“Yes.”
“Oh…I didn’t know that.”
“Don’t blame him for being ashamed. Now get on with it. My wife has a Barsetti attitude, so if I’m out too late, she’ll raise hell.”
“Yeah, of course.” I pulled out the rough drawing I’d made of Cato’s home in Tuscany. The dimensions weren’t perfect, but I had a good schematic of the place. “I got a good look at the house. It seems like there’re five staff members at all times, and the outside wall is protected by a security detail of at least thirty men.”
Bones didn’t even glance at the schematic. He kept staring at me, his hostility rising. “You’re kidding me with this bullshit, right?”
“Bullshit?” The only way I was going to pull this off was by collecting every ounce of information possible. Maybe Cato’s home in Tuscany wasn’t the best location, but his building in Florence was even worse.
Bones pressed his finger into the page, his eyes still focused on me. “You think you’re gonna overpower him and somehow sneak him past all these people?”
“Overpowering him will be the easy part.” Nothing a syringe couldn’t handle.
“So, your plan is to drag a 200-pound man out the front door?” His jaw tensed noticeably, filled with rage.
“No. I’m asking you for advice, which is why you’re here.”
“I already gave you my advice.” He pushed the paper toward me. “You want this guy? You need to fuck him.”
“And what will that accomplish? He’ll screw me then forget about me like all the others.”
“Then make sure he doesn’t forget you.”
The last time, just when things got hot and heavy, Cato threw a curveball and expected me to share his bed with another woman. Regardless of how open-minded I was, that wasn’t a course of action I would take. “Even if I could pull that off, what then? If I get him to like sleeping with me, how does that get me closer to saving my father?”
“When a man is obsessed with a woman, he can’t think straight. It’s the only situation where he can be manipulated or misled. Get him wrapped around your finger and deep in your pussy, and you can get whatever you want.”
I didn’t appreciate the crass way he spoke to me, but I liked his candor. He didn’t seem like the kind of man who could speak any other way. Brutal honesty was the only way of life he knew about. “I’m an experienced woman, but if Cato is obsessed with threeways, I don’t think there’s anything special I can offer him.” Even in lingerie with a kinky trick up my sleeve, there was nothing that could surprise him.
Bones took a long drink from his glass then wiped his mouth with the back of his forearm. With the same irritation in his eyes, he looked at me. “I remember the moment I fell in love with my wife, even though I didn’t realize what was happening at the time. She was just some woman I wanted to murder for revenge. But the second I fucked her, it was game over. She took all the power—and I surrendered.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Wait, you wanted to murder your wife?”
“Yeah, long story.” He brushed it off with a wave of his hand. “But my point is, I was thinking clearly before I got between her legs. The second I was there, all my ambitions were destroyed. She became my biggest obsession. Like she was a drug, I couldn’t stop until I got the next hit…and then the next.”
“How romantic…”
His hard expression didn’t change. “That’s what you need to do with Cato.”
“You’re simplifying it. Were you screwing lots of women before her?”
He took another drink. “Yes. And I was into kinky shit too.”
“Well, I can’t control Cato’s reaction to me. The idea of him becoming obsessed with me seems unlikely. This guy gets more ass than he knows what to do with. I’m a talented lady, but there’s nothing I can do to impress him.”
“My wife just lay there—and that was more than enough.” An evil grin stretched across his face.
“Well, maybe she’s your soul mate.”
His smile dropped, but the intensity in his eyes deepened. “I don’t believe in that bullshit.”
“Then what other explanation is there?” I didn’t believe in true love or soul mates either. My own father wouldn’t protect my mother, and now I was being threatened with rape and death by his enemies. If he’d spent more time loving us instead of trying to gain more power, I would be living a normal life right now.
He shrugged. “Till this day, I still don’t know.”
“Well, that definitely won’t happen with Cato. He’s not my type. I’m not his either.”
“All women are his type,” he said. “Has he tried getting you into bed since?”
Cato didn’t say much when we were together, but I could definitely feel the tension in the room. His eyes always scanned my body, and he blinked so little, sometimes I wondered if he needed to blink at all. “No.”