Page 62 of Taming Her Temptations

Odette taps me on the knee when Petra takes a breath and I see the confusion on her face.

Right, I forgot that I haven’t told her everything.

Everyone waits patiently while I do my best to summarize our suspicions and what we know so far. It might be another risk telling Odette, but I trust her.

When I finish explaining, Odette nods. “Well, thankfully I got my money out of there.”

I look at her, confused. “You withdrew your investments with Steven?”

She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Of course, my dear. I only ever trusted him with my money because of you. As soon as I heard what he did to you, I withdrew everything.”

This makes me surprisingly emotional. Odette is the second person, after Levi, to have told me they only invested with Steven because of me. It feels surprisingly validating. I was always so intrinsically involved in Steven’s business dealings only when it came to the people-facing aspect. A part of me wondered if I had made it all up in my head and I wasn’t important to the business at all.

My stomach drops. But that also means I was responsible for possibly tempting numerous people over to a precarious financial situation. If Steven does turn out to be doing something nefarious, I’m part of the reason they get hurt. I swallow hard. I haven’t been doing enough to solve this issue. I’ve been too distracted.

I turn to Petra. “You said I saved you and your father from reputational ruin. So that means you think Steven is guilty of something?”

“I was getting to that.” She nods. “So after I didn’t find anything, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I had my friend Zara, who has investments with Steven, ask for twenty-thousand out of her fund. Not a very big amount but I didn’t want to raise any suspicion.”

I envy her assessment that twenty-thousand dollars isn’t a very big amount. It’s hard to believe I thought I fit in among her type at one point.

“Well, get this.” She says, her eyes growing big. “He could only provide five thousand upfront. And he still hasn’t given her the rest of the money. That’s a big red flag.”

I nod, thinking. “How much did you withdraw from him, Odette?”

“Fifty thousand. But he said it was normal to only provide ten percent back and would provide the rest in a few months.”

I shake my head. That’s not normal. Not normal at all.

“Odette, I’m so sorry that you invested with him on my behalf. I’m not sure if you’ll ever see that money again.” I swallow hard. “He’s clearly running out of cash.”

She waves my concern off as if I just spilled her coffee rather than losing her forty-five thousand dollars.

“Is it enough to nail the shithead?” Ryan asks.

“Well, I talked with my dad,” Petra continues, looking at us to gauge our expressions. “I’m sorry, but I had to. I couldn’t wait another moment in case he got dragged into something he shouldn’t.”

“I get it,” I say. “I would do the same.”

She nods in acknowledgment and continues.“We only need a few more pieces of evidence and we’re submitting a tip to the Feds. We need to make it as clear as possible we’re not associated with him.”

I nod. “I have a list of people I know that have invested with him. If we get enough of them to pull out their investments, it will smoke him out.”

“That’s exactly what we were thinking,” Petra agrees.

“Let’s get busy, then.” Dean proclaims.

I look around at the mismatched group of people on our team. Then I see Levi’s face next to me. He looks a little hesitant. And I can understand why. We’re not only blowing up Steven’s life, but his sister’s.

I take his hand. “Are you okay with this?” I whisper.

He looks up at me, surprised I noticed his expression.

“Yeah,” he nods. “I guess I just thought that this whole time I was protecting Madison from Steven, but now I realize she’s going to go through the stress with him.”

I take a deep breath. I don’t have much sympathy for his sister, but I do for her baby. And of course, I care for Levi and don’t want to see him hurt.

“Do you want to wait until after the baby is born?” It’s a promise I don’t know if I can keep. This thing has grown into something bigger than us. But I’ll try, if Levi wants it.

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