Page 40 of Stolen By the Enemy

If I can reason with him, maybe I can get him to at least undo these handcuffs.

“Marco?” I call out to him, risking another outburst, but needing him to help me. I hear his heavy footsteps walking down the hallway.

“What?” he barks at me. Clearly, his mood has not improved.

I want to make a joke about him waking up on the wrong side of the bed, but I’d rather not antagonize him.

“Could I please get a glass of water?”

He doesn’t answer me, but he walks away, and I hear the fridge opening.

He brings me back a bottle of water and opens it for me.

“Thank you.” I gulp it down.

My throat is so dry that the one bottle isn’t really enough, but I don’t want to ask him for more right now.

“Are you ready to tell me the truth now?”

“I have told you the truth, Marco. You can keep me locked to this bed, hurt me, kill me if you must, but I didn’t try to trick you. You had a lot of tequila last night, I think that maybe you just had too much. Maybe it’s making your paranoid today.”

“So, you’re saying I can’t handle my alcohol?” He is yelling now, and I can’t stop myself from flinching.

“And Luca and Enzo think I can’t tell time. All of you Baldinis are infuriating.”

“They’re being cautious, most likely to ensure everything goes smoothly. There are always other stakeholders to think about.” I ignore his insult. He didn’t think I was infuriating last night.

“Your brothers and their damn caution! They're jeopardizing everything, and I'm sick of waiting around for them to make a decision.”

“Marco, they're just trying to be careful. It's a significant deal…”

“I don't give a damn about their caution! They're dragging their feet, and I can't afford to wait any longer!” he cuts me off, his impatience spilling over.

“And Carlos,” I can see him seething now. “My own cousin, refusing to share the spoils. Family should mean something, but all he cares about is himself.”

“Family should mean everything.”

I change my tactic and agree with him, which seems to work almost immediately because his demeanor changes, and he sits down on the edge of the bed.

“I’m sorry that you feel like everyone is against you. I can understand that more than you know,” I admit.

I look down at the bedspread and sigh. I can feel tears prickling in my eyes, and it makes me annoyed with myself. Haven’t I already cried enough over the past week?

“I actually thought we had a good night last night, and it sort of hurts that you don’t agree.”

I think about how amazing it was that he listened to me and that he let me set the pace while we had sex.

Seeing him so angry because he was vulnerable might be understandable to me in one sense, but it hurts my heart more than he can ever know.

He's quiet now, staring out of the glass door, so I take the chance to speak to him and hope that my words can penetrate his brain and make him trust me somehow.

“You’re a smart man, Marco, and you deserve all of the power you’re asking for. I don’t doubt you’ll get it, too. My brothers won’t ignore that video you sent them. They will arrange things and you’ll have your own business to finally control. And Carlos will wish that he had seen your potential before this all happened. Because you’ll be making so much more money than he is.”

He nods, listening to me, and I imagine he’s seeing this future play out in his head.

I know now that he’s a daydreamer. Underneath the logistic planning he does, there is a whole lot of hope and optimism.

I watch Marco, the frustration on his face revealing deeper wounds.

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