Ruin

32. Declan

THIRTY-TWO

DECLAN

I pace the living area. Cain is on the phone, not sure with who as I can’t hear him. Doc has been with Lincoln and cleaned up Lileah. And me? I’ve not been able to stand still for a second.

My heart is racing to the point I can hear it beating in my ears. If Riley hurts Trixie, I’ll make sure his death is fucking slow. My brothers have been sitting as far away from me as they can. Every time they try to speak to me, I want to stab them and they know it. I almost did when Mason kept telling me to sit down. That was just pissing me off.

Cain walks out with his laptop and places it on the table, and I walk over as he turns it around.

“Mom, Dad?” I give them a wave, my brothers joining me.

“Boys, Cain has filled us in on what is happening,” Dad starts, and I look over at Cain.

“Cain’s been telling you everything since you left,” I say. He might have told us he hasn’t, but we all know he has. From the first message I got to the car chase. Cain won’t hide anything from dad.

“Yes, he has. Where is Lileah?” Mom asks.

“Sleeping,” Hayden replies. I look at my watch to work out how long Trixie has been gone. Too long for my liking.

“So, one of my sons has a girlfriend, and no one told me.” Mom looks between us all, and they all turn to me, but I stay quiet. I’m not in the mood for this conversation. I need to find Trixie and the first place I am going to go is to Riley’s house. I want to make sure he knows I’m about to make his life hell. “I’m sure I’ll love her.” Mom adds, trying to fill the silence in the room.

“We have to fucking find her first,” I snap not at my mom, but at the situation.

“Mom, trust me, she’s a little different. Be prepared.” I hear Miles joke behind me, and I shake my head.

Why the fuck is everyone joking around? My girl is fucking missing, and we are sitting here having a god damn family meeting.

“What’s the plan?” Dad asks, and Cain turns to me, and is the first to say something.

“I know what you’re thinking, you have my vote.”

“You know it’s fucking creepy you know what we’re thinking, without having to say anything.” I will never get used to him doing that, how he reads people.

“I don’t want to kill him, that’s no fun-”

“Can I kill him?” Mason asks.

“He had his chance to walk away, and he didn’t, so now I’m going to make him suffer. We know the people his son killed in The Pit. I’ll talk to those families and tell them who killed their family member. Throughout the years, I tell families who it was that killed their family member down in The Pit. One by one, Riley will lose his family, because I want him to suffer, slowly.” I look at Cain who’s smiling at me, and then I turn back to my parents.

“You want to drag it out, I like the style.” The tone in Mason's voice makes me laugh a little.

“Now we have a plan, can I go get my girl.” I look at everyone staring at me, as if I’m making them go to fucking war. Even if I was, they would be happy for a fight. So, I’m not sure why the hell we are still sitting here?

“Can you all give me a moment with Declan please?” I turn to the laptop, Dad has already left and it’s just Mom on the screen.

Great, this is going to be a conversation about Trixie. I can already hear the questions she is going to ask, and her not being happy about things.

Mason and Miles pat my back as they leave, laughing. I pull out the chair and sit down, and smile at my mom. There is silence for a moment. I have no idea what mom wants to talk about so there is no point talking first.

“What’s her name?”

“Trixie.” Just saying her name brings a smile on my lips. I can’t wait for mom to meet her.

“Tell me a little about her.” I lean back in my chair and look down at my watch to check the time. I don’t have time for this conversation, not yet anyway. “Declan, tell me a little about her.”

“Ummm, she’s a fighter, she’s been through some fucked up…it was bad, Mom.” I stop and shake my head. “When I came out of The Pit and I told you I could sign what did you say to me?” I ask her, which makes me laugh.

“You will never use it.”

“Well, I used it. Got my girl, too.” I smile, and my mom laughs.

“Has she not talked since birth?” Now that’s a question.

“No, she can talk but went silent because of everything that happened to her. I only found out a week ago that she can talk, but she’s not comfortable talking. She’s getting there, but I told her I won’t push her, it’s all about her and when she’s ready. She’s covered in tattoos, which I like. She draws all the time, and has been through some messed up stuff. She designs all her own clothes and sews them herself.” I could talk about Trixie to my mom all day, but I stop when she puts her hand up and laughs.

“I’m looking forward to meeting her.”

“Me too,” my dad shouts as he comes back on screen. Dad gives me a wink, and I shake my head. He continues to talk before mom says anything else. “Where is your mind?” Dad asks.

“Wanting to kill someone, but I’m not going to do it. I just want Trixie back.” There is nothing I want to do more than walk into Riley's house, and put a bullet in his head, but he wanted to play mind games with me, I’ll play them with him.

“Well, you have your brothers on your side, and they’ll do what you want. Cain seems to already agree with you. So do it,” Dad tells me, and I give him a nod. I’m not sure what is going on so I don’t want to talk about it until I know what Riley has done with Trixie. I know he’s done something, but I’m not sure what yet. “Talk to us,” I look over at Mom, and she gives me a small smile.

“What if I’m too late and something’s happened to her?” There isn’t a lot I’m scared of but, the thought of not being there for Trixie is hurting me like a pain I’ve never felt before.

“You won’t be too late to save her, you go find her because we have a family meal this weekend.” Mom laughs, and it brings a smile to my lips.

Mom always loves her family meals. She comes home on Friday from Europe, and is already planning one. I just hope my girl is there with me. I give them both a nod and look over the laptop and see my brothers coming back.

