Chapter 16 - Stefania
Waking up in Marlen’s arms set a soft smile across my lips as my eyes flutter open. I shouldn’t be so comfortable with this. I should get out of bed and move away from him. But instead, I snuggle closer. The warmth of his body is too inviting to ignore.
Marlen groans, half asleep, half away, and wraps his arm tighter around me.
“Good morning, sunshine,” he mutters in a gruff, deep voice.
“Morning,” I whisper back.
“Shit, what time is it?” he asks, suddenly sitting up. “Dammit, I have to go, I overslept. I was so cozy,” he chuckles. Marlen unwraps himself from my body and climbs out of bed. I sit up, clutching the blankets against myself. “Are you going to work?” I ask.
“Yes, I’ve got a bit of running around to do today,” he says.
“Please, can I come with you?” I ask, excited about getting out for the day.
“No, absolutely not,” he answers immediately.
“That’s not fair, why not? I’m getting ridiculously bored, stuck in this mansion every day, Marlen. I’m going crazy alone here,” I plead.
He shakes his head again. “No, Stef, it’s too risky,” he says sternly, pulling clothes from his closet.
“Risky how? I’m not going to try and escape. If I were going to do that, I wouldn’t have accepted Simon’s offer. And you’ll be with me the whole time. I don’t understand what’s so risky about it,” I argue. “I want to see what you do. My brothers never let me go to the businesses.”
Marlen groans, hanging his head for a second.
“Fine,” he huffs. “But you need to be ready in twenty minutes. There’s no time for coffee,” he says sternly.
“We can get coffee on the way!” I say excitedly, jumping out of bed and running out of the room to get dressed in my own room.
I hear Marlen chuckle.
***
To my disappointment, Marlen decides to take me to one of his legitimate businesses.
He leads me into the beauty clinic and shows me around, explaining that the beauty industry is one of the best investments because egos will never fade.
There will always be demand for Botox, lip fillers, and facelifts.
I follow him around, touring the consulting rooms and their state-of-the-art facilities, but when it seems that that’s all there is, I frown and ask, “What is this business covering for?”
He shakes his head. “Nothing, this is it,” he says, gesturing around. I tilt my head to the side and pout. “I wanted to see… You know… the other businesses,” I sulk. “The dirty side of things,” I add to clarify with a glitter of mischief in my eyes.
Marlen grimaces. “Stef, I don’t know if it’s a good idea. The people who come and go…”
“I’ll stay hidden. I’ll listen to whatever you say. Please let me see it.”
My wide-eyed, hopeful stare works like a charm, and he rolls his eyes and agrees.
On the way to the next business, he stops and gets us coffee. I get the feeling he’s delaying the inevitable. But the coffee is much appreciated—rich and creamy, exactly what I needed.
“How far is it?” I ask, sitting in the passenger seat, sipping the takeaway cup.
“Just down the road here, he gestures with his chin. “That grey building.”
“Harbor Food Inc?” I ask, reading the lettering on the building.
“That’s the one.”
He pulls into a side road, drives directly toward the building, then parks outside and shuts off the engine. “Stay close to me, and do as I say,” he warns me.
I nod, smiling.
He clenches his jaw for a second, then climbs out and opens my door for me.
Inside the massive building is a symphony of shouts, machinery, forklifts, men, and chaos that is incredibly structured.
“What is this place?” I ask loudly.
“This is a food distribution company. We import and export all kinds of foods across the world,” he says, pulling me closer as a forklift picks up a heavy crate near us. “Come on, let’s head to the office,” he says, guiding me through the noise.
Inside the office, it’s quieter, but soundproof. I can still hear the sounds of machines and men working to pack and ready the food orders. It’s a long, rectangular shape. Both the longest walls are tinted glass. Too dark to see through.
Marlen walks over to the desk and picks up a remote control. He presses a button, and one of the windows clears to a lighter tint. “Oh, wow, that’s cool,” I say, walking over to look through it onto the warehouse floor where we just came through.
“It’s one-way glass. You can see them, but they can’t see you,” he explains.
“And on the other side…” Marlen says, drawing my attention to the opposite tinted glass wall. He presses another button, and this wall fades from dark tint to light tint, and another warehouse floor comes into view. Smaller than the first, but not small by any means.
“This is the dirty side of things,” he says, glancing at me.
I step close to the glass and watch men moving around exotic cars, pulling panels off, and hiding packages in the vehicles’ walls. “What is it?” I ask.
“It’s cash. We move large sums of money for people. Across borders. By air, sea, or land. Now and then we move illegal products, but mostly it’s cash.”
“Why cash?” I ask, confused.
