Page 162 of Scandalous Contract

Now my cousin Raz, I’d follow him into a burning building because I’d know he had a plan to get us all out. That’s how much trust I had in him. As for his father and Patrick Cattaneo, I wouldn’t follow those two into a restaurant because they’d probably get it shot up and allow me to be kidnapped in the process, just to start a war.

I still couldn’t believe Bryceson’s father had done that to him years ago. My family was fucked up in many ways and I planned to keep the fucked-up parts away from Stefanie and her daughter. However, we did have one redeeming quality.

We were protective as fuck. Stefanie had witnessed that firsthand during her encounter with my mother years ago at the hospital. She didn’t have to tell me that my mother was the one who’d helped her get rid of the woman who’d manipulated her.

I’d once overheard my mom discussing something about that situation with my father. My father had told her that her kindness would end up getting her in trouble one day. And mom said if she had to do it again, she’d do it all over again.

Then, after Aubrey and India became roommates, my mother and my dad brought the issue up again when they thought I wasn’t in the other room listening. My mom said that maybe it was fate that led her to that room that night to help that young woman out, and she felt things had come full circle.

I was ready to tell my parents about Stefanie and my love for her. I’d been ready. It was Stefanie who wasn’t ready. Summer was almost over. School was starting again soon. Stefanie had completed her rough draft of her book, though she’d told me that it needed a lot of work before she began rereading it.

Our contract would expire soon. But I knew it wasn’t the contract keeping us together. Never had been. I’d only come up with that to keep Stefanie from overthinking things. With it in writing, she’d have a sense of comfort, a sense of security.

But that was no longer needed. I’d done everything I could to make her feel secure about us. The ball was now in her corner. It was up to her whether this worked out or not. I was hoping that during her week with her daughter, she’d work up the courage to tell her about us.

I was hoping that when she returned to my side, she’d be ready to officially start our life together. Unofficially, we’d started months ago. She was mine. I just needed her to be confident enough in us to go public with it.

Later that night, I relaxed in Stefanie’s bed, a whiskey in one hand and the remote in the other, hating the empty space in the bed next to me. I was staring at the television, but I wasn’t really seeing it. My phone rang. I grabbed it from the nightstand and answered.

“Hello.”

“I’ve got some information on Hudson,” Rashad told me. “But it’s nothing that’s helpful.”

I took a deep breath and released it slowly to keep from saying,so why the fuck did you call me.

“What about him?”

“The reason we can’t catch up with him is because he’s taken a leave of absence from work.”

I sat up straighter in bed, jaw clenched. “What? When?”

“Yeah. Started last week. He didn’t tell anyone where he was going, just that he needed some time off. Coworkers think he’s sick. HR says it’s a personal leave.”

“Was that his car outside Stefanie’s house that night?”

“It was a rental car. But yeah, it was registered to him.”

Gripping my glass tighter, I moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Have you been able to locate that car?” I asked, needing to know where that motherfucker was right now.

“That car has been turned in, and he hasn’t rented another one.”

“What about his house? Has he been home?” Because now was the perfect time for me to end this motherfucker. Stefanie was gone. I was bored. Why not kill the man who liked her and deserved to fucking die?

“He hasn’t been home in days.”

“Shit!” I slammed my glass down on the nightstand, causing some of the brown liquor to slosh over the rim.

“Neither has he used his credit or debit cards. I was able to get a record of his bank accounts. He started the process of removing large sums of cash from his account about a week ago. All this makes me believe he’s gone off grid.”

“How much money did he take out of the bank?”

“Twenty-five-thousand-dollar withdrawals from three different accounts. So, he’s got seventy-five thousand dollars in cash on him. Either he’s gone off grid, or he’s hired a hitman.”

Fuck!My chest tightened with a violent surge of fury. Stefanie wasn’t even in the same city as me, and now I had to worry about this sick bastard making a move while she was gone? I had someone watching her and India, someone I trusted. But it wasn’t me. And if it wasn’t me, it wasn’t enough. I’d feel better if I were there doing it myself.

“I told you what I had wouldn’t be helpful,” Rashad told me.