“I’ve spoken to the first family, and they have agreed to your terms. Now, let's go get your girl back.” Cain pats my shoulder, and I get up from my chair, but stop when my mom calls my name.

“Declan, we’re sorry about your friend from The Pit. That was the reason we wanted to talk, but then Cain told us what was happening now. We know he was good to you.” Mom leans in closer to the screen. “Anything you want to do for him, we will do it.”

“He was my best friend, Mom, and I’ll do the one thing he asked me for. He asked me to bury him with his family. But first I need to go and get my girl.” I turn back to Cain as I hear my brothers tell Mom they’ll call her later.

I take the phone off Cain to see which family he has called. I don't know who he killed, nor do I know the families. I don’t know any names of the ones I killed, and I’m not asking, either. It will only mess with my head more, because I would want to find out about them, and I don’t want that.

“Are you sure this is the way you want to go?” Hayden asks.

“Yes, killing him doesn’t give me peace. Knowing he’ll never be able to sleep worrying about every member of his family brings me more satisfaction than killing him.” Handing the phone back to Cain, I see Doc walking out with Autumn, and Cain turns to them both.

“No one comes upstairs, you answer the phone from me or Hayden, and no one else. Only call me if it's life or death, other than that don’t call.” Autumn gives him a nod and then gives him a kiss. That is my cue to walk away.

“You okay?” Miles asks, as we wait for Cain to join us.

“Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve shut down thinking about anything. I want to focus on getting Trixie back.” I hit the button for the lift to open.

I’m going to get my girl back and make that man regret fucking with me.

* * *

Mason kicks the front door down, and we walk straight to the office. We ignore all of his security who don’t have time to react. Cain and I walk straight over to the desk, and I smile at him.

“Where is she?” I ask. One thing I’ve learnt from Cain over the years, is to stay calm, and have a poker face. I might not be as good as him yet, but I’m learning.

“Don’t know who you’re talking about.” Riley leans back in his chair and starts swinging it from side to side, which only makes me laugh.

“You have one minute to tell me where she is, before you start losing family members a little quicker than I have planned.” Riley sits up straight in his chair, slamming his hands on the desk, then stands up.

“You threat-”

I stop him. “You started this fight. I came out of The Pit, and you came for me. I stayed quiet to let you play your game, but now you’ve taken it too far,” I shout at him as I walk around the desk and stand face to face with him. “Now, I’m about to finish this fight, but how it ends is all down to you.” I push him back to sit down, and he gets straight back up.

“What does that mean?”

“I told you, Riley, I know every person your son killed. Their families are now looking for revenge themselves-”

“You, little boy, are nothing. You killed my son!” he screams into my face, and I have to smile.

“I killed a lot of families, sons, fathers, the list can go on, and your son did the same. We’ve had this conversation, now tell me where she is.” I push him a little again, and he laughs.

“She could be in Mexico by now, or France, Columbia. She could be anywhere by now.” My blood boils. I can feel the anger slowly building up inside me. I’ve read his file and there is nothing about him trafficking girls, so that makes very little sense. If there was any sign of trafficking then I would have been here the very second he took her. “Or in my basement, for my men to have fun wi-” Before he can even finish his sentence I punch him hard enough his head snaps to the side. I don’t let him get himself together before I punch him again.

“You messed with the wrong fucking person!” I shout at him as I continue to punch him. “I’m going to make your fucking life so goddamn painful. You’ll wish we killed you straight away!” I shout as I continue to punch him until I feel arms around me.

“Come on, you don’t want to kill him.” I hear Cain in my ear, and I push him away from me so I can straighten myself out. I look down at my hands and see the blood covering them. Shaking my head, I look back at Riley and smile.

“You started this, remember that. We came to you and gave you the option to stop whatever is going to happen, but you didn’t. If anything happens to her, I promise I will kill your wife while you fucking watch.” Walking back to the front of the desk, I wipe the back of my hand on it leaving traces of his blood. I pick up a frame with a picture of his family. “I’ll be getting in touch with one family at a time, and telling them it was your son who sent their family member back to them in a body bag. Each family will be told they can only kill one member of your family.” I put the frame back down, and lock eyes with Riley who is fighting to breathe at the moment, but I grab the frame again. “I will continue to tell families who your son killed, until you have no one left. You sent your son to The Pit, you knew the risk, you lit the match, but I’m about to burn you to the ground.” He looks between me and Cain, then glances over at my brothers who I’ve just noticed have his men blocked out of the way. “Now where is she?” He returns with silence, and now I have to laugh. “Tell me where she is, and I might give you a few more years with your wife and have someone else killed instead of her.”

“Someone called Robert took her.”

Before I can do anything, Cain is pushing me out of the office, he knows who that is, and he also knows my head is going to be in one fucked up space thinking of every worst-case scenario Robert will be doing to her.

Pushing me out to the car, Cain makes a phone call and gives the person on the phone the name of one of Riley's family members. His voice becomes a blur in my ear, and I kick my car to get some anger out. I’m trying to think where Robert would have taken her. But I don’t know him well enough.

Robert is the fucking last person she needs to be around, because he will hurt her in ways I promised no one will ever hurt her again. I broke my fucking promise because this bastard wanted to play a goddamn game. Now my girl is scared and hurting. I knew I should have taken Robert there and then, but how was I supposed to know he knew Riley. There was no logical way of him even knowing Riley or his family.

Fuck.