Chapter 48: Chapter 48

“I told you how great you did, and this is what I get?” I snapped. “Take the money yourself! I’m not giving it to you.”

Sam laughed and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “You did great, Cat. Practice a bit more, and you’ll be on Stefano’s level.”

“That’s a sweet dream.” He chuckled, continuing to fuel my anger.

I flipped him off. “Whatever. Is training over? I’m going to get something to drink.”

Before they could comment, I stormed back into the house. I went into the kitchen and opened a bottle of wine, taking the entire bottle with me as I went to our bedroom.

A few minutes later, Stefano came into the bedroom and found me lounging on the bed with the bottle of wine to my lips as I chugged it down.

He eyed me in surprise. “Are you brooding?”

I pointed at my purse, which was on the nightstand. “The card is in there. Take your one million dollars.”

“You’re telling me to take my own money?”

“Yes. Permission granted.” I waved my hand dismissively.

He chuckled and approached the bed. Though in truth, I wasn’t as angry as I acted. I was only slightly bitter. I knew he was teasing me, but it still would’ve been nice to be praised in that moment.

A startled yelp left my lips as he grabbed my ankle and tugged me forward. The wine bottle spilled a bit on the sheets as I was dragged toward the edge of the bed, almost falling off in surprise.

Stefano placed a knee on the bed to brace himself as he bent down and captured my lips in his.

When he pulled away, I immediately started complaining. “Are you crazy? You spilled the wi—”

“Good job.” He reached a hand out to cup my face and pull me into another steaming kiss.

My anger immediately dissipated as he pulled away.

Stefano smiled at me in a way that had my heart swarming with butterflies. “You did good. I’m proud of you.”

My blood thrummed through my veins, and a sense of pride rushed over me. There was nothing better than getting a compliment from your significant other after achieving something meaningful. Especially when it came from someone like Stefano, who was almost perfect in everything he did.

I leaned back as he climbed onto the bed and over me. After that brief moment of heated eye contact, I expected him to make the first move and kick-start another round of fiery passion.

Instead, he leaned in and placed a peck on my nose before rolling off me and tugging me into his side. I clutched the wine bottle tightly, raising my arm to keep it from spilling.

“Careful,” I murmured.

Stefano took the bottle and placed it on the nightstand. “How are your preparations coming along?”

I frowned. “Preparations?”

He nodded. “For the assassination. You have complete control over this assignment. Whatever you want to do, we’ll do it. Just set the stage, and I’ll help you carry it out.”

I bit my lip as I mulled over his words. I had been thinking about the next game ever since I’d received the envelope. How could I not think about it? I was ordered to fucking kill someone, for God’s sake.

I couldn’t fathom how in the world I was to accomplish that without being caught by the police. Though I figured this was where Stefano came in.

According to the instructions I was given, I could ask Stefano to help with anything I needed, except for the assassination itself. I had to kill Dennis with my own hands.

It was why I’d decided to focus all of my gun training on sniper rifles. It was the only plan I could come up with. The safest way for me.

I didn’t think I’d be able to pull the trigger if I were up close and personal with the man. This wasn’t the same as with Saige.

After reading the information on my target, as well as doing my own research into him, I felt somewhat guilty when I thought that he deserved it.

Dennis Romney. A millionaire CEO with a beautiful wife and three kids but was rumored to have many illegitimate children on the side.

His public persona was that of a very profitable businessman. A family man who attended his children’s baseball games and dance recitals. And a philanthropist who was actively involved in clean water efforts.

But in the mafia world? He owned a sex trafficking business that specifically targeted young girls. Very young girls.

He was affiliated with the Volkov family, and he had a habit of hiring pretty secretaries barely in their early twenties to play around with whenever he was in the mood at work.

It was going to be difficult to get a hold of him outside his office building. His personal security was tight. They were with him from the moment he left his house in the morning until the moment he returned late at night.

And if he spent the night with someone other than his wife, his security stayed with him.

I’d initially thought of visiting him at his office, but there was no way for me to infiltrate the building undetected. I would need a badge to access the upper floors, and I had no way of obtaining that.

I had to lure him out of his office somehow, but I was stumped.

If I could get him out of his office, I might be able to target him with my sniper rifle from a high-rise building while he was exiting his car. But my planning needed to be meticulous. ~How in the world am I to carry this out?~

“There’s also something we need.” Stefano said, interrupting my thoughts.

I snapped my head up to look at him. “What?”

“In Romney’s office. On his computer. There’s a file that we need.”

“What file?” I asked in confusion. The letter I’d received only said I needed to assassinate him; it didn’t say anything about a side quest.

“It’s regarding a few underground business transactions that occurred between Romney and the Volkov family. We need to get our hands on it.”

As if this task wasn’t hard enough already.

“How do I do that? Do I have to kill him inside his own office building? Do you know how difficult that will be? The file already stated that his security is tight.”

Were they trying to increase the difficulty for me? Or get me caught? Or arrested? This was ridiculous. “My job is to kill him, not retrieve information for the family’s benefit,” I argued.

He sighed. “I understand that, but you have to understand that my father expects a lot from you, as he does me. There was nothing I could do.”

He grabbed my head and placed it back down on his chest. I tried to sit up, but his hold was strong. I deflated and frowned as I thought of what I had to do. I barely paid attention to his hand as it caressed the side of my face.

“How will I get the information from his computer?” I asked.

“I’ll give you an SSD. All you have to do is power on the computer, shove it in, and wait for the file transfer to be completed. It’s relatively simple.”

“Easy for you to say,” I grumbled. “You’re not the one doing the work.”

He chuckled. “I’m confident that you’ll find a way.”

He was placing too much trust in me. It was starting to feel stifling.

I sighed and lay there for a while before tapping his hand that still caressed my face. “Let me get up. I have to do some research.”

He released me, his eyes following me as I padded across the room. “Research?”

I nodded, picked up his laptop, and shook it. “Mind if I use this?”

He shrugged. “What’s mine is yours.”

“Lovely,” I murmured, sitting cross-legged on the bed and opening the laptop. I went straight to Google and typed in the name of Dennis’s company.

I skimmed many different articles on the company and learned everything I could.

None of them had anything bad to say about Dennis. He’d covered his tracks extremely well. Even his employees were tight-lipped where he was concerned.

The only thing I saw of note was that Dennis was often seen in public with his secretaries. A lot. Meaning his secretary had a lot of access to him.

~Hmm.~

I clicked on the company page and scrolled through the job openings section.

I wiggled in excitement when I saw it. An opening for a secretary. And not just any secretary. The title was for an “Executive Assistant to the CEO.”

This was perfect. A new plan began to form in my mind as I pieced the information together.

However, I needed help to pull this off. Not Stefano’s help, but a woman’s. Sam and Charlie were too old, and Gabriella and Rena had their own assassination attempts to worry about.

There weren’t any other females I knew who could help me pull this off.

Except…Jasmine.

She was beautiful, young, and highly capable of protecting herself if things went wrong.

I looked at Stefano, who was lying comfortably on the bed, watching me. “Can I hire Jasmine for this assignment?”

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. “If she’s willing, you can.”

A smile stretched across my face.

Perfect. Everything was finally coming together. I looked at Stefano and said, “I have a plan.”