Page 17 of Stolen By the Enemy

“Good.” I smile. “Tell me what you know about this deal, how their cashflow works, and anything you think will help keep them alive during our exchange.”

Grazia details everything as well as she can.

I have a feeling she’s holding back a bit, but I’m satisfied with what she has to say.

I now know that the Baldini brothers do not go anywhere without a security detail, and that they have trackers on them so that if they do go missing, their associates can find them.

I will have to meet them somewhere other than here at my private beach house.

“Thank you,” I say to Grazia. She still looks scared, and I know that she has no choice in anything that’s happening, so I find myself feeling bad for her.

“For helping me, I’m willing to give you a reward. Is there anything you don’t have here that I can get for you?”

I see her eyes flicker toward the door, and I laugh slightly. If she thinks that means I’m going to let her go, she is very wrong.

“I’d like to go for a walk,” she finally replies.

“A walk?”

“Yes. I love the beach, and this stretch of it looks gorgeous. Plus, I’m feeling a little stir crazy at the moment.”

“Is this now an attempt to escape, Grazia? Am I that stupid in your eyes?”

“No. I won’t try to escape. You’d have your men after me and a screwdriver in my skull before I could even get off the beach, Marco. I’m also not stupid.”

“Corkscrew.”

“What?”

“We use a corkscrew, not a screwdriver.”

“Okay.”

“Grazia, despite your family and this situation, I respect you and know that we have much in common. I will take you for a walk. It’s one of the best things to do while here. But if you try anything, you are absolutely correct. I will have you tracked down and killed.”

“Th-Thank you. I think.”

She goes to get her shoes on, and I prepare myself mentally for our walk. I’m not sure that it’s wise to let her out of the house.

If we meet up with other people, she might try and ask them for help. But something in our exchange now makes me feel like she’s being honest about not trying to escape.

She meets me at the front door with a smile, something I’ve not seen her do since the wedding, which makes me doubly sure that this is worth the risk.

I shouldn’t be warming up to her like this, but she makes me want to make her happy.

I lead her out of the house, and she takes my hand.

“This way you can hold onto me so that I don’t try anything stupid.”

I look down at her hand and up to her face. Holding her hand seems like an odd way to go about this, but I leave it for now.

We make our way onto the sand and down to the water.

The sea is calm, and the night air is fresh. I don’t know why I was worried about other people.

No one is ever on this beach after sunset. I see the moon shining above the water and notice Grazia looking spellbound at the scene before her.

“I don’t blame you for wanting to live out here,” she says to me, softly.

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