Page 17 of Crashing Without Justice

“Might?” she squawked. “Harding, she’s threatening and harassing innocent people. She’s trying to ruin other people’s marriages. She’s…she’s out of control, and who’s to say that a few texts will be the end of it? What if she really decides to harm someone?”

“I’m not going to let that happen,” I vowed.

“How do you plan on stopping her?” she challenged.

“By calling the police,” I answered, knowing that I no longer had a choice. “By asking them to speak with her and pointing out that she really can get in trouble for what she’s doing.”

“Do you think that she’ll even listen to them?”

“I’m hoping so,” I said pathetically. “She’s very…I don’t know. She’s very respectful of law enforcement. If the police go and speak with her, it might embarrass her enough to back off.”

“Or it’ll just piss her off some more,” she posed.

“Either way, I can’t just sit around and do nothing, Trista,” I said. “While I was trying my hardest to own up to what I did, I can’t allow this to continue. If Luke and Amy were any other couple, they could very well be getting a divorce because of this mess, and I just can’t live with that kind of guilt.”

“Maybe it’s time that you reach out to everyone you know and let them know what’s going on,” she suggested. “Maybe make a post on social-”

“No,” I said, cutting her off. “I willnotpost my personal business on social media. I have more self-respect than that.”

Trista didn’t say anything more, and even though she was back in my arms, trying to make me feel better, I honestly had no idea if that was even going to be possible anymore.

Chapter 12

Paige~

Isat in my car, staring at the entrance of the store, my left knee bouncing as I waited for her to come out. While I hadn’t planned on speaking with her face-to-face, Harding’s phone call last night was the reason that I was here now. He’d had the audacity to call me and yell at me for some text messages that Luke’s wife had gotten. Again, no one could prove that I’d been the one to send the messages, so why he believed that he’d had the right to call me was beyond me. Plus, all I’d done was steer Amy in the right direction to find out if her husband was faithful or not, something that any woman should be thanking me for. If Luke wasn’t cheating on her, then where was the harm?

The bastard also threatened to call the police if I ‘crossed the line’ one more time. He’d had the audacity to suggest that the police would side with him over me, forcing me to remind him of how law-friendly my family was. I had no problem using my privilege for the greater good, and if Harding thought that I was going to let him turn law enforcement against me, he was wrong.

As soon as I saw her pushing her cart through the shoveled parking lot, I stuck my phone in my pocket, then got out of my car. I was not going to let her avoid me, and I deserved to have my say. If she had any decency in her, she’d feel obligated to hear me out. It was the least that I deserved, considering the part that she had played in all this.

The second that she popped her trunk open, I was on her, and I didn’t care that we were in public. After all, my humiliation was already a public thing.

“Casey, we need to talk.”

Harding’s mother turned around in surprise, and shock lit up her entire face. “Paige, what…what are you doing here?”

“I’m Harding’s wife, remember?” I bit out. “I know your routine. I know that you grocery shop on Mondays.”

“That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here, Paige,” she replied tartly.

“As Harding’s mother, you need to set him back on the right path, Casey,” I told her. “You need to make it clear that you and Lou do not approve of what he’s done, and that you will never accept that whore into your lives.”

Her eyes widened, but I didn’t care. She was responsible for how her son had been raised, and she had raised him to be a cheating liar. She and her husband had raised him to believe that a wife was disposable, so it was her responsibility to help guide Harding back home.

Ignoring her groceries, Casey turned fully to look at me directly. “Look, I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but I am not some timid little thing that you can bully, Paige,” she snapped. “For years, I put up with your rudeness and disrespect because you were my son’s wife, and I was more interested in keeping the peace than correcting your behavior. However, that’s not the case anymore. So, if you think that I’m going to stand here and take orders from you, you’re sorely mistaken.”

The nerve of this woman.

“I am still Harding’s wife,” I pointed out. “And I know what this is.”

Her brows shot upward. “Oh, pray, do tell.”

“It’s because of that stupid cat, isn’t it?” I sneered. “It’s not my fault that you gave it a stupid name.”

“Lemons isnota stupid name for a cat,” she argued. “But even if it was, the animal isours, Paige. We had the right to name it whatever we wanted to. Then you come along and decide that you’re just going to start calling him Buttons becauseyouthink that’s a better name. Who in their right mind oversteps like that?”

“It’s just a stupid cat,” I snapped. “That’s hardly a reason to ruin your son’s marriage.”

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