When I looked up at my Ryder, his face was passive.
“Big Phil said one day I’d be his muppet. That Marco would give me to him, and that he’d make me bleed before I ever disrespected him again.”
My brother looked like he was about to explode.
“I’ll kill him.”
I didn’t react to Ryder’s threat because I knew it only came from a place of anger. He knew that he could never touch Big Phil. That man was too deep in with our father and Marco; he was a right-hand man, so he was virtually untouchable. I remained silent as he cleaned up my face. I winced a couple of times, but once he stuck on a few paper stitches, I relaxed. He cleaned up my neck, then placed a large gauze over it and secured it with medical tape.
“Those might come off when it starts to swell,” Ryder said, nodded towards the paper stitches, as he cleaned away the items used to clean away my blood. “We’ll have to call the doc if that happens or if you get an infection.”
I nodded, and Ryder regarded me for a moment.
“I’m going to do what I can to keep Big Phil off your back, okay?” he said. “I’m not going to let him hurt you again.”
I knew he believed that, and I knew he would go to any length possible to keep me safe, but I wasn’t stupid. I saw the look in Big Phil’s eye when he threatened me. He said one day I would be his puppet, and I knew that day would eventually come to pass. Evil outweighed good in our compound, and when someone who was cold as Big Phil marked you as his, then he owned you, one way or the other.
“I know, Ry.” I smiled. “That’s why I’m not worried.”
If I had to smile and lie to appease my brother to save him some worry, then I would. Big Phil had said to my dad that by the end of the day I would be a changed person, and he was right. I saw evil up close and personal and knew that evil would find me one day. I couldn’t be ignorant and think staying away from the people my dad did business with would keep them away from me forever. I had to be sensible and prepare for the day when the life Big Phil led would become my own.
There was no escape once you reached the pits of hell. No one came to help you out, but plenty of hands where there to keep you down.
CHAPTER THREE
Twenty-years old ...
“Kane!”
I jolted awake, sat upright in my bed, and stared at the figure by my bedroom door. Suddenly, the light in my room was switched on, and I lifted my hand to block the beam.
“Get up,” a rough voice demanded. “We have work to do.”
Once my eyes adjusted to the light, I lowered my arm and squinted my eyes at the intruder in my room before my eyes narrowed to slits. I said nothing as I threw the bed covers away from my body and quickly got dressed. I felt his eyes on me as I pulled on my boots and tied the laces. I stood, lifted my head, and looked Big Phil in the eyes.
“Where are we going?”
“To settle a score.”
My heart stopped. For a few months since I’d become his personal monkey, Big Phil had been showing up at random times throughout my day and night to enlist me into bullshit schemes. I never had to do anything, just shadow him for no other reason than he made me, but tonight ... this was the first time I had to actually do anything since I had become an enforcer for Marco.
Four months ago, my parents had double-crossed him in a bid to make some extra money, and they paid for that with their lives. I didn’t care about their deaths when I first heard about it, and I didn’t care about it now. The only thing I cared about, the only thing that kept me and my brothers from fleeing this godforsaken life, was the threat over my brother Damien’s head. Having killed Marco’s nephew in a fight that turned deadly, he had a life debt to repay, and me and my brothers were the ones working it off.
“Who’s coming with us?”
“It’s just me and you tonight.”
Fuck.
I followed him out of my room, out of the house, then down to the lower floors of the compound. I never came down here, not even to attend parties in the pleasure rooms. We walked down lengthy halls and suddenly came to a stop in front of a set of large black doors. Other than hearing the night watch laugh and joke around, it was completely silent. It gave me a bad feeling, but there wasn’t a damn thing that I could do about it. Big Phil entered the room without a word, and I followed him. I came to an abrupt halt when the coppery twang of blood filled my nostrils. My eyes locked on the person in the centre of the dimly lit room, and my hear pounded against my chest.