Page 54 of Stolen By the Enemy

“I’m okay.” I stay at the bottom of the stairs, Marco’s guards standing on each side of me.

The tension hovering between every person in this room is palpable, the energy so different from what it had been only a few minutes before.

Luca doesn’t say anything to me, but his eyes never leave Marco’s face.

“Shall we go into the office to sign the documents?” Marco asks my brothers, keeping his tone neutral and not looking at me.

“Just a minute.” Luca stops him. “I want to know that we’re all going to be walking out of here safely when negotiations are complete. Let my sister go and wait in the car, and I will come with you into the office. Enzo can stay out here.”

Luca’s distrust is sometimes his strength, and sometimes his weakness. I can’t deny that his plan is smart, but I’m not sure that Marco is going to appreciate it.

“I’m sorry, Luca, but I can’t allow that. We can all go into my office, Grazia included, and once the deal is signed, you all have my word that you are free to go. But no one is leaving this house until I have your signatures.”

Marco’s voice is stern, and I notice he has a business tone of voice that is different from how he usually sounds.

“Fine,” Enzo says, always one to try and keep the peace before violence breaks out. “Let’s get this over and done with.”

Marco turns to lead us into his office, and I take a small step off the stairs, my legs still not feeling very stable.

Luca looks at me as we’re about to make our way to the office, and I see his face scrunch up into a frown.

“What is that…?” He steps closer, and Marco’s guards close in on him. “Grazia, what is on your neck? Did he hurt you?”

Luca’s face is getting red, and I instinctively move my hand over the spot where Marco had bitten down during one of our passionate moments.

Shit, did he leave a mark?

I hadn’t seen anything in the mirror, but now that I had tied my hair up, maybe there was something there that I had missed.

I see Enzo look at me as well, not saying anything. Then Luca’s expression changes, like he’s just realized something.

“No. No fucking way.” He turns to Marco, his hands balling up into fists. “You said you wouldn’t touch her. Did you fuck her?”

Marco looks at me and I can see him trying to come up with an answer that is going to diffuse the situation, but Luca doesn’t give him time.

He turns back to me and clenches his jaw.

“Luca… It’s not what you’re thinking.”

I try to get his attention but he’s screaming at Marco about how he’s gone back on his side of the deal.

Marco stays silent and lets Luca rant, while Enzo puts a hand on Luca’s shoulder to try and calm him down.

When Luca takes a break to breathe, Enzo turns to me.

“Grazia, did you sleep with Marco? Is that what the mark on your neck is from?”

He’s calm, but he’s speaking slowly, which tells me that he’s beyond pissed off. Enzo has always been the one who I couldn’t lie to.

Even as a teenager, when I went through my very short rebellion phase, he brought me back to reality every time.

But his approach was always with love, and never judgemental.

I can’t look at him now, dreading the disappointment that I know his eyes are going to show me.

I wish that this was some kind of bad dream, and that I could wake up before Marco and I had sex today.

The previous times were complicated, both of us trying to get through the situation we were in.

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