Page 78 of Stolen By the Enemy

It’s a place I’ve often enjoyed sitting and watching the ocean.

Sometimes it feels like I own this entire beach, especially on days like today, when no other humans can be seen.

We see seagulls eating something nearby and a crab making its way into the ocean.

I don’t mind sharing the space with animals and wild creatures. They have never bothered me as much as people do.

“Grazia…your letter.” I clear my throat and push the words out.

The silent comfort we have is nice, but things need to be said. “I read it, and I understand the questions you have, but things are complicated.”

“I know,” she says, her hand tightening around mine. “I know, Marco, but if we can make anything out of this, now is the time. Don’t you think?”

“Make anything out of this? We come from very different worlds. This isn’t like Tarzan and Jane or Romeo and Juliet.”

She laughs at my references, but I’m not sure why. I think they’re good examples of how Americans have romanticized incompatible couples.

“No, we’re not like them. But we’re also not that different. I get your business, and you understand my family.”

She sounds so logical, but also like she’s trying to convince herself.

“Your family is currently on top of my list of people I’d like to eliminate.”

“But you won’t, right?” Grazia looks at me, suddenly scared. And this is why we just won’t work together.

Our worlds collide in the worst ways possible.

She’d always be worried that I was going to have her family killed, and I’d always wonder if she was being used as a pawn to destroy me and my business.

“I won’t. You have my word,” I promise her. “But Grazia, we do need to figure out exactly what we are doing here.”

“I know…” She keeps holding my hand, but her gaze is fixed out on the ocean.

“You asked me in your letter if all this was about power and nothing else.”

I look at her, but she keeps looking away from me.

“When I brought you here, yes, it was all about the power that you could help me get. I just wanted to receive what I deserved, after working so hard for Carlos and seeing nothing from it.”

“And now?” Grazia turns to me and gives me her attention, her big brown eyes looking into my soul, waiting for me to admit that things have changed, that I now want it all—her, the money, the power, everything.

But if I had to choose, she would be enough.

“Now things have changed. I think you can feel that. Neither of us expected this, I am sure, but here we are.”

“Here we are,” Grazia repeats thoughtfully.

“I don’t know if I have the answer for you, though, about what we are going to do about it.”

“I know, Marco, I understand that it’s not a black-and-white kind of situation. It’s just as difficult for me.”

“I believe that. And I see you battling with being here…”

“Not being here, just being in the beach house, locked up and unable to go anywhere unless it’s a planned thing like now.”

I sigh. There is still a mental block in my mind about trusting her enough to open up fully until I know how she feels.

But I can’t seem to help her open up about how she’s feeling, and when the conversation comes back to her wanting freedom, it sounds like her feelings are not as strong as her desire to be free from me.

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