Page 1 of Macon

Present Day

“Hold the fuck up. We need to go back and start from the beginning and break that shit down like I’m a four-year-old,” Marcus, leader of the Reapers gang here in Chicago, demands as he leans back in his chair.

We’re here at the Wolfeman MC Chicago clubhouse to settle some affairs and finalize everything. We decided to sit down with the prominent Chicago crime lords. We have Marcus Rios “Cuz,” the leader of the Reapers gang, and Jacker, his right-hand man.

The Chicago Outfit, Boss Salvatore Manetti, with a couple of his underbosses. Wolfe, Cash, Bear, and Hawk are the Wolfeman MC’s founding members. Shy, Dallas, Quick, and I are from our New York chapter, and the rest are what’s left of our Chicago chapter.

Dallas, our treasurer and all-around go-to guy for intel, stands up and starts explaining. “Okay, I will break it down real quick and raise your hand if you get lost. We have all the missing pieces, except where all of you come in at the end.”

Dallas starts naming all the shit that’s happened in the last two years, starting with Emmett, who worked for Luc Mancini at Spin It Inc. label, and when he took Alexandria, Luc’s daughter.

He continues into Snow’s story and the chaos of her getting shot and saving Alex. We didn’t know how the Russians were involved until later.

I tune out, watching the men stare intensely at Dallas, walking around the room, listing off all the mayhem that has been unleashed. I start to tap my leg, getting impatient. I want to get to the last two months. Two months of hell we’ve been through.

The moment those three girls came into our lives, chaos erupted. Dallas had to go and get shot while protecting Izzy and then fell in love with his damn doctor, Dr. Lee Hart, whom we call Doc. She invited her best friends, Raydene Walker and Violet Rios Manetti, to DJ at the White Wolfe Lounge that Shy and I own.

Little did we know that Violet Rios Manetti was Marcus’s cousin and Salvatore’s daughter-in-law. The family ties with those two alone is chaos.

Her other friend Raydene was thrown into my lap to look after while my brothers looked after her friends. Raydene has a boyfriend, but I spent two weeks with her before she went back to him. How can one person turn your life upside down in that short of time?

“Well, Ronny’s been terrorizing her for years. I’ve been protecting her most of her life.” Marcus announces to the room, discussing Lee, Dallas’s doctor.

Ronny is a member of the Black Crows and is currently the one we are trying to get our hands on regarding what he’s done to Doc.

Dallas ignores his comment, knowing Marcus is trying to get under his skin. Marcus used to have a thing for Doc, especially since she saved his life all those years ago. He’s very protective of her, but she’s with Dallas now, so she’s got plenty of protection.

Dallas continues, “Yes, we found that out. Her connection to the Black Crows and their members was a big deal. We hated them, and once Doc told us her story, we protected her.

Vi and Ray wanted to stay with her, so they were automatically under our protection too. That next night, your rival gang, the Chingas, did a drive-by at our clubhouse, warning us they knew Brick and Vi were here. While shooting up the place, a few of our members were hit.”

“I’m still pissed off you didn’t call me,” Sal interjects.

Marcus turns to him. “They barely told me. Brick finally called, letting me know what happened. I wasn’t thinking about you. Plus, I thought you knew everything?” he says sarcastically.

The Chingas have been fighting with the Chicago outfit and the Reapers for years.

Sal’s face turns red with irritation. “She’s my daughter-in-law. She is my business.”

“Okay, let’s get back to the information while it’s still fresh,” Dallas says, cutting them off. “So, as I was saying, we put the clubhouse in lockdown after the drive-by.”

Two weeks of lockdown with Raydene and getting to know her. I can’t believe I’m hooked on this bitch, and we didn’t even have sex. I mean, we fucked around but never all the way. We connected. It was just nice talking to her. At first, I tried to get information from her, but the more I got to know her and her secrets, the more she won me over.

“Wait.” Marcus holds up his hand. “So you never saw JJ or King after that night at the club? They weren’t with Dexter when he came to the club and got Raydene?”

Hearing Raydene’s boyfriend’s name, I turn my attention back to the men.

“No, they seemed to have vanished. We had eyes on everyone, but they somehow slipped out,” Dallas replies, frustrated.

JJ and King are from Chicago. JJ is a drug trafficker, and King is a weapons dealer.

“With all the madness that’s happened with the Chingas this last month, I haven’t gotten around to meeting up with them. I’ll do that,” Marcus says, then looks over at Jacker. “Set it up.”

Jacker nods.

“You say you have eyes on everyone, so who does that entail?” Sal says to the room, his eyes landing on Wolfe, our founding president and my uncle.

Wolfe speaks for the first time. “Actually, we only have eyes on the Russians right now. Rayaan and Lenny slipped away that night as well. We’re friendly with Knight, the president of the Black Crows, and he’s now keeping an eye on our New York border territories.”