Page 130 of Dangerous Contract: Part 2

"You shouldn't have been here. And you damn sure shouldn't have been here on the arm of Frederico Miconi, of all people. How did you meet him?"

She didn't answer. She just stood there, glaring at him, not speaking, not moving. He wasn't even sure if she was blinking. Her silence was making him uncomfortable.

"Do you like him? Or were you here to piss me off?" he asked. "If it was the latter, then that was childish as fuck, Monique."

She chuckled sarcastically but said nothing.

"That was it, huh? You came with him to piss me off. Well," he drawled, tossing onto the floor the handkerchief he'd used to clean Frederico's blood from his hands. "You got what you wanted. I'm pissed off, and Frederico is going to die tonight. Was it worth it, Rosa?"

Monique’s eyes flashed with anger. Her fingers clenched at her sides, the only outward sign of the storm he could tell was brewing inside her. Well, there was a storm brewing inside him, too, and it was all her fault.

"Answer me," he growled. "Answer me, or I'll have my men cut his heart out right now and feed it to his fucking daughter," Raz yelled, on the verge of losing it.

"Why should I answer you?" his Rosa asked, voice low, calm, suspiciously sweet. "You seem to already have all the answers. So, answer yourself,don," she sneered his title as if it disgusted her.

Raz cocked his head to the side. If it was anyone else, they would've cowered under his stare and immediately did his bidding. His Rosa met his gaze without flinching, standing tall and rebellious but still not bringing her ass closer as he'd told her to.

She was pushing all of his buttons. Could she not tell how fucking pissed off he was? Was she trying to push him over the edge? Did she want every motherfucker in this building to die tonight?

"You don't know how close I am to losi..." he started, only to have her cut him off.

"You called me childish a moment ago," she told him, not caring that he'd been in the process of speaking. "I'm not the childish one here. You're the one behaving like a little boy instead of the don youleftme to be. You're not behaving like the man I thought I loved. Right now, I can't even understand how I fell in love with a man like you in the first place."

Her harsh words hit Raz like a punch to the gut, leaving him momentarily stunned. The anger in her voice was unmistakable, nothing like the calm, controlled woman he thought he knew. He opened his mouth to respond, but Monique continued, her tone rising.

"You left me alone for months," she reminded him, her voice cracking slightly.

He knew how long it had been. He'd felt each day like a slice to his flesh, Father Time slowly flaying him open.

"You didn't call," she told him. "You didn't come by. You didn't care..."

"I cared!" Raz stepped closer, his voice rising in frustration. "If I didn't care, then I wouldn't have left you to protect you."

"That's something you should've discussed with me," she shot back, raising her voice to match his. "It's not a decision you make yourself, Orazio Cattaneo. You don't get to make decisions for me."

Growing frustrated, Raz ran a hand through his hair. "At the time, I thought it was for the best."

Monique’s eyes narrowed, her anger flaring. "I guess my opinion doesn't matter when it comes to my fucking life, huh?"

"Rosa, you almost died because of me," Raz argued, his voice softening slightly with guilt.

"No, I almost died because of my father, my ex, and your father," she corrected him. "And if it weren't for me, your father never would've put that scheme in motion. What happened was just as much my fault as it was yours. But you don't see me blaming you or fearing your lifestyle. My friends got caught up in our drama also. But you don't see them blaming either of us. You don't see Cas blaming you and me for Meka going missing, do you? Why are you the only one assigning blame, Raz?"

He opened his mouth to argue, but Monique wasn't finished.

"And to be honest, if my father had never forced Trevor to marry me, I never would've been in danger in the first place," she continued, her voice thick with emotion. "We both suffered because of people who should've loved and protected us. It wasn't either of our faults. Yet, you made it all yours. You shouldered all the blame, and no one asked you to do that. Are you a martyr or something? A saint? Do you think the world revolves around your hurt pride or feelings?"

Raz cocked his head to the side, unable to believe what he was hearing. The raw honesty in her words left him speechless, a rare occurrence for him. For a moment, they stood in silence, the truth hanging heavy between them.

Though he agreed with everything she'd said, he still couldn't forgive himself for allowing her to get hurt. The guilt gnawed at him, pushing him to defend his actions.

"Monique, I did what I thought was best to protect you," he insisted. "I had to keep you safe, even if it meant keeping you away from me."

Monique heaved a heavy sigh of frustration, a glimmer of unshed tears shimmering in her brown eyes.

"You know what? There's no use in talking to you because there's no getting through to you," she whispered, voice trembling slightly but growing steadier as she continued. "You're right. It was childish of me to come here with Frederico. That move defeated my entire purpose of coming here to win you back."

Her words caught Raz off guard, and he felt some of the anger seep from him.So that was why she came.

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