been trying to kill us for a long time, and they would have got you to take revenge on me.” He stops talking, and bows his head, shaking it a little. “I got a lot of enemies, but one family tried to kill your dad when he was a baby, then as he got older they didn’t go after just him but your uncle as well.”

“Why? What did you do?” I ask.

“I had a hit, it was a clean-up job, another person messed it up, so I had to finish it.” He stops and I can see the pain frown on his forehead. “I got to the house, he was meant to be alone, this is the reason we now do our own research and not ask others.” Grandad wipes the blood on my face again, and I’ve never seen this painful look in his eyes before. I stop him from wiping the blood, and the look of pain stares back at me. “I shot, and killed his wife who was pregnant. I couldn’t finish the job, and left. Two weeks later he found me and said for the rest of my life, I would look over my shoulder, because he will kill someone who means the most to me.” There is nothing I can say, because grandad killed a woman and her baby.

“Cain, our job can be anyone. Politician, rapists, mafia, anyone, and I killed the head of the Chicago mafia’s wife. It was going to be a bloodbath, everyone knows you’re my weakness, and they would have made it hell until you died. This place is hell, but you’re alive.”

“For how long?” I ask, the family got me, the pain would end, but here I have no idea how long I’m living this hell. If my family were powerful why couldn’t they protect me?

“Cain, promise me you will let the family help when you need it.” Grandad asks again, not answering my question, because he doesn't have the answer.

“Promise.”

Walking into uncle David’s I see everyone is here. I got Lincoln to go back to the club, but to watch the flower shop on my laptop to make sure no one comes to the shop.

“Cain,” Uncle David pats my shoulder, and I follow him to the kitchen where I hear everyone talking. “What’s happening?” He asks as he fills a glass of whiskey for me.

“I told you all about Autumn and her stalker.” They all stop what they are doing and focus on me. “Yang sent her a gift from her stalker.”

“What?”

“Do they even know each other?”

“Where is she?”

Questions are coming from them all, I don’t even know who’s asking which question.

Uncle David tells everyone to stop talking, and then turns to me, waiting for me to answer some questions thrown at me.

“As far as I know they don’t know each other, I have no idea how Yang found him, she’s at the shop, Lincoln is watching the live feed, and I need everyone's help.” They all agree, without even knowing what I need from them. “I’m not showing Yang he’s got to me, and I fear what he will do. I’m not scared of him, but worried about what he will do to Autumn to get what he wants from me.”

“Cain, you can’t leave her alone.” Uncle David is the first one to speak.

“I know, but I can’t be with her all the time, Yang will know he’s found my weak spot. How do you all fancy popping into the shop for a few hours until it closes? I will be there now and again, but when I’m not, I’m hoping anyone will pop in throughout the day.” I’m not used to asking for help, normally Lincoln and I can do whatever needs doing, so being here is new to me.

“Done, between the six of us she will never be alone.” Uncle David is the one to answer, but I look at everyone to see if any of them are not on board. But they all give me a nod, even Mason who I know likes to spend his days sleeping or doing nothing.

“You think he’s going to make a move?” Declan asks.

“Yes, I just don’t know when. He’s going to do something until I break, all I need is something on him, so I can have the upper hand on him.” A part of me knows I’m being stupid, risking my family, risking Autumn, all because I refuse to bow down to him, but I remember what he did. I still close my eyes and see the look on his face when he killed grandad. No matter what, I have to live with letting grandad down so I can't let Yang win.

“You don’t need to worry about Autumn-Rose, she’s part of the family now, and we look after each other.” Aunt Jane walks over to me, and smiles, placing her hand on my cheek. “You deserve happiness in your life, from everyone, it’s you I worry about.” She leans in closer, and whispers. “And the twins.”

“Which ones?” I ask laughing, because I know she’s talking about Mason and Miles. The two of them are not right in the head, Declan he’s quieter, and sometimes they are the ones to watch, and Lileah well she has an army around her so no one will even come close to hurting her.

“I think we all know which ones.” She kisses my cheek, and keeps her hand on my cheek for a moment, just staring into my eyes.

“Aunt Jane, I’m good.” I lie, but I’ve become so good at it, no one even knows when I’m doing it anymore. “I need to get back to the club, and find out when Yang went to England and met up with Rowan. Something isn’t right about all of it.”

“Is Katy in the shop?” Miles asks, and I have to stop the smile crossing my lips, because that boy will try his luck with anyone, no matter what their age. The crazy thing is, he could get any woman in his bed.

“She is, and back away from her. She doesn’t need you-”

“Oh, come on, I could show her a good time.” Miles tells me, and I choose to ignore him, and I nod to Uncle David to follow me out, because there is something I need to talk to him about, something which has been on my mind.

Walking out to my car, I lean on it, and Uncle David stands in front of me. “I know what Yang wants, and I also know I’m going to have to give it to him. I need to know if it happens, Autumn is safe, and The Pit, what we talked about.” I had a meeting with Uncle David, talking about how I want The Pit to be in a few years, but I need to know he was with me on it.

