Page 1 of Stolen By the Enemy

Chapter One

Marco

I walk through the big hall where the Baldini wedding reception is being held. It’s glitz and glam in here, not exactly my kind of party.

Luca Baldini is marrying his young wife, Emelia, who was once his sister’s best friend, and who is now his partner in crime–literally.

They have a weird relationship, one I can’t quite put my finger on.

I’m not sure this wedding was worth the travel time from Mexico.

I’m only here because my cousin, Carlos, is busy sealing a deal with the groom, and he wanted back up with him in case things went south.

That’s how things work in our world; arrive for a celebration and leave with gunshot wounds and a few headless men on the floor.

The Baldinis are a powerful family, with good contacts, and that will help us push our product even further than we could up until now, but I have my suspicions that they can also be fucking sneaky.

And I don’t like sneaky people.

I’d have no problem at all if things came to the point where I needed to put a bullet in Luca’s brain. His big brother, Enzo, too, if that was something that also needed to happen.

These little rich brats don’t impress me.

Nothing has gone wrong, though.

The ceremony was boring, and most of the people at the reception are dancing and enjoying themselves. I, on the other hand, cannot stand to be here for a moment longer.

This wedding is nothing but a show, we all know this, but I can see Carlos laughing and joking with these dirty Italians like we’re all the same people.

I’ve warned him that I do not think Luca can be trusted.

I think back to when Grazia came to Mexico not too long ago, and it seemed like she had something to share with us back then, but she left right away. Then shortly after that, we heard about this wedding.

I can see it on her face tonight—she’s not impressed by this union. Although I can also see what looks like the start of a baby bump on young Emelia, so perhaps they took their act further than it needed to go.

Fucking idiots.

This deal with my cousin has Luca looking very happy, I notice, but the rest of us are sitting around like morons, barely getting anything from it.

Somehow this is how it always is with my cousin Carlos, him giving his own family crumbs after making big deals with other people and bringing in large amounts of cash.

Never mind the fact that we helped him source the drugs and even gathered the information needed to make this whole thing happen.

On top of that, without my protection, Carlos would never have made it this far.

“Marco!” Carlos comes up to me, smacking me on the back. I nod in recognition. “Look at this party, eh! When all of this is settled, we’ll be having our own party. When are you getting married?”

“Is it all getting settled?” I ask him, ignoring the question about getting married. “Because last I heard, this family was on uncertain footing.”

“It’s all just fine.” Raul comes up and stands in between myself and Carlos.

He’s always had a soft spot for these Italians, so his opinion is useless to me.

“Okay, and what’s our cut?” I ask them both, because now that we know where the product is going, we should be splitting profits equally.

Carlos just laughs and pats me on the back again.

“Marco, Marco, my man Marco. You will be well looked after, as you have been all of these years. Don’t worry so much about cuts and money now. Go and drink the free drinks and be merry.” I stop the conversation there before my temper gets the best of me.

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