Page 4 of Dangerous Contract: Part 2

As Trevor laid out his plan, Monique’s mind raced with thoughts of her friends, of the danger they were in, and the sacrifices she was willing to make to save them. She had to find a way to outsmart these idiots, to turn the tables on them, and to ensure her friends’ safety without sacrificing her own wellbeing.

For now, she had no choice but to play along, to dance with the devil in hopes of getting medical attention for Meka or Toya. All she had to do was pretend to trust them for a while. That should be easy.

It wasn’t like the plan they were laying out would work anyway. It was a stupid plan, and she didn’t really see the point of it.

“You want me to break up with Raz and tell him I never wanted him in the first place? You want me to tell him I was just using him to get information for you. Right?” Monique asked Trevor.

“Right. Tell him you stole the C459 file for me.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t worry about it. You just need to say you did it so Raz can hate you.”

“And what do you gain from this? Even if he hates me, I’ll never come back to you.”

Trevor chuckled. “You don’t have to come back to me. I already have you, cupcake.”

Ignoring his words, she told him, “Even if I told him that lie, Raz wouldn’t believe it.”

“Make him believe it,” Trevor insisted.

“He’s not stupid.”Like you.“He’ll know I couldn’t really have stolen the file. He has cameras everywhere. And he has a team,” she pointed out, thinking of Cas, Leo, and the other guards at Cattaneo Casino. “There’s no way his team would’ve let me take something important.”

“Who do you think set this up for me, cupcake? Do you think I set this up all on my own? It was Orazio’s people who came up with this plan.”

“Lies,” Monique hissed.

“It was Orazio’s people who got you involved. In fact, they’ve wanted you out of the way from the start. And they paid me a pretty penny to get you out of the way. Why else do you think I’d want someone like you back?” Trevor sneered.

Monique’s gaze drifted to her dad, looking for the truth.

“It’s true,” her dad confessed. “I’m a father too. So, I know what it’s like to want to protect your child. I’m getting you out of that situation. You should be happy.”

They were confusing the hell out of her. Nothing they were saying made sense.

“What do you mean you’re a father too?” Monique asked her dad. “What other father is involved with this crazy ass plan?”

“Orazio’s,” her dad told her. “It was the father of the man you’ve been sleeping with outside of marriage who set this all up. That family doesn’t want you. They don’t think you’re wife material for their son. So, you may as well come home to your family. Trevor promised he’d take you back. And...”

Her father continued to ramble some bullshit she wasn’t trying to hear. Her mind was stuck on what was said a momentago. Orazio’s father set all of this up. One of her friends was wounded and could die because of Orazio’s father. That couldn’t be the truth. It just couldn’t.

Raz, where the hell are you?

“It’s kind of like things are coming full circle,” Trevor mused, folding his arms over his chest. “Orazio paid me to leave you. And now his dad is paying me to take you back. Who knew you’d be worth so much?” Trevor said with a laugh.

Monique swallowed back tears as her heart slowly began to break.

Again.

Chapter Two

MONIQUE

Two days later...

––––––––

Monique’s body ached, her limbs heavy with exhaustion. She’d been taken by her father and ex-husband two days ago, and the emotional strain was becoming almost too much to bear. Her mind raced with worry for her friends, wondering if a doctor was really treating them like Trevor said.

---