Page 62 of Dangerous Contract: Part 2

"Raz, you've got to calm..." Leo started, only to have Cas talk over him.

"They took her," Cas said from in front of the window, confirming Raz's suspicion. "They took Monique. They tookToya. And they..." Cas inhaled deeply and released the breath slowly. "And they took Meka." Cas turned and faced him. "They took them, Raz. Because of us. Because of the Cattaneo brothers."

Raz wanted to know more. He needed to know more. But he couldn't force himself to ask the next question. He was afraid to hear the answer. Even so, he needed to know.

"Are they... Are they alive?" Raz asked.

Cas lowered his head, unable to meet Orazio's gaze. Was that the answer? Orazio asked the question again, voice barely above a whisper. Cas remained silent. That silence was the answer. It had to be. And it was enough to send him plunging into despair.

Orazio's heart broke into a thousand pieces.

Chapter Eighteen

ORAZIO

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Raz felt like he was dying.His Rosa. He'd failed her. Though Cas's body language told him everything he needed to know, Raz still needed to hear the words so the truth could register in his mind and heart.

"Is she dead?" Raz asked again, still waiting for Cas to say those brutal words.

"Answer him before he loses his mind, Cas," Rome drawled.

Cas faced Rome and asked, "What?"

"Where is your head at?" Rome said, frowning. "Raz asked if Monique was still alive."

"Oh, right." Cas turned to Raz, then just stood there, staring at him.

"Well?!" Raz yelled, close to losing his shit. "Is she?"

"Yes," Cas told him.

Relief surged through him, followed by a wave of anger.

"You motherfucker! Why didn't you say so?" Raz roared, heart pounding in his ears.

"I never said she was dead," Cas told him, frowning.

"You..." Too upset to get the words out, Raz laid back against his pillow and closed his eyes.

His head was banging, and there was a deep ache in his chest, one he knew medicine wouldn't be able to reach. It was an ache onlyherpresence could heal.

Opening his eyes, Raz snarled, "Where is my woman?"

Cas's gaze jerked to Rome. What were they keeping from him?

"What happened while I was out? Someone better tell me something now before..."

"Okay," Cas mumbled before sighing heavily. After a long pause that had Raz contemplating Cas's death, his brother finally said, "A lot happened while you were out. When you passed out, Rome's laptop lit up like a Christmas tree. The board was on the move. All of them were going into hiding. Their faces were picked up on a few cameras around the city."

Raz vaguely remembered overhearing Leo on the phone delegating their hits.

"They were killed, right? You already told me that part. That's the reason the cops want to talk to me. I know what happened to the board. I want to know what happened to Monique."

Cas nodded. "I'm getting to that. After we ordered the hits on the board, we got a call from our crew, who'd arrived at the hospital to find all the guards here passed out."

Right!He remembered overhearing that also.

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