Pit: The A**hole Club Series by Saffire Blue (summer books txt) 📕

“This is no longer your problem,” he says with no greeting. He doesn’t even take a seat.

Now, one thing I can tell you about this man. I’ve never seen him with a hair out of place and I’ve never seen him show his emotions if they weren’t positive or a smile to make you think he’s unfazed.

In this moment, he looks like it might explode. I rock back in my seat and fold my arms over my chest. I study the man closely.

“I’m not sure I appreciate the way you’re running up on me. I’ve been handling the situation and planned to tell you about it,” I say.

“You haven’t handled shit because you don’t know what you’re dealing with. I’ve just come in from Mexico. Danny Clavier isn’t the only one being framed for Marquis’ death.” I sit up straighter at this. I hadn’t shared what I knew with Mr. Knight yet because I still had these blank spaces I wanted to fill in. “Someone wanted it to look like I set Danny up and then made him disappear after.”

“You’re shitting me,” I breathe.

“No, the Castro family and I go back. I once thought they were connected to the person responsible for my younger brother’s death,” he says.

This is new to me. “How did he die?”

“He was waiting for a client to bring him some evidence in the city center. Instead, a car drove through and hit him. He died on impact,” he says.

“Wait, what?” I shake my head. “They tried to hit my brother, Leo in the city center during a race. He was lured there too.”

“I know. I should have followed my own advice. You made this personal and you can’t see the forest for the trees. I’ve made the same mistake. Otherwise, we would have seen someone trying to destroy the empire I’ve been building to leave to you,” he says and finally takes a seat, looking weary.

I knit my brows. Leave to me? I’ve always thought he sent Ox to work for me because someday he’d take over and we’d already have trust and understanding built in for Ox’s smooth transition.

“What do you mean, leave to me?”

“I skipped a very important lesson with you. One my father taught me, and his father taught him. You never let them learn what’s most important to you and you never leave what you love vulnerable.” He laughs bitterly.

“I probably didn’t teach it to you, because you’ve been so jaded. I should have.

“I watched my little brother fail the lesson and it cost him everything. I will not tell you everything because this isn’t my story to tell, but I’ll tell you now—you weren’t sent to die with me that day in that prison bathroom by coincidence. The person who ordered the hits knew who you were to me.

“It was meant for me to watch you die. Their mistake wasn’t underestimating you. It was underestimating the blood of a Knight. It takes more to bring us to our ruin when you face us head-on.”

“Hold the fuck up,” I shout and jump to my feet.

“I planned to take this to my grave. Claire became a pawn. That was never meant to happen. I owed it to her not to disgrace her name,” he says.

“I’m going to stop your ass right there. First, your ass is sitting there trying to tell me you’re my father and second, you’re going to tell me I’m a disgrace to my mother’s name. Fuck you,” I snarl.

“You have our temper. Always have. Calm down and listen. I never said you were a disgrace and I never said I was your father. I would be proud to be.

“You and the twins are my prized possessions, same as Ox. I’ve loved the four of my brother’s children as if you were all my own. I couldn’t be more proud of our Leo. I’m doing all I can from the shadows to guide Scarlett. And you and Ox, you two are better men than I could ever be, and your father would have been proud of you both,” he says with pride in his eyes.

“For years, I’ve been in your lives from behind the veil. When I saw you walk into that prison bathroom, that was how they got the best of me. I was distracted by my own blood walking into the hell I was forced into. It was like my baby brother had walked in. You have so much of your father in you.

“It was then that Thaddeus Pitman went too far. He was jealous of a ghost. Living a dead man’s dream and still bitter.

“Always wanting to be something he wasn’t. Claire had chosen Thaddeus, but he never did right by her. He could never be satisfied.” He shakes his head and tightens his jaw.

“It was during those two months when I was powerless to get you out, I vowed to destroy him,” he says in a deathly tone. “He was intentionally blocking my efforts to get you out.”

My head is spinning. I run my hand through my hair and sit back down. I’m eight years older than the twins. What the fuck? I’m so confused on how and when this all could be possible.

“When you got out, I intended to do anything I could to help you from the inside.” He pauses, that proud smile is back in place. “But you came to your uncle’s aid. You found the loophole in my case and got my charges dropped. I’d heard about you, but then I got to see it with my own eyes as my own lawyer wanted to know who you were after you dropped the file at his office with everything in it. You were just like him.”

“Just like who?”

His face becomes so sad I have to rub at my own chest. “My little brother.” He snorts. “Ox looks more like me when he shaves. You, you look just like your father. Take away your mother’s eyes and her dimples, you