Chapter 59

Chapter 59
“My feisty princess” Marco said.

“I had it under control boo. You didn’t have to do anything” Melina replied.

“Amore you hurt your hand. I need to teach you how to throw proper punches. It seems that you will need it” he said and gave a gentle kiss to Melina’s knuckles. “Now how about I take you home, so you can keep your end of our bargain?”

“What end would that be?” Melina feigned innocence.

“The end that you are taking this sexy costume you are wearing off, to wear an even sexier one just for me” Marco said in a low voice.

They left the night club and drove back home. Marco had indeed bought a sexy costume / lingerie set for Melina and he stayed true to the theme. It was a set of Jasmine lingerie, leaving not much to the imagination. 

Their bed workout lasted until the early hours of the morning and Melina was glad no one else was in the house, because it was the loudest they had ever been. Apparently the combination of alcohol and adrenaline rush from the fight can do that to people.

The following morning they stayed in bed until late and when they decided to leave the bed, they took down the Halloween decorations and stored them for the following years. They relaxed for the rest of the day, as they knew that the following day they would return back to their busy schedule.

Melina managed to make Marco agree to train her in weapons, knives and self-defence, but he was adamant that there was no need for her to be trained on hand-on-hand combat. Melina didn’t push further with that, but she had made her own decision after her kidnapping. She did not want to feel helpless again, so she would prepare herself as much as she possible could. 

She had already found the person that would train her on hand-on-hand combat, making the self-defence training redundant, but she didn’t want Marco to get suspicious, so she continued with it too.

She started having a routine. She would wake up at 07:00 every morning, go for a run and meet with her secret trainer for a 45-minute session. She would be back in the house by 08:30 and she would train for 30 minutes with Marco on weapons, knives and self-defence. Then she would take a shower, have a quick breakfast and start working on the online casino project.

The days were passing quickly like this, and Melina was satisfied with both the progress of her training and the progress of the project. She was preparing a quick presentation of her business plan

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Alessio walked into Marco’s office. “I have an update from Ricardo”

“Good. Has he found out who the Wolf is yet?” Marco asked.

“Not yet, but he confirmed that he is working with the cartels. His phone is encrypted, so Ricard cannot clone it. He will have to keep following him around” Alessio said.

“That’s not much of an update. We already knew he was working with the cartels” Marco said frustrated.

“That’s true, but we didn’t know for which cartel he was working for. The Wolf might be difficult to identify, but known cartel members are not”

“Are you pausing for dramatic effect? Just spill it out” Marco said.

“He is working for the Los Zetas” Alessio replied.

“I knew that it wouldn’t be the Sinaloa cartel, but I thought it would be the Juarez. The Los Zetas? Whoever the traitor is must be very desperate to work with them. Santiago Alvarez is said to have sold the Morales brothers to the federales, so he can assume the leadership. This is not a man you want to do business with”

“You don’t like any of the cartels anyway” 

“I don’t but with the rest of them you know what to expect. The Los Zetas are unpredictable, and they have way too many internal disputes. They are a ticking bomb at any point. No one in their right minds would want to give them access to the city”

“Do you think that anyone in their right minds would make a move against you?” Alessio retorted.

“Fair. Pay Chang a visit and see if he will react when you mention the Los Zetas” Marco said. “We need more information, but this is a good start”.

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A few hours later, Melina knocked the door on Marco’s office before she entered.

“Boo…I just went to the kitchen to get something to drink and I was thinking…” she said.

“Am I going to like what you were thinking?” Marco said and pushed his chair further from his desk.

Melina sat on his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and said “I don’t see why you wouldn’t like it”

“Let’s hear it then”

“I have already told you that I want to embrace all the American traditions, so I was thinking that it would be nice to have a Thanksgiving dinner”

“Okay, sure. We can invite my parents, Alessio and Matteo to come over” Marco said.

“That’s great then! All we have to do is decorate accordingly” she said excitedly.

“Do we have to?” Marco asked.

“I mean…we don’t have to, but it would be nice to. You know, for the full experience and all”

“I know a battle when it’s lost. Fine. But online shopping only. I don’t want you to go out for that”

“Thank you boo” Melina said and gave him a peck on the lips. “By the way boo. I am almost done with the business plan for the online casino, so I would like to present it to you and whoever else you want to be there”

“When will it be completely done?” Marco asked.

“I will put the final details on the presentation, later today” Melina replied.

“Then how about you present it to me, my dad and Alessio tomorrow?”

“Yes, that would be great” Melina said and stood up to leave. “Boo…if the plan is not good, please just be honest. I don’t want you to just go with it, because you don’t want to upset me. You and I are going to be fine regardless of your decision about the project”

“Amore don’t worry. I know I will always be biased, but my dad and Alessio won’t be. We will evaluate the project on its merits”

“Thank you boo” she smiled at him. “I better go and finish up then” and with that she left and run back at her office.