Page 49 of Dangerous Contract: Part 1

Damn. She was an idiot. She thought she was good at reading people.Wrong!She was the worst at reading people. She was naïve. And she was so sick of people taking advantage of that. She let the papers fall from her fingertips.

“The form Trevor rushed me to sign that night to accept the free gift, it was this, right?”

“Yes.”

Monique’s chuckle held no mirth. She wasn’t laughing at Orazio or even Trevor. She was laughing at herself.

“Was this your idea or his?” she asked.

“Mine,” he answered. “It was my idea to have you sign the form. It was my idea to have him divorce you. It was my idea to have him give you to me in exchange for a large sum of money that would clear his debts. But my idea was far better for you than what he’d planned.”

“And what was that?”

“I don’t think you want to know.”

“Tell me.”

“Rosa...”

“Don’t call me that! And tell me what my ex had planned for me. I want to know the truth. You owe me that much, at least.” She took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

“He’d taken out life insurance policies on you.”

Her shocked gasp seemed to echo through the room. Or maybe it had only echoed through her head, her heart, her soul. Tears filled her gaze.

“Your ex had tons of debt,” Orazio continued.

“He’d wanted to kill me for insurance money to pay his debts?” she asked, all while thinking that shit like that only happened in Lifetime movies.

“Yes,” Orazio answered, still calm and collected while she was losing her shit and on the verge of falling apart.

“So, if you hadn’t purchased me, he would’ve killed me. I guess I should thank you for saving my life, huh?” she asked, turning in her seat to stare up at him.

“No. I’m not asking for a thank you.”

“Right.” She smiled, but the gesture didn’t reach her eyes. “You don’t want a thank you. You want to own me.”

His gaze never wavered when he answered. “Yes.”

“And you don’t see anything wrong with that?”

“All I see is you. And I’ll do whatever it takes to have you.”

“I guess you’re going to force yourself on me then because I have no intention of sleeping with you again.”

“Just having you here is enough for me. I’m willing to wait until you’re ready to be intimate with me again.”

“I’ll never be ready, Orazio. I will never be attracted to a man who uses money to get whatever he wants, even women who don’t want him.”

“I understand your anger and frustration. But please don’t lie to yourself. You may hate me right now. But you still want me.”

Cocking her head to the side, she stared him up and down, taking her time to admire his appearance.

“I hate to burst your bubble, Mr. Cattaneo, but I don’t want you. At all.”

“Should I prove it to you, Rosa?”

“Prove what?”

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