Page 81 of Broken Vows

22

LEVI

Isit on the edge of my bed in the dark. I told myself I’d call Ray back after my shower. Then after I brushed my teeth. Now I’m considering calling him after I sleep.

My phone lights up on the nightstand. Of course it’s him.

“Fuck.”

I drag a hand down my face and answer.

“About time,” Ray snaps. “You get it done?”

“No. We talked. That’s it.”

He doesn’t need anything more than that. Jobs not done. Anything else is none of his business.

A long, ugly silence stretches down the line.

“You’re telling me you spent an hour over there and still didn’t fuck her?” His voice is thick with disbelief. “Her cunt harder to get into than Fort Knox or what?”

“Yeah,” I force out. “It is. I’m working on it.”

Ray exhales hard through his nose. “Work faster. Maverick’s on my ass. I’ve got other guys who can close this if you can’t⁠—”

“That’s not happening,” I cut in, too sharp.

The silence that follows is worse. I know exactly how that landed. Defensive. So I start talking before he can dig his teeth into it.

“She’s not an easy mark, alright?” I say. “But I’m getting there. She trusts me more than she did. And she’s not fucking anyone else, that’s for damn sure. You send someone new in now, you blow the whole thing up and start again from nothing.”

Ray lets out a short, humorless laugh. “Getting there? Jesus Christ. You’ve been living next door for weeks and you’re talking about trust. Her husband doesn’t need her to trust you. He needs your cock in her before the prenup stops being useful. So get it done, or I’m sending Marco.”

For the first time since Ray handed me the job, I wonder why the hell he cares so much.

Not why Maverick cares. That part is obvious. He’s a sick fuck. But Ray? Ray doesn’t bend over backward for men like Maverick.

“He got something on you?” I ask. “You know I can take care of that the old-fashioned way.”

Ray goes quiet.

I don’t usually ask questions. I don’t usually care. But I don’t like this. Didn’t like it from the start, like it even less now. If there’s a way out of this, I’ll take it. I’ll go take care of Maverick tonight, one arm and all.

“No, Maverick doesn’t have anything on me.”

“Then what the fuck are we doing?”

Ray huffs out a laugh. “Since when do you care?”

“Since this is a pain in the ass.”

“He’s got land. Prime development land my contact wants badly. Maverick’s been sitting on it for years because men like him get off on saying no. But if I help him out with a few delicate problems, suddenly he becomes a lot more agreeable.”

“Only your boy ran off with his daughter,” Ray continues. “So Maverick’s not feeling very agreeable right now. You save him hundreds of millions, or whatever obscene number this divorce is going to cost him, maybe he throws us a bone. Signs the paperwork. Everybody gets what they want. Satisfied?”

“Yeah,” I say quickly. “Land. Makes sense.”

Only it doesn’t. He wants me to ruin someone’s life for a piece of land?