Page 7 of Dangerous Contract: Part 1

Cas scoffed. “Oh, he’s Mr. Cattaneo. But I’m just Cas.”

“Sorry, Mr. Cas,” Trevor said. “But there’s a few Mr. Cattaneos. This way is the only way to keep the brothers and cousins straight.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Cas said. “My brother is going to pay me. He is now your benefactor. You owe him. I’ll leave you two to talk out the details. I’m going to the bar to have a drink.”

Raz waited until Cas left the room before speaking again.

“What’s her name?” Raz asked, staring out the window at the woman who was now staring at her silver watch. She appeared to be growing impatient. She was waiting for a man who was negotiating whether she’d live or die. She was better off without a husband. Hell, she was better off without Raz, too.

“Her name is Rose,” Trevor told him. “Well, her name is Monique Rose-Wilks. But most call her by her maiden name. She’s been called that since high school when she was on the track team. It stuck with her.”

“Rose,” Raz whispered.His beautiful Rose. He was ready to make her flower bloom for him.

“B-but,” Trevor stuttered. “Mr. Cattaneo, if you purchase her, I won’t be able to make any extra money.”

Raz balled his hands into fists. “What do you mean?”

“If she dies, I’ll get two insurance policies. After cremating her, I’d get enough money to live off of comfortably.”

Cremation. That gave him an idea. Perhaps he’d burn Trevor alive.

“If I sell her to some of the Cattaneo connects, I’ll be able to make money off her before I end her.”

Raz was against trafficking. However, he wouldn’t mind selling Trevor to some men who’d enjoy keeping a lanky motherfucker like him around as a pet.

“Was she a good wife?” Raz asked.

“Huh?”

“Did you not hear me, or did you not comprehend the question?”

“Uh, yeah, she was good. I guess.”

“What made you marry her?” Raz asked.

“We married a long time ago. I was a different man then. I had different hopes and dreams. Then life happened, and the more I failed, the more I came to hate her.”

Raz could hear that hate in the man’s voice.

“She wasn’t the reason you failed,” Raz told him.

“No. But she was the reason I felt guilty. Every time she encouraged me, every time she smiled, I felt like more of a failure. But I held it in for years. I smiled back and pretended I was happy. Both of our families are against divorce. So, I stayed. I didn’t have a choice.”

“I guess they’re not against killing, huh?” Raz asked.

Trevor chuckled. “I’ve been around the Cattaneo family enough to know how to make it look like an accident. They’ll never know it was me. I’m friends with her family. I want to keep that relationship.”

This dirty motherfucker. Yes, he had to go. He’d been around them enough to know a lot of things. Too many things. Cas should’ve gotten rid of this jerk a long time ago. But if he had, Raz would’ve never gotten a chance to seeher,at this time, on this day.

Was this fate?No. Raz didn’t believe in fate. Everyone was responsible for their own destiny. Even Rose. She was responsible for marrying a man who couldn’t love and protect her forever.

Like Raz’s father was responsible for falling in love with a woman who didn’t know how to love anyone other than herself, not even her children. She hadn’t wanted to marry his father. She’d only wanted the money.

Head over heels in love, his father hadn’t asked for a prenup. His father’s trust in her had almost cost their family everything. In the end, his mom still left to be with one of the many men she’d cheated with while married to his father.

Raz and his brothers had visited her a few times in secret just to see how she was living. They were surprised to learn that she was suddenly able to love. She had another daughter and son now, who she doted on like they were the most precious things on the planet.

Raz sometimes wondered why she couldn’t love his family that way. Why had she cheated? Why had she left? Why had his dad, the don, let a woman bring him so low that he almost lost his title? Love and greed were the answers and the problems.

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