“I just want to know why I have to reel it in. You’ve never complained about my spending before.”
“Life has changed.” He curled a piece of her hair around his finger. “We’ve changed too, haven’t we?”
“I still love you. That hasn’t changed.”
“You loved who I used to be. Not who I am.”
Jade sat up and looked at him. “What does that mean? That you don’t feel the same about me as you used to?”
There was no confusion about that in her head. Lately she had felt the truth lingering in the air between them. But now she wanted to hear it from him.
“Remember how impulsive we used to be? Unpredictable?” He clasped his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. “I miss the excitement. The charge of kissing someone new, discovering someone’s body for the first time. That’s what they don’t tell you about marriage. The endorphins that once made a person crazy with desire become dormant after a while. But they don’t die. They’re still there, waiting to be recharged.”
“I don’t like what I’m hearing.”
“That’s what I miss about acting. Every first day on the set, every beautiful costar, every movie premiere was like . . . I came alive again. Over and over.”
Her heart beat so hard in her chest that she wondered if he could hear it. With every sentence he uttered, the pounding strengthened. The sweat clinging to her naked body felt cold and clammy against her skin. She shivered.
“What are you saying to me exactly?”
“We both know where this is headed, Jade. Now’s not the time though. I need to look as though I’m happily married until I get re-elected, and you need the benefit of my status to help you start your new business. Whenever that gets off the ground.”
He turned and looked at her sternly. “Don’t try to blindside me, Jade. I’m being very lenient with you because a part of me still loves you. But don’t try to fuck with my money.”
“The prenup we have leaves me with nothing.”
“It leaves you with a roof over your head.”
“I need more.”
“Needing it and deserving it are two separate issues.”
Rodney threw the covers from his body and slipped on his shorts. He still wore a T-shirt.
After all these years, he’s still self-conscious about his body.
“I’ll play dirty if I have to, Rodney,” she warned. “You can’t just leave me with nothing.”
He stopped in the doorway and looked at her. It perturbed her that he didn’t appear particularly hurt or angry. If he’d had those emotions about their dissolving marriage he’d already worked through them. Other issues may have been buried inside his heart. But the inevitable divorce that loomed ahead of them wasn’t one of them.
“I’m not leaving you with nothing,” he said. “You’ll have the money we agreed to and you’ll have the condo.” His eyes skimmed her bare breasts. “And you have my word . . . that you are still the best lover I’ve ever had. And believe me when I say that you’ve had some pretty impressive competition.”
***
Chapter 19
The key turned easily in the lock. Jade slipped inside, unnoticed, and locked the door behind her. A faint scent of cigar smoke lingered in the air.
You’ve had some pretty impressive competition . . .
Had he meant lovers before they were married? Rodney dismissed her as paranoid whenever she pressed him. What a bittersweet victory it would be to discover a cache of compromising pictures between him and another woman.
In bare feet, she padded across the carpet and sat in the leather chair behind his desk. She ran a hand across the space that his laptop usually occupied. He’d taken it with him. Didn’t matter. So many of his documents were password protected that it was a fruitless venture to try and guess. Several previous tries had taught her that. There were two secretly made keys dangling from the key ring in her hand. She used the second one to open his desk drawer. The first time she’d snooped she’d found nothing of importance. Perhaps she’d missed something.
Jade’s fingers flipped through the manila folders until she found one that she hadn’t recalled seeing before. It was titled “Park Place.” She thumbed through the pages and found nothing of particular interest. Mainly pages from various speeches.
Curious, she thought. What’s the connection between old speeches and Park Place?
Jade closed the folder but a slip of paper fell out. She picked it up and was about to slip it back inside before something caught her eye. She read it twice, disbelieving. Then she found the corresponding documents and read them as well. Tears welled up in her eyes. It was all starting to become too numbing.
His vitriol.
His mind games.
And now this.
A new apartment . . .
“Jade?”
She heard Syeesha call her name from down the hall. Shaking fingers slipped the papers back inside the folder, closed the drawer, and relocked it. Jade secured the office door and wiped her face clean of tears.
She found Syeesha in her office.
“You were looking for me?”
“I just got in and wanted to say hello. Maria told me you hadn’t left yet.”
“No, umm. I’m free today. The bookings on my calendar were cancelled.”
“Oh, didn’t know. By the way, have you found the key to this bottom drawer? I’ll need to start organizing it soon.”
Jade looked at the drawer without seeing it. She heard Syeesha’s voice without understanding the words. She needed to get on with the plan. Time was running out.
“We need to get out of the house for awhile. I’ll show you a few of my favorite shops to buy the things I need to work in case I need you to run errands for me.” She looked at her wrist to check the time, then remembered she hadn’t put it on that morning. “I should be ready to go in twenty minutes.”
“Jade? Is everything okay?”
All of her plans depended on Syeesha. If she refused to cooperate, then Jade would have to begin her search again. But there was no time for that. The very least Jade could do was give Syeesha one completely honest answer.
