Page 65 of Dangerous Contract: Part 2

"It's..." Squeezing his eyes shut, he prayed for strength. His prayer wasn't answered. But he had to do this anyway. "Monique... It's over. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm busy now. I no longer have time to play around. Let's end this."

"Orazio, what are you talking about?"

"I'll send money to your account to reimburse you for your troubles. I'll also send money to your friends. In exchange for this money, you all must sign NDAs. I'm sure you know what will happen if any of you speak about what you've seen."

"Raz, are you threatening..."

"Accept the money and move on," Raz yelled into the receiver, cutting Monique off as guilt seized his heart. "Because that's all I can do for you. There's no room for you in my life. I don't want you anymore. Goodbye, Monique Rose."

And with that, Raz ended the call and their relationship.

Chapter Nineteen

MONIQUE

Three months later

––––––––

Lying ass rat bastard!

Closing her eyes, Monique took a deep breath and prayed for patience. She felt like she was losing her damn mind. Or maybe she'd already lost it and just hadn't realized it yet. Yeah, that was probably it. She'd gone crazy. That had to be it.

Because no woman in her right mind would chase after a man who'd made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her. Opening her eyes, she glared at the double doors of Cattaneo Casino and Resort.

"Please leave, ma'am," the security guards told her for the third time.

Monique felt Toya's hand on her shoulder. Looking back, she noted the concern in her friend's gaze.

"No matter what we do, they're not going to let us in," Toya told her. "We should go. Let's not make a scene."

Monique faced the guards again. She didn't want to go. Neither did she want to make a scene. Tears welled in her eyes. She just wanted to see Orazio. She wanted to have him say those hurtful words to her face instead of over the phone.

And once he did, she wanted to throw his money and his dumb ass NDA in his face and tell him to shove the paper up his ass and shit it out.Stupid ass... Lying ass... Promise-breaking ass...

"You're cursing him out in your head again, aren't you?" Toya asked.

Blinking back tears, Monique nodded as she glared at the guards, who looked uncomfortable. The guards stepped aside to let guests enter the casino. Monique considered trying to go in with those guests.

The last time she did that, the guards had picked her and Toya up and moved them out of the way.How embarrassing!Which was why she remained rooted in place this time. At this point, she didn't know what else to do.

Orazio wouldn't answer his phone. In fact, she was sure he'd blocked her number. She wasn't allowed in his casino or the boutique he'd taken her to. Other businesses that belonged to him were also treating her like she was his insane ex-girlfriend who was hellbent on stalking him.

And the truth was, that was exactly what she felt like. She'd never stalked a man in her life. She hadn't even protested when her ex insisted on divorcing her, her ex, who was suddenly missing because of Orazio.

If Raz didn't love her, why had he rescued her? Why had he gotten rid of her ex if he didn't love her? If he didn't love her, why had he made all of those damn promises to her? Why had he made her dream of a future with him? Why had he made her open her heart again and trust him? Why? She just wanted a fucking answer!

"You're trying to figure out if everything he did for you was a lie, aren't you?" Toya asked.

Sighing, Monique glared at her friend.

Toya shrugged and said, "We've done this so many times that I can tell what stage of the breakup process you're in just by looking at your face. The thing is, you're only supposed to go through this cycle once. Maybe twice. But you're on a never-ending cycle that is breaking my heart and making me want to..." Toya glared at the guards and yelled, "It's making me want to burn down this entire damn casino with Raz, his brothers, and hisguardsin it."

Monique chanced a glance at the guards to find them staring straight ahead, faces void of emotions. Heaving a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumped as she gave up...again. She felt foolish for even behaving this way. Foolish and ashamed.

"Let's go," she told Toya.

"You sure?"

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