Page 39 of Stolen By the Enemy

They seem to forget that.

My phone notifications go off again, and I see that they have, at least, sent through most of the money.

At least they are making some progress. And now I can afford to keep things running, taking away at least some of the stress that I am under.

I decide not to reply to them.

Let their worry move them forward. Silence from me might help that.

I stand up and walk into the bedroom where my captive is still locked up. Grazia has fallen asleep, and I’m not sure how she managed to do that.

The way her arm is positioned looks uncomfortable, but she’s done this to herself.

I can’t feel bad for her, she’ll use that against me.

I can’t believe that I was as stupid as to leave my keys to the car on the counter, and I won’t be forgiving myself anytime soon.

All the Baldinis are all skating on very thin ice right now.

I refuse to contemplate too closely why she didn’t try to just drive away. I don’t want to know what that means, either.

I just want to be angry. It’s easy being angry.

I look out at the beach. It’s good weather, and if Grazia hadn’t screwed herself over, I might have been tempted to allow her to go for another walk.

That’s off the table now.

She looks so innocent while she’s sleeping, but I’ve seen her sneaky side, and I will no longer allow her the power to trick me into being kind to her.

The sex is good, amazing, actually. But I can’t let her manipulate me and possibly ruin my plans.

I should not have given in to temptation.

I leave the house to go for a walk, sure that once I’m back, she will be awake. Then I’ll need to figure out what to do with her.

Chapter Twelve

Grazia

I can hear Marco moving around in the living room. It’s been a couple of hours already, and my arm has gone numb.

I know I fell asleep after hearing him sleeping in the other room, but I’ve been awake for at least an hour.

I heard him coming back into the house, although where he went, I have no idea.

I’m so confused again by the way his mood changed so suddenly this morning.

How he could come in, ravish my body, and then go crazy in the morning and accuse me of trying to trick him?

I’d love to hear about what he thinks I can actually do to trick him.

I will admit that I had thought I would win him over and sneak out when I first got here, but I have since realized that is not possible.

I might still be able to make him like me enough to ensure myself some safety, but that is all I can hope for in this situation.

I thought he was going to leave me here, go back to his house and wait for my brothers to finally arrive.

Hearing him fall back to sleep in the next room shocked me, but it also gave me hope.

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