Page 124 of Glitched Play

Preparation for Opening Day of the e-Football League is absolute chaos.

The lobby buzzes with vendors wheeling in equipment cases, production assistants checking credentials, and camera operators weaving through clusters of developers discussing last-minute software updates. Massive banners featuring the Dillos hang from the rafters, while giant LED screens cycle through highlight reels from last season's championship.

It's organized chaos.

The kind where everyone seems to know exactly what they're doing except the newish girl.

Which would be me.

Thankfully, Sutton O'Ryan doesn't give me time to panic.

She appears beside me carrying a tablet and an iced coffee.

"You look like someone just handed you the keys to NASA."

"I feel like someone handed me the keys to NASA."

She laughs. "You'll be fine."

"I have approximately four hundred things on today's checklist."

"Only four hundred?"

I groan. "Please don't tell me there are more."

"There are definitely more."

I sigh dramatically. "I liked you five seconds ago."

"You'll like me again by lunch."

Sutton effortlessly falls into step beside me as we head toward the production floor. Unlike her brothers, she fills quiet moments with reassurance instead of noise. Every few minutes she points out someone I'll need to know—a lighting director, the social media lead, the broadcast producer—never overwhelming me with information, just handing it over one manageable piece at a time.

"You've got this," she says after introducing me to another department head.

That’s the genius behind Witt’s headquarters being here in the Armadillo stadium offices. They share expenses and employees, contracting them out to one another when needed.

"I appreciate your confidence."

"It isn't confidence."

"No?"

I glance at her. "It's evidence."

"Witt doesn't hand over responsibility because he's being nice."

That makes me smile. "He said something similar."

"I know my brother."

She bumps my shoulder lightly. It’s sweet how she never says brother-in-law.

"If he trusted someone else to run this, he'd have assigned someone else."

For reasons I don't fully understand, those words settle my nerves more than anything else has all morning.

“Thank you. How do you do it all?”