“First nothing will-”

“Uncle David, I know how hard it is to fight down there, and Yang never lost a fucking fight. Yes, I know how he fights, and maybe I can win, but it’s a big fucking if. The man taught me how to fight, the way he does, he will know what I’m doing-”

“Cain-”

“I will fight to the end, I will do everything to win, but if something happens. I need to know Autumn is safe, and The Pit is still in Crawford's hands.” I press my fingers into my eyes to ease the pain a little, because fuck it is killing me.

“Autumn will be safe, and I spoke to your Aunt about what we discussed and she said as long as Cain is with him every step, then she’s happy to make The Pit a part of the Crawford world,” Uncle David tells me. I feel my body relax a little knowing if something happens, what I worked hard to control will still be in the family.

“Is he ready?” I ask.

“That’s your job, to make him ready.” Uncle David laughs, pats my shoulder a few times. “Remember, they’re my boys, but so are you. You’re my son, and I want you to know my brother would be proud of the man you are.” I look down at the ground, kicking a few of the stones.

There is nothing I want more than my dad here with me, but it’s never going to happen.

“I don’t think he would.” I look back up at my Uncle when he laughs.

“You are known as a ghost, no one crosses you, and I’m sure you could kill a man and enjoy it, plus you’ve turned my boys into killers. I know for a fact he would be proud.” He tells me, and I don’t know what to say, all I can hope is he’s not saying this to make me feel better.

“Grandad once told me, you and dad had a full on fist fight, and you broke his nose, dad was pissed off about it, so he slept with your girlfriend. Is that true?” I ask, there are so many stories grandad told me, and I never knew if it was true or if he was saying it to make me feel like nothing bad was happening.

“Oh, it’s true, you see this?” He brings his hand up and shows me a scar which looks like a bite mark. “That’s your dad biting me, when I broke his nose, he was pissed off. I won in the fight so he bit me so hard it broke a lot of skin. Fucker. Then he was still pissed off, he slept with my girlfriend. Shortest relationship I had, two days.” He laughs, then shakes his head. “Two weeks later, I did the same to the girl he was dating. Why do you ask?”

“Grandad told me a lot of stories, and I wasn’t sure if it was true, or he was making me feel safe with stories.” I take my cell out of my pocket when it beeps, and see Lincoln has found something.

“Come over one day, and I will let you know if they were true or not, but I have a feeling they will be. Me and your dad were best friends, but worst enemies at the same time.” I give him a nod, letting him know I will come over one day, to listen to the stories. I open the car door, but stop when Uncle David holds the door. “You know your dad’s house is still there, for you.”

“I know,” I tell him. My parents brought the entire plot, nothing around us, but the two homes. Uncle David, and dads, well mine, but I’ve not even walked into the house since I got out. Maybe one day I will, just not today. “I’ll see you later, if anything happens while someone is with Autumn, call me.”

Uncle David nods, then I drive off, looking over at the house. Once there was happiness in there, and now it’s empty collecting dust. I can’t get rid of it, I know how hard the family worked for this plot. One day I will figure out what to do with it.

I slam the guys face into the door, and walk away from him before I do more damage to his face. Why do assholes come into my club and think this club is where they can do their drug deals? It’s not, never has been. So, why pricks like him think it’s okay to sell them in here is a fucking joke.

“I don't know who the big man is behind your deals, but tell him Mr. Cain said if you come in my club again, I’ll find him and burn his whole fucking empire down.” I turn back to face him when Lincoln helps him to stand up. It felt exhilarating beating the fucker up, it showed me one thing, I miss fighting.

I turn to the door when Autumn walks into the office with Hayden. I was meant to pick her up from the shop when she was closing up, but this asshole needed to be taught a lesson.

Autumn looks at the guy as she walks over to me, and Hayden laughs at him.

“Have fun?” Autumn asks, before kissing me.

“Yes.” I lean back on the edge of my desk and look at Lincoln. “Find out if any of his friends are still around here.” Skyline is a big club, so they must have brought some of their friends with them.

“And if there is?” Lincoln asks.

“You want some fun?” I turn to Hayden who smiles. “You can join Lincoln and remind them who's club this is.” When the office is empty, I look at Autumn looking out at the club, then up to the other floors. I know she wants to see the sixth floor, but it's not a floor which has a lot going on, and I’m not sure she’s ready for it yet. “How was work?” I ask her, as I walk back around to sit down, so I can finish work for the night.

“Okay, I got the window display finished, you want to see it?” She turns around looking through her cell as she makes her way to me. “I’m really happy with it. It’s my favorite one so far,” I take the cell from her to have a look.

I have no idea if this looks good or not, I don’t know the first thing about marketing a flower shop, but she’s happy with it and that’s all I care about. “You did a good job.” I pull her closer to me, so she sits on the edge of the desk. “I have about an hour of work left to do, so you have an hour to get ready.” I place my hands on her thighs. I love when she wears dresses, it always shows off her sexy legs.

