Page 41 of Traitor

I nodded. “Very well. I’ll have Miss Pettigrew draft the papers when she’s healthy enough to do so.”

Her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t.”

I cocked my head. “You really think I wouldn’t bring down the woman who put Miss Pettigrew in that position in the first place? Because don’t think for one second that I don’t know what you’ve been doing behind my back. Bribing Lyle to keep an eye on her. Forcing Char and Lorenzo into the same spaces over and over again. Lorenzo might have been nothing but a prop, but you’re the puppeteer, Rosana. And the more you struggle, the tighter the noose around your neck will become.”

She gnashed her teeth at me. “I will destroy you, Mateo. I will rob you of everything you have, strip you of your riches, and leave you with nothing. Nothing! You hear me!?”

I stuck my finger in my ear and wiggled it around. “Trust me, the little bit of strength you brought to my game is neither here nor there. But, losing it isn’t enough to topple me, or even cripple me. And when I turn over the evidence I have to your father…”

I whistled lowly as she took a step away from me. “You wouldn’t dare.”

I chuckled. “Pretty sure the stipulations of our pre-nup state that you are to be a good, faithful, and supportive wife. I wonder what he’ll think—and what a judge will think—once I turn over evidence to the contrary.”

“You’ve been fucking around with women our entire goddamn marriage!” she shrieked.

I shrugged. “Nothing in our pre-nup said I couldn’t. And by the way, you were the one who started fucking around first. I have evidence of that, too. Barty, right? In the closet down the hallway? At our reception?”

Her hands curled into fists. “You were never once important to me. I never loved you, Mateo Emiliano!”

I grinned. “Then finally, we have something in common.”

The shriek that poured forth from her mouth caused my ears to ring for a little bit. But, then she stomped up the stairs.

“You’re not important enough for me to endure this torment, Rosana!” I called after her.

“I’ll kill you for this!” she bellowed.

I drew in a deep breath. “And make sure to pack only what’s yours! I’ll sue you for taking something that isn’t!”

“Raaaaaa-ARGH!”

I chuckled to myself as her bedroom door slammed shut. Then, I made my way down the stairs to wait by the front door. I clasped my hands in front of my body and watched as Rosana made her way out of the bedroom about an hour later. And when she didn’t have any sort of luggage with her, I looked at my watch.

“You have one more hour before I call the police. I meant it when I said to vacate immediately, Rosana.”

She sniggered. “I don’t care what you meant or what you do to me, Mateo. But, mark my words, this decision will cost you. And it will cost you greatly. You might have my hands tied behind my back with paperwork, but that paperwork won’t do you any good when my father comes to defend my honor.”

“You called him and he didn’t want to hear it, didn’t you?”

She shrugged. “He’ll come to his senses once Mom speaks with him. And in the meantime, I suggest you keep one eye open. You never know who might come knocking at all hours of the night.”

I didn’t like the way her threat lingered in the air. But, she did as I asked. She turned on her heels and packed her things, then forty-five minutes later I was stripping her of access to the house. I collected her keys and stuck them in my pocket. I ordered the security guard to change the code at the gate before informing me of the new code. I even made an appointment with Rosana standing there to have the locks on the doors changed, just in case she had copies of the housekeys I didn’t know about.

“Oh, and I’ll need your car keys,” I said.

Rosana balked. “And how the hell do you suppose I drive away if I don’t have a car?”

I held out my hand. “My driver is prepared to take you back to your parent’s estate. Come, come. Keys. Now.”

She glared at me as she dropped the keys to her Ferrari convertible right into my palm. And as I stood there, clutching them, I watched as she hauled her shit out to the car. My driver got out to help her and I had half a mind to tell him to stop. But, I didn’t need to be dealing with any more wrath from her or her parents.

Because I’d suffer enough from this decision as is.

After watching them ease down the driveway, I ordered the security guard to lock down the house. No one in or out without explicit permission from myself, and no staff were allowed on the grounds until they were re-vetted by someone of my choosing.

Then, I decided to take the Ferrari back to the beach house.

“Mr. Emiliano! She’s awake!”

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