Page 49 of Cold Foot Cash

It was messed up.

Tears burning her eyes, she opened her email, because why the hell not? The morning was already ruined and she had to face this at some point.

She opened up the lawyer paperwork and dashed her knuckles across her dampening cheeks. Lance had done it. He’d called for an emergency mediation meeting tomorrow morning to re-negotiate the terms of their divorce.

Four more days.

They’d made it to four more days, and now she could see what her ex was doing so clearly.

She could give him the moon, give him everything she possessed in exchange for her freedom, and he would still find a way to keep her under his thumb.

A wave of hopelessness consumed her.

Lance was never going to let her go.

Chapter Twelve

“I freaking knew it,” Cash said as he read the text messages in Darth’s phone. “Didn’t I say it was Darth? He’s fuckin’ creepy, right?”

“I’m right here,” Darth muttered. “I can hear you.”

Cash looked over at him and held up the asshole’s phone. “You are creepy! You should be called out. Look at this.” He pointed the text thread toward him. “You pretended to be me just to talk to this girl? You tricked her, man. You’re disgusting.”

“You don’t understand how it is—”

Kade was just as fast as he was powerful. He grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the brick wall in the back of the cabinet shop. “Don’t you dare try to make excuses for this shit. There is no excuse. You got this girl sending you pictures of herself thinking she was falling in love.”

“She didn’t even ask for video proof—Ack!”

“She didn’t have any reason not to trust you, man! You send her pictures of Cash and pretended you were him! Normal people wouldn’t assume you are a pathological liar. Dude, why?” Kade barked out, releasing his neck and shoving him away. “Why would you do this? You’re in decent shape. You have a steady job. You aren’t hideous.”

“I do it because I want to.”

“Hey, Carolina. This is Cash, the real Cash, messaging from Darth Milner’s phone. Google him. He’s the one who catfished you. He works at the cabinet shop in Darby,” he read aloud as he typed out the text to Carolina from Darth’s phone.

“Don’t send that to her!” Darth yelled. “Please! Don’t do that.”

He reached for his phone, but Cash snatched it away and shoved him back. “She deserves to know the asshole who tricked her, and you deserve to be held accountable. If I go through your messages, what will I find? Have you done this to other women?” Cash demanded.

“You’re stealing. That’s my phone. That’s my property.”

Darth reached for the phone again, but Cash grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed him back against the wall. “Don’t reach for me again. I’m trying to be patient with you, but it’s thin right now, bro. Will I find you catfishing other women in this phone?”

Darth’s eyes were wide, and his voice lost its conviction on the word, “No.”

“You just lied to us,” Kade said, pacing away and back.

Disgusted, Cash started scrolling through text threads. There were three other girls immediately. “Geez,” he ground out, appalled.

A text came through from Carolina.Prove it.

Cash flipped the video function on himself and waved. “Hi Carolina. It’s me, the real Cash. And this…” He flipped the camera toward Darth, “Is the guy you’ve been talking to.”

Darth looked like a deer caught in headlights. “I…I…”

“Say hi to her, dude. You’re so comfortable talking to these women, pretending to be someone else, here’s your chance to just be you. Say hi.”

“It’s her own fault—”

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