“Ready for what?” She moves her hands through my hair so softly I never want her to stop doing it.

“You asked for a date, so I’m taking you on a date.” I got a table at the best restaurant in town, which normally has a waiting list, but when the owner is here a lot, more nights than he needs to be, it was easy to get a table.

“Really? Where are we going? Fancy, or casual?” The smile on her beautiful face is stunning. “Is it safe to go out?” The question continues to flow from her, and I smile.

“First, I don’t scare so easily, it’s a fancy place, and wear something sexy which I can rip off when we get home.” I stop talking and listen to the voice in my ear, then turn to the CCTV footage behind me.

“What are we looking at?” Autumn asks. She asks so many questions about the club, and how I do it all myself.

“Lincoln said there were three of them, so I want to see their faces, because if I see them in the club again, they will wish they never stepped in here.” I watch Lincoln and Hayden taking them down to the basement.

“What’s down there?” Autumn asks, and I turn back to face her, and smile. “I don’t want to know, do I?” she asks, and I burst out laughing.

“No, you don’t.” I get off my chair, and walk over to the elevator, and wait for it to open. “Now you get yourself ready, and I’ll be up once I finish the paperwork, and we can have a nice-”

“Date, you were going to say date.” Autumn knows me too well, because she knows I wasn’t going to say date. I was going to say meal, all this romantic stuff is still new to me. “Don’t say anything, because in my head it-” I stop her rambling when I kiss her. Now I enjoy when she talks nonstop, I’ll admit I zone out for most of it, but tonight I don't want her over thinking anything, and just have a nice time.

Placing my hand on the door so they don’t close, I tell her to get in and relax. I don’t have much work to do, all I have left is to work out staff shifts, and to make sure the VIP floor, and the sixth floor checks have been done for whoever wants to be up there next week. The rooms are booked months in advance, and they go through a lot of scrutiny. They go through a basic check when they book the room, a month before their slot we do another check on who they are, and then one last check a few days before. I need to keep my staff and business safe, no matter what.

I make my way down to the basement, I wasn’t going to tell Autumn the truth about the work I have to do, it will worry her for no reason. I smile at the mess Lincoln and Hayden have left the idiots in.

“Have fun?” I ask Hayden who looks like he needed this.

“Yeah,” he answers, then tells the guys to never come back to the club. I wait for them to leave, and walk around the basement.

It’s nothing special, nothing but black walls, concrete floors, and a few lights hanging from the ceiling. We don’t need anything fancy down here.

“Anything?” I turn to Lincoln.

“No movement from him. He went to work this morning, well England’s morning. He hasn’t brought a ticket to leave, I’m not finding anything on Yang leaving the States though, so he must have used his private jet, and gone through a system like we do,” Lincoln tells me, which was what I didn’t want to hear. Because I will never know when Yang will bring him here.

“So the only thing we have is watching him twenty-four seven?” I shake my head, looking down at the floor. “Yang will make his move soon, and we just have to be ready for it.” I hate being in the unknown, the man was the same in The Pit you never knew what his plan was, I could never beat him chess. The poker face that man has is the best I’ve seen.

“What about Rowan?” Hayden asks. “Yang, might have told Rowan, or he’s playing a game with us. Either way Rowan might get close to Autumn.” Hayden wipes the blood off his hands, and throws the towel on the table.

“First, he won’t get close to her, that’s the reason I have someone with her all the time. I have two options.” Rubbing my eyes because I’m being rushed into a job which I’m not enjoying. “I go to England and kill him-”

“And the second he is dead, and Autumn visits her family with you, you'll be the first person they look into. The man is very high up in the food chain.” Lincoln is the first to talk and for some reason they think I haven’t thought that.

“My second option is I send the brothers and they do it the Crawford way.” Now there is nothing I want more than to kill Rowan myself, but I also don’t want anyone looking into me, and with how high up that asshole is, the connections his father has, they will turn over every stone until they find something to connect me to his death. I can’t have that.

“When?” Hayden asks.

“Need to know Yang’s move first. Once I know his game plan, then I can make my move.” I know the boys will make it painful, they will have fun with it, and no one will know it was them.

“Right, we will monitor Rowan and Yang, you have a date.” Lincoln chuckles to himself. “You’re going to hate it.”

“You know because you’ve been on so many dates?” I ask him.

“No, but you have to sit there and talk. With Autumn you talk, but you also try to get out of certain conversations-”

“She’s the only one I talk to, and it won’t be that bad.” I’m not going to say I’m looking forward to tonight, because I don't know how long I have to sit there and talk. She knows everything about me, well more than most people know. I’ll get her talking about her family, and her childhood. Get a few drinks in her, and she will ramble about stuff all night. “I’ll see you in the morning, any news you call me.”

“You can have one night-”

“Call me, no matter what,” I snap.

I don’t care what anyone says, I never get a day off. I take a day off, I die, or they take The Pit from me. Not happening.