Page 17 of The Husband Contract
"I will."
“Do you ever think about how things would have been different if we’d dated? If you’d given me a chance to...” Her voice trails off as I head back to my desk and stare at the photo in my hand.
“Sorry, what?” I look up and see her still standing there,and she just shakes her head and shimmies out of the door. I watch as she leaves, and I head back to my seat and stare at the photo again.
"Willow Montgomery," I say her name out loud. "Willow, Willow, Willow. You want a rich man, huh? I’ll give you a rich man." I slam her photo down on my desk again. This is the woman who’s broken my brother’s heart. This is the woman who’s driven him to another country. Who stole his money. Made him quit his position on the board. And she is already on to her next target. This is the woman who has compromised my billionaire-dollar business deal—and she doesn’t even know it.
Or maybe she does. Maybe she’s part of a bigger sabotage.
Maybe she works for the Sandcastle Group, which wants to stop my merger. Maybe she’s trying to ruin this deal for me. Though I don’t think so. Sandcastle plays dirty, but they normally don’t go this far. This woman was likely acting alone. Maybe that’s what she and her two besties do. Maybe they find, manipulate, and seduce innocent, loving, rich men. Men who are just looking for love. Men they knew they could destroy with lies and sex.
I pick up my phone and read the latest text messages from Sergio. I’d never seen him this down, this upset. I press my lips together. A part of me wants to fly to Thailand to be with him, to make sure he’s going to be okay. But the other part of me wants to exact revenge for him. And for myself and all the other men in the world who have been used by women like her.
A part of me wants to show Sergio that this Willow is not worth his time, his energy, or his heartbreak.
"I think I’m going to pay you a little visit, Willow Montgomery." I smile evilly at her photo. "And maybe I’m going to play your game. Maybe I’m going to make you fall for me.Because there’s one thing in life that I know I can do—and that’s make a woman fall devastatingly in love with me." I smile to myself. She has no clue, but I’m about to ruin her life just as she tried to ruin my brother’s. And I don’t care if it was intentional or not. I don’t care if she knew how much she had hurt Sergio. It’s obvious to me that any woman who can take ten million dollars from a man and then dump him is not worth the time of day.
She may look innocent, but I know she isn’t. I know that a woman like her has to learn a lesson. And maybe I’ll make sure she learns a lesson so harsh it will stop her friends, as well.
I pick up my phone and call Jack, who is always my sounding board.
"Hey, what’s going on?" He sounds out of breath.
"Are you fucking someone?" I ask him, chuckling.
"Why would you say that?"
I smirk. “You sound like you're breathing deeply.”
“If I were fucking someone, I wouldn't be picking up the phone.” He laughs. “I was just on the treadmill, getting ready for a marathon.”
“Oh, so you're out of shape.”
“I'm in better shape than you, old man.”
“Hey, we're both thirty-five, and I'm in the best shape of my life, so I don't know who you're talking to.”
He bursts out laughing. “What’s going on? I'm about to go lift some weights.”
“I may need a favor.”
“Oh? What’s the favor?”
“I found out who betrayed Sergio.”
“Oh? Who.”
“Do you remember the coat girl at the club?”
“Umm, not really?” He pauses. “I mean, she was a pretty blonde, but I can’t remember much about her.”
“Her name’s Willow Montgomery, and she’s in some sort of honeytrap ring with two friends. I guess they target rich men, go after them, and steal their money.”
“Oh, shit. Is that why she was at the club?”
“I think so. She’s looking for her next target, even though she just stole ten million from Sergio.”
“Shit. So what are you going to do?”
