Page 29 of Heat Me

"Nope. Completely different story." I scanned through his profile. "When he was eighteen, he won some college pageant—Mister Freshman. A millionaire bought his contract for a record-breaking amount. But that guy passed away last year, and now Darien’s trying to sign a new contract. It’s odd, though. He inherited a huge fortune, so he doesn’t really need this. There’s gotta be more to the story. Cases like his are super rare."

Damien leaned closer, his brow furrowed as he studied the fields. "Maybe he doesn’t want to be alone. He spent so many years with an older guy—perhaps now he wants someone younger."

"Could be." My eyes skimmed over the rest of the profile, and something caught my attention. "Oh, here’s something—he’s infertile. But at his age, that’s probably not a dealbreaker for most buyers."

Something else caught my eye. "But check this out—he’s rejected nineteen match proposals. Fuck, nineteen! That’s probably the real issue. He’s just super picky."

"Not surprising," Damien said with a giggle. "HewasMister Freshman, after all!"

"Right? Yeah, I definitely need to have a serious talk with this one."

"Ferro…" Damien tapped his chin, thinking. "That name rings a bell. Isn’t it the name of the mafia family in the city? My uncle Blue told me some stories about them."

"Maybe it’s a coincidence?"

Damien pulled out his phone, searching quickly. After a moment, he turned the screen toward me, showing me an article:‘Mafia Retired Boss Dies After Cancer.’

"Look, it says Alberto Ferro was a mafia capo for a few years after his father died. Then his brother Angelo took over. And get this—Alberto remarried when he was sixty. His husband’s name was… yep, Darien!"

"Wait, so Darien’s a widower of a former mafia boss? That’s wild."

"Yeah, but it was ages ago. Says here Alberto only led the family for three years. Guess it wasn’t his thing, so he let his brothers handle it. Now, his nephew is in charge—Anzo, a beta!"

"A beta is in charge of the mafia family?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Yeah, how rare. I heard from my uncle that Anzo is a strong supporter of the whole Beta Empowerment movement." Damien looked through the article. "And he killed his two older brothers.Allegedly!"

"Seems like a ruthless guy."

"Pretty much. Anyway, Darien’s husband, Alberto, stayed out of the spotlight for the last twenty years—knew some big-name politicians, did some charity, but that’s about it. He wasn’t active in the family business." Damien frowned thoughtfully. "Still, it’s weird Darien went through a matchmaking agency."

"Right? Why even bother? He could find a new husband easily if he wanted."

"I guess you’ll figure out his reasons soon."

"Yeah, I have to have a convo with him, that's for sure!" I said with a sigh.

"What about this next one?" Damien asked, pointing at another photo partially visible in the corner of the gallery.

I clicked on it and pulled up the details. "Day Sanderson… Whoa, he’s had eight previous contracts. That’s pretty rare!"

"If he’s had eight, they must’ve been short contracts. He’s only thirty-four," Damien said, biting his lip as he leaned in closer.

I scrolled through the profile, curiosity getting the better of me. "Oh, I see why. This omega was involved in surrogacy. Basically, his contracts were temporary—people hired him for a year or so, but his real job was to be a surrogate. He got paid to carry pregnancies."

"Wait, how does that even work? Aren’t the couples usually married when they buy a contract? I thought those ‘second husband’ contracts were banned years ago when they outlawed polygamy to boost genetic diversity."

"You’re right, but there’s a loophole. If one partner in the couple is infertile, they’re allowed to enter a second marriage contract."

"Ah, got it. So they used the loophole, and now this guy has eight ex-husbands. What’s he looking for now? Another one?" Damien narrowed his eyes, staring at the screen. "It says here there were complications with his last pregnancy."

"Yeah, it’s in the file—premature birth, very low birth weight… Oh, and he got caught smoking during the pregnancy. The last couple accused him of breaking the contract terms, and he had to pay a huge fine. Maybe he’s desperate to make that money back with a new contract."

"Do you think he wants another surrogacy deal?"

"No idea. He wouldn’t state that openly, though."

Damien rubbed his cheek thoughtfully. "He doesn’t look as good as the others," he muttered.

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