Page 53 of Toxic Devotion
He had just turned out onto the road when his phone beeped. A sound that was reserved for Marco. He pulled the message up onto the car’s screen and what he saw had his heart tripping. Marco was in trouble. Serious trouble.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
He entered through the back door and made his way down the hallway toward Marco’s office though voices had him changing direction to the living room. When he reached the doorway, his gaze landed on Marco who was busy pacing the room while Rome watched him, unmoving.
“Of course, you had to go piss off a cartel,” he said as he entered the room.
Rome whirled toward him, gun aimed at his face. Unsurprising. He ignored him in favor of meeting Marco’s gaze. He knew Rome wouldn’t take the shot without Marco’s say, and Marco would never give that order. If he’d been able to, he would’ve given it years ago.
“Fuck you,” Marco grumbled, though there was no real heat behind the words.
Marco waved Rome off and Rome glared daggers at Neil, his jaw clenched tight as he holstered his gun.
“If you don’t want my help…” Neil said and took a step back, only stopped by Marco’s glare.
Marco let out a sigh and asked, “What do you know?”
Neil took two steps toward Marco, then stopped when Rome matched his steps.
“You can call off the guard dog,” he drawled.
Marco crossed his arms, his lips quirking at the corners.
“Rome stays.”
As much as he wanted a moment alone with Marco, as much as he preferred to keep Rome out of it, he knew the man needed to hear what he’d found out as well.
“Start talking,” Marco said and cocked his head to the side. “That is why you came, is it not?”
“It is. The Henchmen MC had some beef with the Nuevo León cartel. The shootout was between them. The men you killed were low in rank, but one was family to another who isn’t. Hernandez Alvaro. The uncle of Jose Alvaro. He’s atenientes. A lieutenant. He’s the one who’s pulling all this shit. According to my source, he asked for permission to take you out and was turned down, so he’s resorted to fucking up your business instead.” He gave Marco a pointed look. “Seems like he’s been doing a pretty good job of that so far.”
“You don’t fucking say,” Marco hissed.
“What do you want to do?” Rome asked Marco.
“Kill the fucker,” Marco growled, the anger in his eyes making Neil’s heart skip a beat. “But it’s not gonna be fucking easy when I’m out of people to trust.”
Neil nodded. “You do have some allies in Baltimore.”
“Like who?”
“The Salvation Kings.”
Marco was already shaking his head before Neil finished speaking. “Not a chance they’ll help. Since they went ‘clean’ they’ve been keeping their distance from me.”
“They’ve got a stake in this already,” Neil said.
“How so?”
Neil arched a brow at him. “The Henchmen are now the King’s Disciples.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Marco asked with a frown.
He took a breath before he said, “Half of the Henchmen left to join the Kings. They’re now a support club. The Henchmen’sbusiness with the Nuevo León cartel is still the Disciples’ business. They’re gonna want an end to this, too.”
Marco sighed. “Fine. I’ll give it a shot.”