Kade watches them race each other down my skin, his expression one of contemplation and understanding. “I lost my phone that day.”
“Right,” I scoff.
“I don’t know why she’d do it. Why she’d try to ruin us,” he muses.
“Please, she’s clearly still in love with you. It was obvious that day at the café.”
His gaze snaps to mine, disbelieve in his eyes, as his fingers swipe at my tears. “And I made it clear to everyone I’m in love with you—especially her.”
“I’m so confused. I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“Well then, let’s clear this up.” He reaches for his phone and hits the call button before my brain catches up with what he’s doing.
“Amber.” I visibly jerk in his arms.
Why would he call her? What good is this going to do except humiliate me further having to listen to her talk about what they did.
He smiles at me in reassurance as he lifts his hand to my lips, pressing his thumb against their seam in the universal sign to be quiet. Not understanding what he’s doing, I comply because, clearly, I’m a masochist and enjoy letting others hurt my feelings.
“Hi, Kade.” Her voice is what I can only describe as a sultry purr. “How are you, handsome?”
I wrinkle my nose at the endearment and the voice. Does she think this is sexy? Is this what men want from a woman? I catch Kade’s eyes that are ablaze with humor, and he subtly shakes his head at me like he knows what I’ve been thinking.
“Listen.” He ignores her come hither and gets straight to the point of his call, “I found something in my house I think is yours.”
“I—I,” she stutters, clearly caught off guard. “It’s probably not mine. I mean, when would I have left something at your house?” Her laughter is nervous and too high-pitched.
“Amber,” his voice pitches low, threatening with a touch of menacing. It’s a tone I’ve never heard him use before—one I didn’t think he was capable of using. I can feel my eyes grow wide looking at him. I’ve never seen this side of him, and I’m not sure why I find the protectiveness behind his actions so attractive.
The threat hangs between them, and even through the speaker phone can I hear Amber’s labored breath, like she’s running from something. As the silence stretches, I’m working hard not to interfere and start yelling at the girl.
“She paid me to,” Amber’s confession comes out in a rush, the words barely audible with how fast she spoke.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“What?” I whisper, a feeling of dread starting to curl in my stomach.
“Montana?” Shock registers in Amber’s voice. “You’re back together?”
“Who paid you to do what?” I prompt her, not wanting to think about her second question.
She sighs, as clearly whatever she’s about to tell me isn’t something she ever planned on telling anyone. “She promised me he’d be back as soon as you were out of the picture. After all, men always come back. But he didn’t, no, instead he’s been angry and moping about town for the past three months trying to figure out what happened. Nothing I did worked.”
“Amber, I told you. I’m in love with Montana, and those feelings don’t just vanish.”
“I know, but I had to at least try, you know. I figured I’d get an easy ten grand and maybe the man I’ve been in love with for years will finally notice me.” I raise my eyebrows at Kade, who seems shocked at her declaration of love. I bite my lip to keep myself from telling him ‘I told you so.’
“Amber…”
“I know, I know. You love her. Not that I understand it. She’s not from here. She’ll never be.”
Not willing to listen to any more reasons why I’m such a bad choice for someone like Kade to fall in love with, I bring the conversation back to what’s important. “Amber, focus. Who paid you to do what exactly?” I repeat my question, even though I have a bad feeling I know who the ‘she’ is.
“Fine, whatever, I already got my money. It was your mother.” As soon as the words leave her lips, the dread I felt in my stomach turns into a big ball of lead that makes me feel nauseated. I close my eyes, unable to look at Kade knowing that Veronika somehow had her fingers in this too. “She showed up about two days before you left, not sure how she knew to come to me, no one else would have helped.” I used to be surprised at her ability to find out everyone’s secrets, but over time I learned she has her ways, and I made a point of never asking, too afraid of the answers I might find. “Anyway, she told me to get a hold of Kade’s phone the day you’d arrive in Las Vegas. She told me all I had to do was call you and make you think Kade and I were having sex. He came in for lunch, just like every other day, giving me a chance to swipe his phone. He didn’t even notice. I was off that afternoon, so all we had to do was wait for your mom to tell me when to call you. The rest was easy, just like she said it would be. We made you believe I was fucking Kade, and your trust issues did the rest.”
“We?” Kade interjects while I’m still reeling from the revelation that my mother orchestrated a grand scheme like this to manipulate me into whatever it was she hoped to get out of destroying my happiness.
“Steven.”
“Jesus, that boy would do anything for you.” Kade shakes his head in disbelief, I can see it in his eyes, he’s still unable to believe my mother would be this vicious. But I
