“It was a dick move,” I flashed a grin, folding my hands over my chest. I knew she wanted me to react, but this cunt would get nothing from me.
“Aw, don’t take it personally, love. It is actually a compliment. I’ve been doing business with your family for a long time. It seemed right to make it official.”
I didn’t respond, only stared into her black eyes.
“But now that you’ve gone and taken all the fun out of it, I wondered if you might entertain a different agreement.”
“Or you can leave my club alone. We’ve always come through for you. Why the fuck are you going around breaking shit, Marianne? Are you just bored?”
She let out a huff before running her tongue over the slick of her teeth.
“That’s simple, Wolfe. You’re getting too powerful. If I didn’t cut you down, Cross or Karsten will. Be thankful it’s me.”
“I’m not thankful for shit,” I growled, taking a breath through my nose.
“Be that as it may,” she took a sip from a sky-blue, hand-painted cup. “You and I both know, you can’t fight me off.”
Yes, I knew that.
“But don’t give up yet, because I might have something better.”
A dark, strange rumble fell into my stomach at the way her eyes brightened when she leaned across the table.
“Right now, I do business with roughly twenty-seven smaller factions, yours included, though none have the same clout or reputation. You and I both know that these men are green, ruthless, and can’t take orders worth shit! This became apparent when the baby criminals’ failure to secure the perimeter led to the destruction of several of my houses last month.”
I wasn’t surprised. Karsten was a dipshit, peddling untested drugs and falling into potholes that he created, but Marianne was a different breed. She was fine at getting others to believe in her mission, but keeping them was never her strong point. It’shard to trust someone hollow, and harder to keep them when they’re not addicted to drugs.
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Everything. Maybe,” she pushed out her tits with a smile. “Wolfe, I propose that you and I get married. I am long overdue for a king, and I need a ruler who can control these little fucks so I can focus my attention on what matters.”
I blinked, bile and shock vibrating through my system like a firecracker let loose in a dumpster.
Marry her? What the actual fuck.
“And in exchange, you may keep your club… alive.. and in your power.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, trying like hell to prevent my feelings from creeping into my expression.
“Remind me why I need to be your husband to run your outfit?”
She laughed, stretching her arms in a defiant nod.
“Because I want you to.”
Control. A leash. A way to ensure her men don’t become mine.
“And?”I lifted my brow, knowing there were no happy endings with Marianne. She wouldn’t offer me power, men, or a means to save my club without taking something from me in return.
“You are good, Wolfe. Makes me wonder if the rest of you is.”
Fucking gross.
“There is the matter of your little plaything and the creature, Threx.”
I did not have to say anything for Marianne to pick up on what her comment did to me; the slightest mention of Daphne’s name made my skin boil.
“Well, it looks like acquisitions got something right,” she smiled, filling her empty cup with more tea. “Threx is a machine, one that everyone wants and that you possess. I won’t pretend that it doesn’t make you twice as hot.”