“Because certain transactions should be conducted without a traceable reference. We help our clients achieve that. The moment you wire a payment, it can be tracked. No matter how good you are, there is always a way. By physically carrying cash from one point to another, there is no definitive way to prove that a payment was made.”
“Unless you’re caught red-handed,” I say, fascinated by the scene below.
“We’re too good at what we do to be caught,” he chuckles.
In the warehouse below, a massive brutish brutish-looking man storms toward another man, waving his fist in the air.
“Shit,” Marlen mutters. “Not today.”
“Who is it?” I ask.
“It’s one of our biggest clients. Unfortunately, he’s also one of the biggest pains in my ass. He’s never happy and always in a rush, and everything is always a problem with him,” he groans, walking toward the door.
“Stef, you do not leave this room!” he demands. His voice is clipped with threat, and I nod, not daring to even make a joke of it.
Marlen leaves and closes the door behind himself.
I press my face close to the window to watch. I can hear the client shouting below, swearing at Marlen’s worker, who looks anxious and stressed.
Marlen walks into the room from the left, and immediately his voice booms across the space.
“Fabio, what the hell have I told you, time and time again. I will not tolerate you speaking to my workers like that,” he snaps.
“And I told you I won’t tolerate late deliveries. Where the hell are my vehicles?” Fabio snarls. Fabio turns back to the worker and starts shouting orders. “Get my cars now, I want to see them, I want to see…”
Marlen shakes his head and steps between Fabio and the worker.
“Fabio, this is your last warning. You are a good client. We appreciate your business, but I do not appreciate your attitude or how you treat people.”
“The delivery is late…” Fabio starts arguing.
Marlen interrupts him, standing his ground. “Check the message I sent you. Go ahead and read it out loud for me,” Marlen says, his voice calmer.
“I don’t need to check any messages. I know what the plan was, and you aren’t honoring the deal we made,” Fabio snaps while pulling his phone from his pocket. He scrolls through it and aggressively starts reading the message Marlen sent him.
“Payment received. Thank you for your business. Delivery will take place Thursday evening…” His voice trails off.
Marlen folds his arms across his chest and glares at him, not saying a word.
It’s Wednesday.
Fabio growls in anger, embarrassed to be caught out.
“You can’t treat me like this. I want…”
“You will get your delivery on the agreed date, Fabio. What you want at this point doesn’t matter, and if you come into my warehouse uninvited again, we are going to cut you off.
As I said, we appreciate your business, but not your attitude.
I won’t tolerate anyone disrespecting my employees.
Even if we were late, Fabio. You deal with me. Not my workers.”
I giggle quietly, impressed by Marlen’s bold, confident power. His unwillingness to back down. And especially how he stood up for his employees.
I watch the conversation below carry on, but my thoughts are drifting.
Marlen looks powerful, dangerous even, as he stands his ground against the other man. It spikes a feverish need in me. Something lustful and dark. I want to feel that power against my body. I want him to take me and control me.
But then another thought slips into my mind, and I bite down hard on my lip, my face scrunched. No, it can’t be.
But it is. And it’s very, very bad.
I don’t just feel physical attraction for Marlen. It’s something so much deeper than that.
My heart is involved. It’s stupidly aching for him.
I have feelings for him!
It’s so reckless of me to let this happen!
Marlen finishes with the client downstairs, and I see him heading back up to me. My heart stammers with tension, anxiety bubbling through me. How am I supposed to act around him?
I can’t let myself fall for him. These feelings I have… I need to put a stop to it.
When Marlen walks not the office, closing the door behind him, I do what I do best. I cover my anxiety with teasing.
“That was a riveting scene. Quite exciting to watch,” I say, grinning. “You really put on a show for me.”
Marlen chuckles. “Yeah, Fabio likes to go overboard with the dramatics. That man has a few too many screws loose in his head. But I’ve learned how to handle him over the years,” Marlen says, walking over to me, noticing my cheeky smile.
He slips his arm around my waist and pushes me up against the glass. “Did you enjoy the show?” he asks, his voice dark and devious. He’s picking up on my energy, sensing my desire.
My heart races faster as I try to rein in the emotions entwined with the attraction. He traces his fingers over my jaw and tilts my head up. His lips hover an inch above mine. My breathing becomes heavy as his eyes pierce into me.
“I did… I thought you were… very commanding…” I stammer, trying again to tame my heart, but it’s not working.
Marlen leans even closer, and his lips lock over mine.
His kiss is tender, yet forceful as he handles me with confident control.
The desire to fully give myself to him increases.
A deep-seated, alluring ardor pulses through me.
But it’s tainted by the knowledge that whatever happens between us is temporary.
This is a brief chapter in my life that won’t last. The more I give myself to him, the more painful it would be when it ends.
One day, my brothers will find me and take me home.