Page 10 of Stolen By the Enemy

I want immediate money, five hundred thousand dollars, transferred to me immediately to safeguard their sister—because I’m pissed off and I know that after this, Carlos will cut me off.

It’s fine, as I am mostly self-sufficient, but I’m going to need cash flow to get some muscle onto my team, and to source a few more weapons, of course.

I send the email and lean back in the chair, holding my breath for a second, in anticipation of a reply.

Almost immediately, my personal phone goes off to tell me I have a text message, which cannot be from the Baldinis.

Picking it up, I can see it’s from Carlos.

>> Marco, cousin, what the fuck are you doing? Qué te pasa, wey?

I choose to ignore it, he’s not the person I want to be dealing with right now. But he sends another message after just a minute.

>> Bring the fucking girl back! What are you thinking?! We are about to close this deal, and you are fucking it up.

I sigh and decide to reply so that he doesn’t try to call me.

>> Sorry, cousin, but this time I am thinking about me, and not you. This is what I need to do in order to create my own success.

>> Thinking about you??? Marco, you are about to blow this whole thing up. There will be no success for anyone. I will not allow this, Marco. You will be punished.

>> Okay, if that’s what you want to do. I am not scared, Carlos. This is my game now. I have the girl, and you won’t scare me into giving up this opportunity. Tell your dirty Italian mafia friends to listen to my demands, and they will get their precious sister back, unharmed.

>> Pendejo! You are a fool! My parents warned me not to take you too far into the business, but I didn’t listen. Now I understand, because you are too stupid to know what is good for you.

“Fuck you, Carlos,” I say out loud to the empty room. I’m not entertaining any more of these messages.

He can cuddle up with Luca Baldini and complain to him if he must.

Besides, if anyone is the pendejo, it’s him.

Making friends with those Italians and leaving his own people in the gutters? What goes around comes around, and if wants to stay in bed with those thugs, he’s going to suffer along with them.

My cousin has only made smart decisions up until now, but with age, he is getting more and more greedy, wanting to retire with as much money as he possibly can.

That means Raul will most likely take Carlos’ place, and the cycle will begin again.

It is time for me to separate myself.

Slamming the phone down, I switch on the monitor above my desk.

An image flickers onto the screen, showing the inside of my beach house—one frame for each room.

Grazia is awake and eating the fruit I left for her in the living room. She has showered and changed and is back to looking ravishing.

I notice this involuntarily. I think about going over there to finish what she had started at the wedding but now is not the time.

I need to keep my mind as clear as possible, and having sex with that woman is not going to help me with that.

My fingers drum the edge of my desk as I think about my next steps.

I know that the Baldinis won’t just roll over and give in to me—that would make them seem weak.

But I also know that their only sister is important to them.

Having her in my beach house at least means they won’t find her, but they might bring their own muscle and try to.

I call my head of security into my office, and he appears within a few minutes. I’m glad that I insisted on keeping my own men on my payroll, rather than adding them to Carlos’ like he had suggested I do.

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