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“We’re confident we’re going to get far more than we expected for the team. Your work is done here, Delaney. You’ve made us proud.”
TWENTY-THREE
W A R R E N
“Your work is done here,Delaney. You’ve made us proud.”
Mum always said it was rude to eavesdrop. She said if people don’t want you earwigging on their conversation, then there must be a reason. I guess I finally know what she meant when she said that.
“I thought you said we’d keep the team if I did well. Not sell it!” Delaney protests, her voice full of betrayal and distrust. Two emotions fill me up as I find myself glued outside her door, overhearing every word that has not only fallen out of her parents’ mouths but hers too.
“Delaney,” it’s Hank who's first to speak up. God, his voice is the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. How can someone look so much like Ira, have his DNA, for crying out loud, and be absolutely nothing like him? “We’ve been made offers we can’t refuse. We’renotkeeping the team!”
“But you said if I could make them of value to us, things would be different,” Delaney attempts once more, begging her parents to listen at this point.
“Well…plans change,” Hank’s voice is firm. It’s as if I can see the smug look on his face myself, despite the wall holding meback from charging my way back in there. “Sometimes, you don’t always get what you want. Things aren’t always what they seem.”
Things aren’t always what they seem.
A statement. A truth. I allow myself to listen to the final line until I break free from the wall, charging my way down the hallway and toward the staircase.
My whole life, I’ve prided myself on being an honest man. Ira taught me that. He taught me that the good in people will always find a way to surmount the bad.
I believed it once.
But now, I don’t know what to believe. I can accept a betrayal from Hank. He means nothing to me. But Delaney? She’s been colluding with her parents this entire time.
I never questioned why she came here to Crawley. I just knew that Alf had told me it was the only way to appease both parties—a win-win. But now, it’s all starting to make sense.
Delaney never cared about the team. About me. It was all about the money. The value. How many zeros can be added after our name on a check.
I’m so distraught that I hadn’t even realized that my legs had guided me back into my office—though the way I’ve slammed my door shut and knocked my chair to the ground is a not-so-friendly reminder.
I run my hand through my hair, tugging through the knots at my roots before leaning in on my desk, slumping my head and shoulders down in defeat. And that’s when I see it.
The bracelet.
The one that I’d hardly realized had become a part of me—just as she’s become a part of me these past few months.
I stand up straight, toying with the material before I pull it off my wrist, snapping it in one quick motion and whipping it at the wall across the room.
D E L A N E Y
Where the hell is he?
He’s not on the field.
He’s not in his office.
None of the guys have seen him.
He’s gone.
“What the hell?” I impatiently tap my foot while raising my phone to my ear, attempting to call Warren for the fifth time—but the line cuts short yet again.
The cell reception inside the stadium is about as awful as the conversation I just had with my parents.
I was naive to think that they would change their minds. Stupid enough to trust that they’d see how important this team has become to me. And hopeful enough to think that, for once, they’d allow me to have one thing. One thing that’s not materialistic. One thing I’ve worked for myself. One thing I’m truly passionate about.
