Page 98 of Tempt Me

“Oh my god,” I murmur.

“I know he was your friend,” Luke says. “But I don’t think you should see him anymore. He was seriously scary, Isla. I don’t want you getting hurt. And I think he would do anything to drive a wedge between us.”

Tears fill my eyes. How could Caden have done this? What was he thinking? He said he was happy for me. Was that a lie? I feel like I suddenly don’t know him at all.

I finish cleaning Luke’s face in silence, my thoughts twisted up in knots.

“A doctor at the club reset my nose,” he says. “I better not have a black eye for the wedding.”

“Don’t worry about that now,” I say. “I’d still marry you, even if you had two black eyes.Anda broken nose.”

Luke touches my cheek gently. “What did I do to deserve such an amazing woman like you?”

“We need to figure out what to do about the wedding,” I say. “I’ll talk to Daisy tomorrow.”

“Let me do it,” Luke insists. “You’ve been taking on so much of the wedding responsibilities. I need to shoulder my fair share.” He grimaces. “Plus, it’s my fault Caden made the threat to begin with.”

“No,” I say. “You were standing up for a woman in need. I’m sure she was grateful to have you as her ally.” I take his hand and squeeze it. “You should rest. Let me get you some Advil.”

I move to stand, and he grabs my wrist. “I love you,” he says. “You know that right?”

I nod and kiss his forehead gently. “I love you too,” I say.

Luke and I get into bed and I lie there, fuming.

No matter what Luke says, I’m not letting Caden get away with this.

He’s going to answer for what he did tonight.

The next morning, Luke and I head over to the Richards’ house to talk to his parents.

Lucille is livid when she sees his face and hears the story.

“We’re pressing charges,” she says, taking out her phone. “I’m calling our lawyers right now.”

“No, Mom, don’t,” Luke says. “Let’s not make a big deal out of this.”

I’m glad he said that—I don’t want to get lawyers involved either. I just want this whole mess to be resolved as quickly as possible.

“I’ll start looking for other venues now,” Lucille says in a huff. “They’ll be giving us our deposit back in full, I can guarantee you that.”

I can’t deny I’m disappointed. After my initial resistance, I was really looking forward to getting married on the estate. But no way is that happening after what Caden did.

“I’m going to talk to Daisy later today,” Luke says.

“Good,” Lucille says.

“I need to go check in at the Thorn,” I tell Luke.

“Don’t forget about tea with the Willises this afternoon,” Lucille reminds me.

“Of course,” I lie, because I had definitely forgotten. I don’t much feel like having tea with a bunch of people from the Way right now, but it’s probably best to keep up appearances.

Lucille whisks Luke off to get an ice pack for his nose and call their doctor. I head out of the house and get into my car.

I’m not going to the Thorn.

As much as I appreciate Luke’s offer to talk to Daisy, this is my battle to fight. I need to confront Caden face-to-face and see what he has to say for himself. I don’t know how he can possibly defend his actions. I drive straight over to Everton Estate, storm up the steps of the mansion, and pound on the door.

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