C o l e

"Here bro, put this on"

Having Harvey burst in to my room this afternoon was probably one of the few things in my life that have scared me. I was working out in peace when he threw open the door, and I fell from my push up position and on to the ground.

Then Harvey proceeded to throw a suit at me and explain to me that he and I had a 'top secret errand' as he put it to go on.

Though for whatever reason I was told to just say I was attending some family banquet with him which honestly I don't know who would buy that considering we've known each other for only a month.

Whatever, I guess.

So now, Harvey and I were in the foyer getting ready to leave until Jamie and Mikhail came through the door, returning from wherever they had gone to.

"...we going to a funeral? Did I miss a memo?" Jamie asked after a moment of staring us down.

"No" I responded as I watched Mikhail look Harvey up and down with a shocked look on his face. Seeing the man in a suit must really never happen if he was this surprised.

"Church...?" Mikhail tried and Jamie laughed.

"This fool hasn't been to a church since he was baptized" Jamie said and I raised an eyebrow at that.

"Idiot thought they were trying to drown him" Jamie said and Harvey turned red.

"I thought we would just say some grace and I would drink some holy water, not go scuba diving with the priest!" He protested but it fell on deaf ears as Jamie tried to guess again, Harvey's reason for wearing a suit.

"....AA?"

Oh my god.

"I'm not a fucking alcoholic!" Harvey exclaimed, his eyebrow twitching in the process.

"Well I'm out of guesses. What's the suit for?" Jamie finally asked and Mikhail sighed.

"None of your god damn business" Harvey grumbled which made Jamie shrug.

"His family is having a banquet and it's more on the formal side of things" I explained, hoping that it sounded believable.

"Wait, you're dressed up too...are you going?" Mikhail asked, suspicion clear as day on his face.

"Yes, I asked him to be my plus one" Harvey admitted and Jamie gained an offended look on his face.

"Why didn't you ask me?" He asked.

"...my family doesn't like you, don't you remember the Christmas banquet?" Harvey said and Jamie let out a nervous laugh.

"Oh..." he trailed off.

"What happened there?" I asked and Harvey shook his head.

"What happened at the Christmas banquet stays at the Christmas banquet. We've wasted enough time here, come on Cole" Harvey said and I just nodded.

Harvey shoved the two out of the way before dragging me out of the door.

"We're not going to a family banquet are we?" I said and Harvey scoffed.

"Hell no" he grumbled, shoving a key in one of the cars parked. Thankfully, a member lent Harvey their car so we wouldn't have to get back on that bike.

"So where are we going?" I asked as I buckled up.

"To the park" He said and I paused.

"Why...?" I trailed.

"Because there's someone there that might have information on this whole fiasco. We have a rat and this person may know who it is" Harvey said.

"How can you be sure?" I asked.

"He's an ex-member of the Silver Fangs, Francis' group. His wife got pregnant and he had a change of heart about his life or some shit. Fought tooth and nail to get his boss to agree to letting him leave" Harvey spoke and we came to a stop.

"I see..." I said. I wondered if I should push some questions I had but Harvey seemed to sense my curiosity and continued.

"He was someone I used to know back in high school. He's a smart guy and right now, we need all the help we can get without letting the fact we have a rat be known to the other members. The men in this group unfortunately think with their guns rather than their heads so I fear a slip of the tongue may grant us a civil riot that we can't afford to have" Harvey explained.

"Does Eros know about this?" I said slowly and Harvey sighed.

"I'd hope not but the guy is a fucking psychic. I wouldn't be surprised if he was waiting for us when we get back like a mom waiting for her child who sneaks in after curfew" he said and I just nodded in understanding.

Having my questions answered for the most part, I laid my head back on the rest and sighed. I hoped this guy really had some information that could help us so that we could get this whole thing over with.

The drive wasn't long and when we arrived, I had expected to see some kids out playing but the park was completely empty save for a man sitting on the bench.

"Harvey" the man said, his brown eyes flickering to me for a moment before focusing back on Harvey. He was wearing completely normal clothing, a blue t-shirt and some jeans as well as a silver watch.

"Marcus" Harvey said in turn and we also took a seat on the bench.

"I can only assume the reason you've reached out to me is because I have something you need" Marcus said and Harvey frowned.

"Why you gotta put it like that? It hasn't been that long since we've last talked" he said and Marcus raised a brow.

"Okay maybe it has been a while" Harvey grumbled.

"Who's your friend?" He asked, pointing at me.

"Cole" was all I said. Marcus nodded but didn't say anything further.

Harvey and I began to explain our situation and Marcus listened the entire time, not bothering to ask any questions. He didn't even seem surprised when Harvey spoke of our rat problem.

"We've already questioned some members but we don't want to push any further lest they get suspicious of our reasoning" I said, a sigh falling out of me afterwards.

"What did you say they had eaten?" Marcus asked.

"Cookies...or at least that's what it seemed to be" I said and Marcus hummed.

"Maybe your culprit isn't a rat, maybe it's a mouse" Marcus reasoned and while Harvey looked to be confused, I sort of picked up what he was putting down.

"Are you saying our rat is a child?" I asked slowly and Harvey's jaw dropped.

"Oh god, please don't tell me little red riding hood really is the one who drugged our guards" he said.

"Children are smart you know? They learn quick. With the right words, they can be easily groomed" Marcus stated.

Thinking about it, he was completely right. There was also the fact that no one would suspect a child to be the one that let Francis out nor drug the guards with cookies.

"It's a tactic they've used before...I've seen it. That's why I was so adamant on leaving, I was afraid that when he was old enough, they'd make my son into one of their scapegoats" Marcus said, his eyes shutting tightly as if trying to remove the thought of that ever happening from his mind.

"Horrible..." Harvey muttered.

"Is that all you need? I can't stay long, I didn't tell my wife where I was going so she's probably worried sick out of her mind" Marcus said and Harvey nodded.

"Yeah, I'd say tell her I said hello but...that defeats the purpose of you not telling her where you are. Thank you for the info man, I really owe you one" Harvey said and I watched as Marcus grabbed Harvey in to a hug.

"Please for the love of god stay safe" he whispered and Harvey nodded while patting him on the back.

"I know, I know"

"You too, Cole. You guys gotta live to see the day where you don't have to deal with all this bullshit. It's worth it" he said, turning to me and I just nodded.

I surely did plan to live long enough to get out of this crap. Just eleven more months to go...

With Marcus gone, Harvey and I made our way back to the parked car.

"Not many children live in the manor so at least our guesses are narrow. The only thing I can't understand is who would do that to their child? Even those outside our group knows how ruthless Eros is when it comes to those who cross him" Harvey said as we sat in the car.

"He'd kill a child?"

The question slipped out my lips before I could even think about asking it but it was too late to regret it. Harvey gave me an appalled look at my question.

"No, as crazy as he is, he does have a heart. But that doesn't mean the child won't go unpunished, he'd probably kill their parents or something" he said.

"That doesn't make it any better" I muttered.

"Well considering the situation we're in, killing the child's parents will likely be what makes the most sense to him. They let their child do something the child shouldn't have to...he'd have no mercy for people like that" Harvey said and started the engine.

Mercy...though it was useless, I couldn't help but wonder how much of it Eros would feel towards whoever was responsible for Francis' freedom.