CHAPTER 1: Archer Bradley
Forty Games
I had a feeling I’d end up here eventually.
You don’t get to play pro baseball and get off unscathed when your father is indicted and your name is made public in association with his crimes.
I thought I had a little more time, though. I figured the league would wait until my father’s conviction and then make a decision on me.
I guess they took what evidence they had and decided to convict me now.
It’s all so stupid, and all it did was prove to me that I made the right decision when I walked away from my father over a decade ago.
I should have stayed away. I knew better. I’m only here because of my own mistakes.
And by here, I mean the depths of hell.
Troy Bodine has a folder in his hands when he takes the chair across from me. He’s been the manager of this team since I joined it four years ago when I was called upfrom the minors, and he’s great at what he does. But that doesn’t make this conversation any easier.
If anything, it makes it harder. It’s a reminder that I’ve disappointed him.
“How’d your name end up on your father’s illegal casinos?” he asks when he sits across from me.
“He asked me to sign some paperwork. Said he was trying to reconcile with me before my mother died.” I blow out a breath. “I didn’t read it. It was a bunch of legal language, and he said it was for tax purposes. I didn’t know it was illegal. I put my trust in him when I knew better.”
“That hurts. I’m sorry, Archer. That’s no way for a father to act, and especially not to play on your family loyalty when your mother was sick,” he says.
I hear the sympathy in his tone, and it makes me feel even worse. I hate sympathy. I think it’s why I tend to stick to myself.
“And that makes the news I have to deliver to you today even harder,” he says.
I press my lips together and nod, and he slides the folder across his desk to me. I don’t open it even after he nods at it.
“The league has decided to suspend you forty games,” he says quietly.
“Forty games?” I roar. “This is bullshit!”
He nods. “I’m sorry.”
“All I did was sign a fucking piece of paper. Forty fucking games?”
“They take legal gambling seriously enough. Illegal gambling is a completely different ballgame. If it makes baseball look bad, they have to make an example, and they won’t risk another scandal. I tried to appeal, but they told me in no uncertain terms that it was a final decision. You’ll be expected at spring training. Your suspension begins opening day.”
I blow out a frustrated breath. Baseball is all I have left. My fucking father took everything else from me, and here we go once more. “What can we do?”
“I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do, Archer. Take it like a man and come back swinging. I also need to tell you that the paperwork says they could extend the suspension if you’re found to have any additional connections to your father’s operation or if you are convicted. It could get even more serious than just a suspension. Is there anything you’d like to tell me in regard to that? It’s just us in here.”
I shake my head. “I stay as far away from him as I can. It was one paper one time, and I’m a fucking idiot for letting him rope me back in.”
“You’re not an idiot, Archer. You’re a smart guy with a hell of a lot of heart, and he played on that.”
“Well, he took that too,” I mutter.
It’s true. My heart belonged to one woman, and I didn’t want her anywhere near this investigation. She’s worked so goddamn hard to build a career for herself here in Vegas, and she’s thriving. I ended things with her because I wanted her to have space to keep growing away from the Bradley spotlight. I figured we’d find our way back to each other. We always did. Always.
Except the one time that mattered.
Troy can tell me I have a hell of a lot of heart, but the truth is that heart has been shattered into so many pieces it’s unrecognizable at this point.
