Page 75 of Dangerous Contract: Part 2

Shaking her head, Meka continued, "Instead of calling one of you and discussing my problems with you two, I searched through my desk drawer and foundhisnumber. I called him. He didn't answer."

"Oh, no!" Toya gasped.

"So, I left a voicemail."

"Yay!" Toya cheered.

"Be quiet!" Monique yelled.

"Sorry," Toya whispered.

With a sigh, Meka continued. "In the voicemail, I only said four words.I need to talk.That's it. No name. No context. Just those words. I thought he wouldn't call back. Part of me hoped he wouldn't because I didn't even know this man. But he did. That night, he called me back. I recognized the number and answered quickly." Meka swallowed, tears swimming in her eyes. "After I answered, he only said three words, and those three words caused me to burst into tears."

"What did he say?" Toya whispered.

"He said, I missed you." Meka wiped tears from her eyes.

Monique found herself blinking back tears of her own. "That's why when he met you at the casino, he recognized your voice. Didn't you recognize him?"

Meka nodded. "I tried to play it off, but then he did what Cattaneos do. He kidnapped me."

"That wasn't a real kidnapping," Toya drawled. "It was a lite kidnapping or maybe just a borrowing."

Meka rolled her eyes at Toya.

"Even so, you defended him when ol'girl showed up," Toya pointed out.

"Of course I did. During our phone conversations, he'd told me all about her and what she'd done to him. That's not all he told me. He talked to me about so much. And now it all makes sense. For instance, he told me that he doesn't like what he does for a living. He never told me what his job was, but he told me it was family-run and that he was tired of being a part of it. He said he felt like a puppet being forced to live the life chosen for him. His brothers don't even know that he likes photographyand taking pictures. He even has some of his pictures featured anonymously online. He's even won awards under the pen name he uses."

"Cas has?" Monique asked.

"Yes." Meka nodded. "He's so much more than the man I met at the casino. But he's forced to live according to his family's plan. He's forced to be someone he doesn't want to be. Why would I sign myself up to be a part of his life when even he doesn't want to be a part of it?"

Meka wiped her eyes again. "I'm so mad at him because seeing him in real life is so different than talking to him. I now see why he was okay with not rushing to meet me in real life. I set the rule that we wouldn't meet outside of our phone conversations until I was ready, he agreed to it, and never pressured me. Instead, we took our time getting to know each other. He allowed me to see the real Caspari. He recited poetry to me over the phone. He wrote poetry with me. He texted me pictures he'd taken. And he can draw. He drew pictures for me. We had cooking dates over the phone, where we'd both look up a recipe online and then try to cook it together while on the phone. Then, we'd send each other a picture of the dish we created to see which dish looked better. And then we'd eat together while on the phone. That man is the man I liked. I liked Anonymous. I don't like Caspari Cattaneo. And he doesn't like himself."

Monique's gaze moved to Toya. Both friends remained silent. There was so much to unpack from that. Poor Cas.

"Meka," Monique started. "Don't get mad at me for saying this, okay?"

Meka sighed and placed the bowl on the center living room table. She then relaxed against the couch and closed her eyes.

"Okay, go ahead. I won't get mad," Meka promised.

"Meka, you don't have to help me with the Raz kidnapping. Toya and I can figure that out on our own. And yes, it's crazy.But I guess this is what it means to be crazy in love. Don't worry about me and Raz. Worry about you and Cas."

"Mo...." Meka started.

Monique cut her off. "Just listen, sweetie. You and Cas found each other in an unconventional way. I mean, what were the chances of you two meeting over the phone and then ending up at the same casino and recognizing each other? If that's not destiny, I don't know what it is. And yeah, some bad stuff happened along the way. But you just said that Cas doesn't want this. You just said that he hates this life. Well, maybe he needs a gentle push to help him let this life go. Maybe he needs you. I mean, you're the person he turns to when he needs someone to talk to. And now the person he needs to talk to about what he's going through is ignoring him. That has to be hard on him. And it's hard on you, too. You said it yourself, he was the person you called instead of us. Which means, you're also missing the person you'd usually talk to when you're going through something. You two need each other. Yet, your fear is holding you back."

"If I would've died while kidnapped," Meka whispered. "Cas would've blamed himself. Cas would've had to live with that guilt forever. Cas would've shut himself up even further. That's if he chose to continue living at all."

"What do you mean?" Toya asked.

"When he found me that night, when he hugged me close, he whispered in my ear that if I would've died, he would've killed himself." Meka swallowed. "He said he wouldn't have been able to live with himself. That's what I fear. I fear that his lifestyle will claim me, and then he'll claim himself. I fear that for a lifestyle he hates, we could both lose our lives. How senseless and pointless would that be? I don't want to live a life with that hanging over my head."

"I understand," Monique told her. "Just answer this question for me. Do you love him?"

Meka swallowed but didn't open her eyes or speak.

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