Page 61 of Marcus

Didn’t Marcus know it?

“Whatever it is, it’s that important that you want to bring it to my attention?” he asked quietly.

“I wouldn’t have called otherwise, okay? I know you’re … doing your thing with the chick from New York, and all.”

“She has a name.”

“I know her name, Marcus,” Chris replied, “and I also know that whenever someone brings her up to you, you get defensive as fuck like you need to protect her. You know where she comes from, right? Her father was the underboss to—”

“I know who her father is, thank you.”

“Just saying.”

“Tell me what the issue is, Chris.”

Before I get annoyed again.

Marcus was dangerously close to just hanging up the phone, but as annoyed as Chris made him sometimes—and he swore he loved his brother to fucking death—the man also wasn’t stupid. Just like him, his brother had been raised in this life, too. He knew how to act, and what was expected of him when it came to his boss, brother or not.

“I have it on good sources that the vice president took over after the whole … death of their president thing,” Chris replied.

“Please tell me that’s not your breaking news I just had to know.”

Because frankly, Marcus expected that outcome. He’d simply hoped that the lesson of the Guzzi boss ordering the hit on the president of the motorcycle club would be enough to teach the vice president that they were no longer playing games here. The Guzzis were done entertaining their bullshit, and they needed to move on.

“No, that’s not all.”

“Keep going then, keep my interest.”

“Could you cut the attitude?”

Marcus thought about it.

For all of two seconds.

“No, not particularly.”

“You’re fucking insufferable.”

“And you’re wasting my time.”

“The sources say the VP has been making calls—all across Canada, apparently.”

“I don’t follow.”

“To other chapters around the country, Marcus. Calling in for help, basically. From what I understand, he’s been saying you ordered the hit on their chapter’s president without provocation.”

“That’s bullshit,” Marcus snapped, “and anyone here involved with the business would know it, too.”

Hell, the entire reason he ordered that hit was because the bikers kept coming back for more. Their provocations against the Guzzis became progressively more and more violent and problematic until they gave him no other choice but to act against them. No boss in this position, but especially one who was only the acting boss, wanted to find themselves in a war with a rival in a nearby city.

And yet, they forced his hand.

He wouldn’t pay more for that.

Absolutely not.

Now his patience was running thin for an entirely different reason. Either the bikers were just incredibly stupid, or far too confident for their own good. A hit from the mob on one of their people should have been more than enough to end this little problem. And yet, it only made the assholes look for yet another way to use it to go against the Guzzi family.