“No,” she said in a voice that sounded distant to her. “Everything is not all right. Be ready to go.”
***
Chapter 20
It was an uncomfortable-downright weird-moment for Syeesha. The hairs on her arms stood up when Jade linked her arm through hers as they window-shopped at high-end stores. Syeesha felt as though Jade was leaning into her for the physical support as much as she was pretending they were close girlfriends instead of boss and employee. Jade asked her how her first full week on the job had gone but after that, they said little. Jade’s thoughts seemed remote and Syeesha followed her cue and kept her mouth shut.
“Look at those.” They were the first words Jade had uttered in half an hour. “What a pretty color.”
Syeesha looked in the window. Red heels. She shrugged. “They’re cute.”
Jade rolled her eyes then pulled her inside.
“I want those,” she said to the saleswoman before she could properly welcome them. “Size seven.”
The girl disappeared into the back of the shop. Syeesha sat in a plush chair and watched as Jade strolled around the store. It was a curious sight, watching her pick up shoes, caress them as a mother would a child’s bottom. Jade inhaled their scent, eyes closed, lips parted as she exhaled. But not once did she flip the shoe over to check their price tag. What would’ve been a first inclination for Syeesha wasn’t even an afterthought for Jade.
The saleswoman helped Jade slip on the heels. They were impossibly high, patent-leather pumps. While Jade walked around the store with the shoes on, Syeesha bent down and checked out the box. Christian Louboutin. Lady Peep.
“How much are these?” she whispered to the saleswoman.
In return, she got an upturned chin and a raised eyebrow. “Eight ninety-five.”
“Get her a pair, too,” Ja
de said. “Syeesha, what’s your size?”
“Oh, no. Not quite in the budget.”
“What size, Syeesha? Just try them on for fun. They’ll make you feel . . . ” Jade rubbed her thumb over her fingertips while thinking of the right word. “Whole.”
“Eight and a half?” The saleswoman asked Syeesha.
“How did you know that?”
“I’ll be back momentarily.”
If that poor thing thinks she’s getting a commission from me, she is sadly mistaken.
When the saleswoman took the shoe out the box and held it out for her, Syeesha felt as out of place as Dorothy must have felt in Oz. Syeesha slipped off her flip-flops and placed her hand on Jade’s arm for balance. The shoes cupped her feet. Tentatively, she took a few steps toward a full-length mirror.
“Wow,” she said. She stood over six feet tall in the shoes. Her legs seemed even more elongated and firmer under the miniskirt. “I see why you’re in love.”
“Let’s wear them out,” Jade said.
For what they were worth, the shoes had brightened her mood.
“I can’t afford these, Jade.” Syeesha slipped off the shoes.
“Box these up,” Jade told the saleswoman. “I’m getting them.”
“You can’t—“
The girl moved quickly before Syeesha could discourage Jade.
“I can and I will,” Jade replied. “Now I want us to have lunch. There’s something we need to discuss.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Paranoia runs in my genes.”
“I’m the one in trouble. And I need your help.”
Now Syeesha was confused. What could she have that someone like Jade McCann could possibly want? The thought of her, Syeesha Green, a broke and failing law school student, helping a rich and successful woman like Jade McCann was utterly laughable.
And so she laughed.
“Are you serious? What do you want me to do for you, Jade? Give you free legal advice?”
“No.” Jade said. “I want you to seduce my husband.”
***
Chapter 21
“You want me to do what?”
“You heard me correctly. Let me get the shoes and then we can discuss the details?”
Details?
Syeesha was pretty sure that was the last thing she wanted.
“Look, Jade. Keep the shoes—“
“This has nothing to do with the shoes.” Jade had a tight smile on her face. “And I said we’ll discuss it shortly.”
Syeesha managed to keep her lips clamped shut until they were sitting in Starbucks with a couple of iced teas.
“I know this is a surprise for you. I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t really need your help.”
“I can’t screw your husband.”
“Shh.” Jade looked around the café. “Lower your voice. I’m a little well-known in New York in case you forgot.”
“Why would you even ask me to do that? It kinda goes against the whole I-will-not-screw-around-on-my-spouse part of the marriage vows, doesn’t it?”
“Before we go any further I think I’d better remind you that you signed a confidentiality agreement. You can’t discuss this with anyone else.”
Except my boyfriend.
Oh, and maybe my sister.
Okay, maybe not my sister.
And definitely not my boyfriend.
“I remember.”
Jade took a sip of her tea.
“The short version is that I have a prenup with Rodney that has disagreeable terms for me.”
“You signed it?”
“Yes.”
“Then the terms were agreeable.”
Jade flipped her a condescending smile. She rubbed her forehead as though soothing a headache.
“I need you to help me void the agreement.”
“By screwing Rodney.”
“Exactly.”
“But that wouldn’t prove anything in a court of law. It’ll be my word against his unless . . .“
Then Syeesha got it. Granted she was slow on the uptake. But she got it.
