"Of course. Why not?" Hayden said as if it was supposed to be obvious that I should join the meeting.
"I can wait for you here. You don’t have to mind me," I said, trying to excuse myself.
"Come," Hayden said firmly.
"Ok..." I muttered.
A few minutes later, I found myself seated next to Hayden in a very large meeting room. The meeting table was long and there were around 20 people there besides Hayden and me. Everyone looked so senior, and the atmosphere was tense and serious. I glanced over at Hayden’s emotionless face and wondered for the hundredth time why he dragged me into this.
"Now that everyone is here. We’ll start with the agenda at hand. As everyone has been informed prior to the meeting there has been many cases of the Silva gang crossing into our territory to do business.
So far, we’ve been able to stop these trades and protect our territory; however, the Silva gang has made it clear through their repeated offenses that they intend to take over some of our territories," a man spoke loudly so that everyone in the room could hear.
I glanced over at Hayden and saw that his face was completely emotionless. The other gang members, on the other hand, all seemed to have something that they wanted to say.
"We should just crush them in a shootout!"
"We better show them what happens when they mess with the Torex. My men can handle it!"
"Our territories are part of our family. I will not stand for any disorder,"
"Shoot them and send their dead bodies back to their boss!"
A man that looked like he was in his fifties slowly stood up from his seat and turned to face Hayden. The room went silent as they watched him. I could tell that he held a very senior position in the gang and had the respect of many. I glanced over at Hayden and saw that he was watching the man intently as well.
"If your brother was still alive; he would never let them get away with behaving like this against us," the man said pointedly.
"How dare you say that in front of the young boss? Apologize to Hayden at once!" another man stood up and shouted loudly in Hayden’s defense.
There were a few supporting murmurs from other men in the room. That’s right, Hayden’s older brother died, and we went to visit his grave. I wondered what happened, but I didn’t dare to ask. Come to think of it, I think I’ve heard words similar to these once or twice before...
’If only his brother was still alive...’
I think someone said something along those line when we were waiting for Hayden in the church. Obviously, I didn’t pay those word any mind back then.
With a soft sigh, Hayden slowly stood up from his seat. Despite the tense situation, Hayden stood up straight
"Unfortunately for all of us, my brother is dead. Unfortunately for all of you, you’re stuck with me instead. Unfortunately for me, I’m stuck here instead of my brother. We’re just an unfortunate bunch so shut the fuck up and do as I say!" Hayden said before he started yelling at the group of older men.
After Hayden was done the room was completely silent and everyone looked nervously at each other. I prayed that violence would not break out and then I just flatly wished that I wasn’t here. Hayden sat back down and rested his chin on his hands as he stared at his men.
"The annual gala is next week, as you all should already know. I will be attending, and I will discuss this with the representative from Silva. Until then, I expect everyone to refrain from any use of violence.
As per the rules, unless my orders are directly overruled by the boss, my order stands and anyone who violates my order will receive fair punishment," Hayden said, emotionlessly as if he was reading from a book.
Without waiting to see the reaction of his men, Hayden took my hand in his before he stood up from his seat, pulling me up with him. Then he was leading me out of the meeting room.
--To be continued...