Page 46 of Tempt Her

But when I saw concern flash across Cade’s eyes, getting the intel and getting scared for me too?

I realized Gentry’s affairs arecriminal.

So I used my new phone from Luke to call Cade. I invited her to coffee so she can pick my brain.

Gentry constantly mocks my blonde hair, saying I’m stupid. Too bad for him, my hair is a million gold ropes wrapped around every evil thing he’s done, remembering it all.

“So there’s a fundraiser in Charleston next week,” I inform Cade as we sit in a quiet corner at the coffee shop near my house. “Usually, some of Gentry’s golf buddies are there. Onehasto be as guilty as Gentry and maybe dumb enough to show it.”

Gentry knows I have coffee with Cade. He hates it, but he loves the idea more that she’s with Silas Van de May. It puts Gentry three possible degrees of separation from the largest political donation of his career, and he’s such an arrogant prick he thinks I’m too stupid to betray him.

No, I’m crazy enough to destroy him.

Even if it takes me down too.

Cade jots down notes, nodding and scarfing down a lemon square between her questions about Gentry. Then, she focuses on me.

“Why do you stay with him?”

I tell her about my dad’s Alzheimer’s, and when she offers to help pay for his care, I’m overwhelmed… thanking her, but I’m too proud now. Once I’m out of this marriage, I’ll never depend upon another person again.

Cade leans forward, her voice lowered. “Stacey, Gentry’s into some shady shit. Like, people are getting hurt. I can’t prove it yet, but I worry about you.”

“I sense it,” I confess. “Something’s been off with him for years. Like, I don’t know him anymore. At first, his arrogance was cute. Now it’s terrifying. And I hate myself for not seeing it all along.”

“We all change,” Cade says. “The hope is that it’s for the better. But, with him… there is no hope. He was evil in high school and is only getting worse.”

“When we were in college,” I tell her, “he was the man on campus, the student body president, and in the hottest fraternity. I didn’t like him at first, but everyone else worshiped him. Now I realize I was just a prize for him. He never loved me; he just felt entitled to have me. He’s smart—all the parties, gifts, and lavish trips he took me on; all the things he bought for me were a distraction while he slowly bought me too.”

Cade grabs my hand, gently pulling me toward her wise words. “Then steal yourself back. Piece by piece until you’re whole again. Until it doesn’t matter what someone else does to you, all that matters is what you do for yourself.”

She’s telling me. She’s telling herself.

It’s true. Gentry may have control right now, but I’ll be damned if I give him any more of my power.

“You know what that fucker did after our New Year’s Eve party?”

She rolls her eyes. “I can only imagine his evil.”

“He canceled my yoga classes. He said I failed at my job, so I ‘don’t deserve the treat’ like I’m his fucking dog.”

“Failed how? Please tell me you didn’t spend his money with your name on his bank accounts, too.”

“No. It’s the opposite. My name’s on nothing he owns. It’s all under his name and his mom’s. He was pissed that I couldn’t convince you to bring Silas’s parents to the party too.”

“Stacey, I’m so sorry.” Cade shakes her head. “If you don’t kill Gentry, I will.”

“We will together.”

We laugh, and then I wink. “But I got my revenge. I misted his tighty-whiteys with pepper spray.”

Cade’s eyes widen.

Trick #3:“His little twig and ugly berries were burning all day, and when he came home, like a whiny boy, I took the chance and told him I was having our second floor and exterior painted. He was in too much pain to care.”

Cade starts rolling. “Bitch,” she says, “you’re my new hero. Peppery balls; I’m gonna have to remember that.”

“He deserves it.” I pop a piece of caramel-salted brownie in, grinning. “And I deserve to get properly fucked again, so the painting crew starts next week.”

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