Page 24 of Marx

“That was hot! Did you see him get all ‘me man! Don’t touch man’s woman, argh’,” she rifles around in her top, retrieving her ever present notepad and pencil.

“Why is Mira making wookie sounds?” Chewy frowns. She doesn’t even wait for an answer, walking past and taking a seat on Rhodie’s lap.

Everyone finds places to sit or stand, the room filling up with bodies. My brothers are along the back wall, the Tombs dotted between MC members and Moss is sitting near his sister andJules. As per usual Mama Debs and Sage have the kids occupied somewhere. There are so many of them that at some stage it won’t be practical for Mama Debs to watch over all of them. I wonder if the club has thought about a daycare or something?

I’m pulled out of my thoughts by Marx thumping twice on the wall, gaining our attention.

“Thank you for being here. We have some things to discuss and some decisions to make.” He looks at each and every one of us, before clearing his throat. “We all know that Serpiente is out there and I’m sure we can all guess, with the cartel’s approval, he is coming for us. We fucked up their business, so they’re going to retaliate. First step was obviously sending the sheriff to do their dirty work. The hit failed, and now Kelson is scrambling. Moss, do you have any insights?”

Moss shakes his head. “I’ve known he was off for a while. Just a weird vibe. Normally if you came to me and said he’s the guy who attacked your compound, I’d have thought you’d all been high or something. But Chewy showed me the security footage, and that along with his unpredictable moods and stress breakdowns, I can’t ignore the signs.” He tips his head side to side. “In the run up to our little visit just then, he’d spent at least an hour in a heated phone call. On a cell that isn’t department issue. As soon as he hung up he left the office like a bat outta hell calling me to back him up.”

“Does he know you have a connection to the MC?” Savage asks in his rough voice.

“In fairness, I have a connection to the Tombs. Who happen to have a connection with the MC. It’s tenuous at best. I mean, do we even really know each other?” Moss smirks.

Marx huffs out a laugh, as do the rest of us. “So, if we were to ask you to-”

“At this point I’m a senior law enforcement officer with concerns over how my superior is behaving. I believe there is asafety issue around his behavior and I have already reported it. I’d imagine he’ll be stood down once my evidence is presented.” Marx’s brow raises. “Once stood down there will no longer be protection from the force at his beck and call. Be a pity if something were to happen to him.”

Chewy grins and claps her hands, sharing a look with Pops. I hope the sheriff has a come to Jesus moment, because if he doesn’t he’ll be having a Come to Tombs moment, and that seems a lot more painful.

“OK, well that seems like one of our problems is going to be taken care of very soon,” Mad Dog grins.

“So, that leaves the cartels,” Wire says. “The sheriff is in business with the La Sombre Roja and Cartel de Silencio cartels. La Sombre Roja has contacts in Louisiana, while the other has links here in Texas. They were both small time while the Cordoza family were in power, but when Roman cleaned them out, the other two rose up, splitting the business between them. Up until recently they worked well, split the drug trade evenly and entered into the kiddy market, snatching kids while on vacation with their parents, and then sending them back this way. That’s where Candice and this other woman, Renae, come in. Serpiente acted as the middleman, investing cartel money and making sure the women were there to collect the kids.”

“And we fucked that up,” Rhodie adds.

I grip the armrests of my chair, knowing that men like the cartel and the sheriff don’t give up easily. They’ve had a taste of power and they hate when it’s taken from them. It all started with Vi protecting Juno and getting the baby farm operation shut down, then Chewy found Laney and messed it up again. They’ll be scrambling, trying to keep power over their businesses, the grip tightening. If we thought they were cruel before, they’ll be even worse now. We’ve kicked the hornet’s nest and it’s going to get a lot worse.

“So, the attack on the clubhouse with the sheriff and those upper level cartel members, was that a warning?” Rider asks, jiggling his knee up and down. He’s usually pretty hyper, but he’s looking like a coiled spring, ready to pop off at any moment.

Marx shares a look with Switch, then he stares at me. He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “It was a hit.”

The room erupts with “what the fucks?” and it takes a lot of thumping by Marx to settle everyone down. My fingers find their way to the left side of my chest. It still aches, but I’d rather that than Marx to have been killed. I know Rhodie is the VP and will step up, but I just can’t imagine the MC ever being the same.

“So, they were trying to take you out?” Flack frowns.

Rhodie steps forward and dumps a handful of spent shell casings on the table. “It was a hit on all of us.”

I stay where I am as the men all move forward as one, looking at the casings. “What the fuck!? They have our names carved into them!” Dex yells, throwing one down in disgust.

Blanche explodes out of her seat, baby Tess’s body bobbing in the baby sling as she storms to the table. She rifles through the pile, picking one up and then freezing in place. “They have my kids on there! Tav, what the fuck?!” Any shock she is feeling is pushed out by her absolute pure rage. “They die. I don’t give a shit how we do it and how many we have to kill, they target my babies, they die.” I admire Blanche in her fury. She’s like the valkyries I saw in the Thor movie. She’s tougher than me. A lot tougher. Physically and mentally.

Marx takes measured steps toward me before dropping to his haunches. He grasps my hand in his, gently turning it over. His fist hovers over my open palm and he drops a casing into it.

“I may be a fucking idiot sometimes, but I promise you, I’ll keep her safe.” He holds my gaze before standing and moving back to his place at the front of the room.

The cool metal feels as if it’s burning my skin, I don’t want to look but I know I have to. I can feel the metal is rough from where the name is carved. Turning it over in my fingers, there, in jagged writing is the word “Bee”. White hot fury burns through me in a way I’ve never felt before. My hands are shaking and it’s not from fear, it’s from the rage pumping through my veins. I don’t care what happens to me or my body. I gave up fearing death a long time ago, but the thought that my baby, the little girl thatsavedme, that led me here to this life, a better life for both of us, the thought that she might be taken from me violently by men who are more preoccupied by their own greed than by their humanity, that burns me to my soul. No one will take my baby from me. No man or God. I will see to that myself.

“They will die,” I say, louder than I thought as silence blankets the room.

“Lovel-”

“No! You know where I came from, you all know where I escaped.” I look around the room, at my family all gathered here, all of them in danger. “I will not be a victim to cruel men ever again, and neither will my daughter. They need to die. All of them,” I say quietly, steadily, with a passion I’ve never felt before.

Marx’s eyes flash with something I can’t put my finger on before they fill with heat, and I know that he knows what I say isn’t an empty threat. At this moment my body may still be a little weak and battered, but I feel a strength in my soul. At this moment I feel like Blanche, like a valkyrie, and I vow to protect my baby and my family.

They will not win.

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