Page 78 of Darkness

“You boys-” I stop talking when someone walks through the door, and Miles and Declan both step in front of me.

“Didn’t think you would have the balls to just walk in here.” Miles is the first to talk, and I lean to one side to see the man that has just walked in. B boys are a lot taller than me and I can’t see over them.

“I thought Miss White would like this.” Yang holds up a snow globe, and my whole body tenses up. My hands move to Declan’s t-shirt not wanting him to move, because this man screams soulless. He reminds me of the bad guy in the ninja turtle movies, Shredder, that’s it. He is him all over.

Twenty-Eight

Cain

Walking into the flower shop,I shake my head.“Mr. Yang, you’re being very brave,”I say in Chinese, as I walk over to Autumn, kissing her then patting Miles and Declan's shoulder so they can move out of the way of protecting Autumn.“How can I help you?”I pick up the snow globe off the workstation and shake it. “How is Rowan?” Maybe this is a way for me to make him slip and tell me something.

“Mr. Cain, are you ready to talk? There is only one thing I want.” He watches Miles and Declan. Declan walks around him to pull Katy away, and the three of them stand behind me. I make Autumn stay next to me, to show Yang, I’m not scared of what he has planned.

“What you want, I’m not giving.” I move away from Autumn, and Declan takes my place next to her. “Mr. Yang, how was England? I hear it rains a lot there this time of year.”

“It was sunny, London is a beautiful city. You never know who you might meet there.” Yang places his hands into his pocket, not taking his eyes off Autumn. Note to my, teach her to have a better poker face. Her expression is screaming how scared she is right now.“I hear the police department is goodthere. It's dangerous for you to be going to the police with your family business.” I lean on the cashier counter, with my hands in my pocket. “Are you planning another trip?”

“She will see him again, because I’m the one who’s giving her to him.”Now he takes a step closer to me.“You don’t want anything to happen to her, do you?”

“Touch her and I’ll kill your son before you even have time to ask about him again-”

“No!”He shouts which makes Autumn jump, her grip on Declan's arm tightens.“You touch-”

“No.”I push myself off the counter.“You touch her, I’ll come for your son-”I glance outside when I see someone walking closer to the shop.“-and the one who's walking up here now, he can see what The Pit is like. You have a move Mr. Yang, make it.”He thinks I want to play games, I don’t. Let’s get to the finish line and end this now. The only way he gets his son out is through a fight with me, but he’s not asking for it. So there has to be a fucking game plan, and I want him to move the pieces.

“I don’t want her dead, but having some fun will be good.Watch your back, Mr. Cain, we wouldn’t want anything to happen to her would we?” Yang looks over at Autumn, then walks out of the shop, and I turn to the door watching him get into his car.

Autumn is his game plan. Hurting her doesn’t make sense, because his son would be dead before nightfall if he touched Autumn. He doesn’t want to kill her, but he’s warned me to watch my back.

“Is he coming for you or Autumn?” Declan asks, it’s the question I’m asking myself at the moment. “Cain?”

I turn around to face all of them, and I avoid Autumn’s eyes burning into me and look at Miles and Declan. “For me. I just don’t know how.”

“You think he’ll try to kill you?” Miles asks.

“That’s what I would do.” I tell them the truth, if I wanted something from someone, I would play with their lives, not with the ones they love.

“What?” Autumn stands in my line of sight now. “Are you not scared he might kill you?” It’s the first time I’ve heard her yell at me, where her voice cracks with anger.

“I’m not scared of dying, what scares me is you dying. I would happily die today if it meant saving you.” I never thought I would find someone after Tess. Now I’m scared every day. The fear of losing her hurts so bad. I don’t think I would survive it again.

“Cain, I love you. You might not be scared of dying, but I fear losing you.” Autumn stands in front of me, her hands on my chest, and she whispers, “Whatever you have planned, fight and live for me.”

This was one reason I didn’t want to have a woman in my life. Now I have to think about what my next move will be, before I did what I wanted and didn’t care what would happen. Now, I look at this beautiful woman almost begging me to live, if not for me, but for her.

“I don’t plan on dying by the hands of Yang, that I can promise you.” I lean down and give her a small kiss.

“Promise me, you’ll live,” she whispers against my lips.

“Promise.” My promise isn’t a lie, but it’s hard to keep that promise when I have families looking for me all the time. “Do you have orders for the rest of the day?” I ask her, I don't really want her to stay at the shop, but again I’m not letting her ruin her business and stop living.

“I do, and a meeting with the gothic wedding couple who should be here in the next thirty minutes.” Autumn looks over at Katy, and I know she’s going to have to tell her what the hell just happened.

“So the Crawford family are what?” Katy asks, waiting for someone to answer her, and all eyes land on me.

“A simple American family, who do some things on the side. The less you know the better.” I’m the one who answers, and Katy crosses her arms which makes Miles and Declan laugh.

“You’ve pissed her off,” Miles jokes.

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