Page 186 of Scandalous Contract

Raz didn’t respond right away. His attention shifted to my prey, the pathetic excuse of a man tied up, his shirt soaked with sweat and blood, his chest rising and falling in panicked bursts. The bastard’s wide, desperate eyes locked onto Raz, silently begging for help.

Raz’s lip curled in amusement. “Take as long as you need, cousin.”

The man let out a choked sob, his whole body trembling. The gag in his mouth barely muffled the terrified cries that followed.

I stared at the other guest in our basement. “Are you here for him?”

Chained to a chair was our former consigliere, Trevor, who looked half-dead already. His swollen face was barely recognizable. He was missing a leg and an eye. His body was slumped like he was just waiting for the inevitable: death.

I tilted my head. “You here to finish him off?”

Raz shook his head. “Nah. Just here to let him know how well my woman is doing.” His gaze flicked back to my prey. “What’s this guy’s deal?”

My smirk faded as my eyes darkened. “He’s here because he wants the same woman I want.”

Raz let out a low hum, studying the terrified man like he was finally understanding why he was chained up. “Yeah, he deserves to be down here then.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll leave you to your business while I go deal with mine.” With that, Raz turned and strode toward Trevor. He stopped and called over his shoulder. “You got the wedding invite Monique sent out, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I got it. I’ll be there with my plus one.”

“I expect a nice gift from you for my Rose.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Chuckling, Raz continued forward. My eyes were locked on the bastard strapped to the chair, watching him shake like a fucking leaf. I took a slow step forward. The man pissed himself. I grinned.

Good. He should be scared. I crouched down, picking up the knife I’d been using to carve into my target. Slowly, I ran my fingers over the blade, eyes flicking up to meet the man’s frightened gaze.

“I’m gonna enjoy this,” I murmured. “Stefanie is mine. And I warned you to stay the fuck away from her.”

The man whimpered, trying to shake his head, trying to plead through the gag. I ignored him. I’d given this fool too many warnings already. Since words hadn’t worked, it was time to make sure the message was written into his fucking bones.

I dragged the blade over his trembling arm, pressing just enough to see red bead across the skin. The bastard let out another muffled sob.

I smirked. “Since you didn’t listen, I’m gonna have to make you.”

The man let out a pained whimper as I pressed the knife deeper into his flesh. I would take my time with him before finally ending him. This bitch needed to suffer for thinking he could go after what didn’t belong to him.

Once I was done here, I’d go home, shower, and find Stefanie. I was done playing by her rules. I loved her. She loved me. And I’d tried doing things her way, giving her time, giving her space, letting her come to terms with what we were.

But her way wasn’t working. Her way was sending us around in circles, and I was ready to get off this fucking ride. Since her way wasn’t working, we were going to do things my way. We were going to do things the Cattaneo way.

The Cattaneo way always worked. Just look at Raz and his fiancée. He’d kidnapped her. She’d forgiven him. Now they were getting married. Sure, he’d had to kill his father, the old don, first.

And sure, the woman he loved drugged him a little bit, but she also protected him that night at the gala. If you asked me, that was true love. What Stefanie and I had was true love, also. But sometimes it took something drastic to remind the person you loved that it was real.

I was ready to do something drastic to get Stefanie back. Being the gentleman wasn’t working. It was time for her to meet the savage. Hudson whimpered again. Before I could go to Stefanie, I needed to get rid of this bitch.

“You thought this was a game,” I muttered, pacing in front of him.

He groaned through the gag, trying to raise his head. I crouched in front of him, grabbed his face with one hand, and forced him to look at me. I pressed my knife against his face. His eyes widened. He started shaking his head, trying to yell through the rag.

“I told you to stay away from her. But you couldn’t listen, could you? You thought she was yours. You thought she’d be flattered, impressed, scared into submission.”

I walked around him slowly.