“No way, Jade. Not in a million years.”
“You wouldn’t even know the cameras are there. In fact, they’re already installed.”
“Ew.” Syeesha covered her face with her hands. “Just the idea of it makes me want to vomit.” She looked at Jade. “My bare ass?”
“Oh, honey, please. I’ve seen bare asses on video before, and I’m sure yours is better than most.”
“I can’t. I won’t. I mean, I wish you the best of luck—“
“This isn’t just about me getting what’s rightfully mine out of the divorce. It’s about you getting a nice little chunk of change as soon as it happens. And then you’re free to just walk away as though we never even met.”
“Oh my God.” Syeesha looked at Jade as though seeing her for the first time. “You had this planned from the start. This is why you hired me?”
“Yes.”
“What, Kim said no, too?”
“I didn’t ask Kim. She wasn’t suitable.”
“What makes me suitable?”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that . . .” Jade looked around the café to ensure they hadn’t aroused attention. She leaned in closer and whispered, “I need you, Syeesha.”
What in the world have I gotten myself into?
Syeesha leaned forward, put her lips on her straw and blew bubbles.
How long will it take me to find another job? Bye-bye, sixty grand.
“Aren’t you at least a little curious as to what’s in it for you?”
“No.” She sighed. “I’m not.”
“Two fifty. Cash.”
Syeesha stopped playing with her drink and looked up at Jade.
“Please tell me you mean two hundred fifty dollars.”
Slowly, Jade shook her head.
“You’re crazy.”
Jade shrugged. “Maybe. But I need this to happen. And I need it to happen fast.”
“Why?”
“That’s my concern.”
“How fast?”
“Within the next thirty days.”
“That’s so soon.”
But what did she care? Why did she even ask that? She was not going to sleep with Rodney McCann. She hadn’t even met the man.
But two hundred fifty thousand dollars was a lot of money not to consider. She could pay the balance of her school loan and still have money left over. She and Christian could visit Europe. And Syeesha could buy a nice little place for the two of them. She could stay home and write while he finished law school.
Christian. What would he think about all this?
Jade looked at her watch. “I have a lunch appointment. Take the rest of the day off and think about it. Enjoy your weekend.”
***
Chapter 22
The In Crowd
The rich can be foolish people. Even when they have it all they feel as though they have nothing. Fear of being reduced to a middle-class lifestyle drives them to work tirelessly to elude the confines of mediocrity. To continue their epicurean lifestyle, some will challenge the boundaries of their morality. Manipulate others for their personal gain. Deceive those closest to them. There is no limit to how low some people will stoop for the security that money brings.
And still we pray for the day when we can become one of them.
Syeesha fired off the completed article to Tanya. It was her fifteenth to date and Tanya had begun to entrust her to upload the entries directly. No more waiting in Tanya’s inbox for three days until she got around to approving then uploading.
She closed her laptop. It was rare that she had the apartment to herself. Under ordinary circumstances she would’ve stayed home to enjoy the moment, but now, more than ever, she needed to talk to someone.
“Are you home?” she asked her sister.
“Just so happens,” Trina said. “No showings today. No signings, n
o nothing.”
“Great. I’ll be there in half an hour.”
“Something going on?”
“I’ll tell you when I get to your place.”
Twenty minutes later Syeesha was knocking on her sister’s door. The spacious apartment smelled like the manufactured scent of “clean” on dryer sheets. And it figured. Not a wayward dust bunny nor an idle pencil littered the apartment. Syeesha could hear her father saying, “Everything has its place.”
Had Architectural Digest an interest in profiling a one-bedroom Brooklyn apartment, this would be the featured one. Their lens would capture the perfectly aligned pillows on the sofa and the contemporary coffee table that doubled as a seat. It had a blanket thrown over the edge, just so, and a service tray with two juice glasses on it. Every time she came over, Syeesha visually inspected the glasses for prints. None. Not once.
“Come into the bedroom. I’m packing.”
“Where are you going?”
“Mexico. I’ve been dating a new guy for almost three months now.”
Syeesha wanted to plop onto the bed but was afraid of wrinkling the bedspread. She leaned against the wall.
“Oh no. I just painted that. There.” Trina pointed to a lounger in the corner of the room.
“This is new,” Syeesha said. She moved around the luggage in the middle of the floor and sat in the chair. “So when do I meet your new guy?”
“When I meet your new guy. Christian, is it?”
“We’re so bad, Trina. We live, like, twenty minutes away and yet we hardly ever see each other.”
Trina folded a blouse. “That’s the side effect of Dad raising us to be so independent. We’re independent of each other.”
“E-mail me the info about who you’re gonna be with and where you’ll be staying.”
Trina picked up a pair of shorts and held them out. “I so wished I’d lost fifteen pounds before going to Cabo.” She folded the shorts and tossed them in the luggage then propped her hands on her hips and looked at Syeesha. “You sounded on the phone like there was something up. Why do I feel as though you’re stalling?”
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