Page 109 of Marcus

Everything about his entire life felt like a moment to show up and stand out. The only Guzzi singleton without a twin. The one people said looked and acted most like their father.

“You should stop thinking like me,” Gian told him, “and start just being you. They don’t want the same boss they’ve had for the last thirty years. Because in case you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re not me and everyone knows you can’t be. Your brothers are handling things downstairs for you, so don’t feel like you need to join them until you’re ready. They don’t expect you to because like you, they know their place, Marcus.”

“Tell Chris I want to go ahead with Plan B with a few extras for the chapters that have arrived into town so that everyone knows where the Guzzi family stands. He’ll know what Plan B is.”

“I think we all know what Plan B is, son.”

Yeah, well …

His father turned to leave, saying over his shoulder, “And who knows, Marcus, maybe chaos will make your seat in this family a little more comfortable. Also, you won’t know what the woman in New York wants from or with you unless you call her. Might it hurt? Oui, but is she not worth that risk? That’s the important question. It determines everything.”

Alone again with only his thoughts and misery to keep him company, Marcus went back to pacing the length of his office and ignoring the phone on the desk. No, that was a lie. He couldn’t ignore the phone when the entire time, he continued to stare right at it.

Call her, call her … call her.

The mantra in his mind played on.

Nothing felt right.

Everything was so wrong.

Because she wasn’t there.

Marcus hadn’t planned for that.

He didn’t know how to make it better when at the end of the day, he couldn’t make Cella come back. There wasn’t anything he could say that would be good enough, he knew. All her worst fears had just come true all over again.

Only this time, she had a child to think about, too. A child who was old enough to understand what had happened. So despite how he felt, so fucking wrong and turned inside out because the woman who had his heart hadn’t given it back when she left, he decided that even if it killed him … this had to be on Cella.

If she needed time, so be it.

She could have it.

Silence?

He’d not say a word.

She had to come back.

She had to want to.

For now, Marcus would focus on making Plan B a reality because if he learned anything over the last day … it was that he didn’t have time to waste. Tomorrow didn’t seem to be promised.

One of the many good things that came along with being a Guzzi was their reach. The power they could extend when needed was unmatched. Marcus had never been more grateful for that if only because once he committed to Plan B where the bikers were concerned, things moved fast enough to satisfy his need for vengeance.

He wasn’t the vengeful type. A desire for revenge had never been something that filled his days constantly. And yet, the moment the gang made a move against Marcus, and people he cared about ended up caught in the crossfire … well, all bets were off.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Chris asked from the front seat as he navigated the vehicle into a parallel parking spot near a Quebec café just at the edge of a small town. “I know you’re going to tell me not to ask you that, but I feel like I have to, Marcus.”

In the backseat, Marcus frowned at his reflection in the mirror. “I know, Chris.”

It’s who his brother was.

They couldn’t help who they were.

“And yes,” Marcus added with a sigh, “this is what I want to do.”

“The media—the police … I mean, have you seriously considered what today will do to our business? How much attention this is going to bring? The fact you won’t be able to walk out of your house without a camera in your face, or a fucking cop on your heels?”