Chapter 100: Chapter 100: The Limits of Brotherhood
Alexander pulled his Mercedes E 450 into the private underground parking lot of the TMC facility, the sun was fully breaking over the horizon, but his body felt sharp, ever since he started his advanced training and they gave him that strange synthetic liquid, he felt filled with raw energy, the grueling night with Serena and the encounter with Senator Gobbels should have left him exhausted, but he didn’t feel tired at all, he walked down the sterile corridors, swiped his access card, and pushed his door open
Inside his private quarters, Marcus was sitting comfortably on a leather armchair, a glass of whisky in one hand and a burning cigarette in the other
Alexander stopped in the doorway, his eyes narrowing "What the hell are you doing here?" asked Alexander "Who gave you permission to enter my room?"
Marcus took a slow drag from his cigarette, exhaling the smoke toward the ceiling "I simply told the front desk that I am your best friend and the one who brought you to TMC" said Marcus "They handed me your spare key without any issue"
Alexander let out a rough sigh, shutting the heavy door behind him "Well... I suppose none of that is an actual lie"
"Want a drink?" asked Marcus, gesturing toward the bottle on the counter
"Please, I need one" stated Alexander
Marcus poured a generous amount of the amber liquid into a fresh glass and handed it over, along with the pack of cigarettes, Alexander waved the smoke away, refusing the cigarette, but he took the glass and downed the shot of whisky in one gulp, the alcohol burned its way down his throat, momentarily dulling the stinging pain on his bruised cheek "Tell me what happened last night" said Alexander, setting the empty glass down "Did you manage to escape from the police in time?"
Marcus let out a laugh, shaking his head "In my Corvette? Please" scoffed Marcus "It would be a miracle if those cops could even manage to see my dust, they were too slow to be true, what about you? Did they catch up to you?"
"It wasn’t easy to shake them off" muttered Alexander, carefully avoiding any mention of Gobbels or the ambush on the highway "Once I reached the main interstate, I managed to blend in with the heavy traffic and fled the area, there were too few police cruisers to set up a proper blockade"
The room fell into a sudden, heavy silence, Marcus stopped laughing, his gaze dropping to the floor as he stubbed out his cigarette in the crystal ashtray "I have something important to tell you, Alex" said Marcus, his voice turning dead serious
Alexander shifted his weight, his instincts going on high alert "It is rare to see you looking this serious, tell me what is wrong"
"Helen came here to see you" stated Marcus
Alexander’s heart stopped for a fraction of a second "My aunt?!"
"Yes" said Marcus, looking directly into his eyes "She came to this exact suite looking for you, she used my old client registration number to request the meeting"
A sudden, blinding wave of heat surged straight to Alexander’s brain, the stress of the night, the humiliation from the senator, and the sudden mention of his aunt shattered his composure, he lunged forward, his fingers tightly bunching the fabric of Marcus’s designer shirt "Did you fuck my aunt, you son of a bitch?!" screamed Alexander, his face twisting with rage
He pulled his right fist back, intending to smash Marcus’s face into the wall, but Marcus didn’t even flinch, before Alexander could swing, Marcus moved with the blinding speed of a senior TMC graduate, he grabbed Alexander’s wrist, twisted his arm behind his back in a seamless motion, and slammed Alexander’s face hard against the marble surface of the bar counter
Bang
Alexander groaned, his breath catching as Marcus pinned his body down with a single hand pressing firmly against the back of his neck, the difference in physical strength and technique was absolute; Alexander couldn’t move an inch "Alex, I am going to let you go right now, but you need to shut up and listen to me, alright?" stated Marcus, his voice tone calm but chillingly cold right next to his ear "I didn’t touch her, I swear on my life I didn’t lay a single finger on her, calm down and relax your body, I am going to count to three, and then I will release you"
Marcus slowly released the pressure on Alexander’s neck "One... two... three" counted Marcus, stepping back and raising his hands to show he was completely disarmed
Alexander pulled himself up from the marble counter, rubbing his sore shoulder and shaking his head to clear the fog, he leaned against the bar, taking a deep, ragged breath as his heartbeat finally began to slow down "Okay... okay" muttered Alexander, wiping a drop of blood from his lip "I’m calm"
"I apologize for being so rough with you" said Marcus, adjusting the collar of his shirt "But you lost your head there, buddy"
Alexander let out a dry, bitter laugh, looking at his friend with a mixture of respect and frustration "Holy shit, Marcus, you are ridiculously strong"
"I wasn’t lying to you when I said I spent a few months training directly under Stephen" said Marcus, a small smirk returning to his face "That man is an absolute machine when it comes to combat prep, look, it’s nothing personal, Alex, I know you got triggered, now I understand why you were so altered the day you joined TMC, believe me, I would never touch your aunt, I only wanted to warn you that she came here because they are all deeply worried about you, if you ever want to fix things with your family, you should probably go talk to them, I regret how I handled my own situation after I passed my initiation test"
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Author’s Note:
We finally hit Chapter 100! 🎉
Thank you all so much for the incredible support you’ve shown for this novel. Honestly, seeing our story climbing the rankings in Best Sellers, Most Collections, and the Hot section is absolutely mind-blowing. None of this would be possible without you guys. As a huge thank you, I’m going to push myself to maintain a fast pace and release more daily Chapters.
If you want to see more updates drop even faster, please remember to dump your Power Stones, throw some Golden Tickets, and leave your thoughts in the comments. Your feedback is what keeps me motivated to write and release as many Chapters as I possibly can.
Thank you all so much for being part of this wild ride! 🙌
