Prologue
The little boy cried for his mommy, his sobs growing more frantic when Ren shouted at him to stop. “Quit acting like a pussy,” Ren snarled, landing another blow to the kid’s gut with his booted foot.
“I want my mommy!”
The boy’s anguished plea penetrated Jack’s soul, and he couldn’t stand idly by any longer. “Just let him go, Ren.” Jack looked up at the older boy, their self-appointed leader, trying to mask the fear from his bruised and bloodied face.
Ren stopped his assault on the four-year-old long enough to stalk toward Jack, grabbing him roughly around the neck. “You dare to question me again?” he spit out, eyes shooting daggers into Jack’s terrified gaze.
Jack should let it go, but he had to try one last time. “He’s only a kid. He won’t tell anyone. You don’t have to do this. Please.”
Ren shoved Jack into the hard, exposed stone wall at his back, tightening the grip on his neck as the partition rattled uneasily. Plumes of dust surrounded them as the wall ejected bits of loose stone. “That sniveling brat will run straight to hismommy”—he mocked the kid by using the same whiny tone—“and tell her everything. You want to go to juvie? You know what they do to pretty boys like you in there?” His mouth curved into a sneer. “They’ll ride your fucking ass so hard you’ll forget you ever liked pussy.”
“Stay the fuck down!” Vincent roared, lashing out at the crying boy as he tried climbing to his feet. The boy slammed to the floor on his back with his leg tilted at an awkward angle underneath him. Piercing screams soared to the rafters of the derelict warehouse at the abandoned airfield the gang used as their base. “There’s no point crying, kid,” Johnny taunted, pressing his foot down on the boy’s broken leg, smiling maliciously as his screams grew more pronounced and the smell of urine trickled into the air.
Jack’s lungs constricted along with his oxygen supply as Ren kept a tight grip on his neck. “This is going down. You’re either with us or you’re not.” Ren drilled him with a dark look that sent chills tiptoeing up Jack’s spine. He understood the threat, and he knew there was nothing more he could do.
Ren didn’t misjudge people, but he wondered, in that moment, if he’d made a mistake bending his rules and letting the younger boy join the brotherhood.
Jack’s soul splintered behind his ribcage as he nodded at Ren, making the only decision he could. Ren let him go, and Jack slumped to the ground, panting and rubbing his sore neck as he desperately sucked air into his needy lungs. Ren redirected his attention, turning around as the little nuisance screamed louder, but there was no one to hear him out here.
Crying was pointless.
There was no one coming to his aid.
Jack scrambled to his feet, locking eyes with Vincent. He too was standing back, watching as the other members of their pack surrounded the helpless little boy, attacking him with their fists and their feet, landing blow after blow, kick after kick, until the boy’s strangled cries turned to whimpers and eventually died out.
The older teens kept kicking even as the little body at their feet stopped writhing.
Even as his tiny chest stopped moving.
Eventually they stopped, and silence descended as all eyes swiveled to Ren, awaiting instruction.
Pain lanced through Jack’s chest, and Vincent averted his gaze in an attempt to hide his grief. When he lifted his chin up again, there was no trace of emotion on Vincent’s face. There couldn’t be. If Ren detected any weakness, he’d be as dead as that poor kid on the ground.
Talk about wrong place, wrong time.
Vincent kicked at debris on the filthy floor, and Jack swallowed the bile swimming up his throat while they both watched Ren prod the lifeless little boy with his foot.
“Fucking A.” Johnny threw back his head, letting loose an animalistic howl as the rest of the gang joined in, howling and fist pumping the air like his death was something to celebrate. Jack, Vincent, and Ren were the only quiet ones.
Ren bent down, picked up the boy’s limp wrist, and pressed his thumb to the place where his pulse should beat steadily. For a split second, he dropped his head and then he stood, grinning from ear to ear. “Take the body outside and bury it.” He sent a pointed look at Johnny, his loyal number two. With a jerk of his head he motioned everyone else over to the other side of the warehouse.
Jack kept his head down as he trudged after the group of boys’ he once hoped would become the family he never had, fighting tears the entire time. Vincent slanted a warning look in his direction, shoving his hands in his pockets and keeping step with him.
Ren stopped, and everyone waited for him to speak. His gaze traveled among his crew. “No one speaks of this. Ever. You take this to the grave.” His eyes locked on Jack before switching to Vincent. Ren never missed anything, so it wasn’t surprising that he’d picked up on Vincent’s disquiet either. A shiver worked its way through Vincent’s body, and he finally understood the meaning of real fear. “Understood?” Ren demanded.
The message was clear.
Talk and they’d be the last words you ever said.
Part I
Juvie
A few years later
1
