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My phone pinged again, this time with a familiar custom alert. Emi. I snatched it up to see what she had to say after her talks with the arena owner.
As I scanned her message, my stomach sank.
Hey, big brother! I got everything sorted out with my friend’s uncle. He doesn’t blame you guys for what happened… but he said he’s not sure he wants Lou and Jasper to mention that they trained there after all, even if they win a medal. I guess I’ll keep you up to date on that part.
With a sigh, I sagged back in the sofa. Now even the people who’d been most excited about our potential success saw us as bad luck.
Rafael’s voice carried from the kitchen. “What’s the matter? Are the reporters still hassling you?”
I lifted my head. The big man was leaning against the counter with a steaming mug of coffee in his hands.
I’d almost forgotten Lou’s bodyguard was here. He had such a quiet presence despite his bulky frame. Jasper and Quentin had gone out after dinner to see about some finishing details for the new costumes, and Lou had crashed in her bedroom, still recovering from all her recent air travel.
I didn’t like to set a gloomy tone, but I couldn’t think of a single way to spin the situation into something worth celebrating. “It’s reporters and officials and everyone else who has an opinion or questions. They all seem to want to paint Lou as the bad guy. I don’t know what to tell them to get them off her back. But I can’t have them getting intoherhead. She needs to focus on her skating.”
Rafael ambled over to the living room and sank into the armchair. His mouth curved into a tight but wry smile. “I guess she’s been building up her team of representatives so she can do just that. She’s got you as her skating boss, and now she wants me to be her crime boss.”
I’d caught a few remarks between the two of them over the past couple of days that had given me the gist, but we hadn’t discussed the subject as a group. “She’s suggesting that you take over her mother’s empire rather than her?”
He nodded, his mouth staying tight, his eyes going distant. “That’s about the size of it.”
As usual, it was difficult to read his reaction. “Would youwantto do that?” I ventured.
His gaze came back to me, and he let out a dry chuckle. “That’s a pretty important question, isn’t it? Honestly, I don’t even know. Obviously there’s some appeal to having that kind of power, and knowing I could run things my way rather than her mom’s… But am I really up to the full job? Just a few days ago, I almost lost Lou thanks to my past stupidity. My judgment isbetternow, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.”
I’d rarely heard the man say so much at once. The decision must have been weighing on him a lot.
I’d also never expected to realize I had so much in common with the former gangster, even if we’d arrived at where we were from very different angles. Maybe it’d help him to hear that he wasn’t alone in his doubts.
I glanced down at my hands and then back at him. “I think I know how you feel. I’ve had my share of epic mistakes. I once inadvertently outed my closeted ex on national TV and ruined his life.” I waved toward my phone. “What if I end up saying the wrong thing again and damage the situation for Lou even more? That’s the last thing she needs!”
Rafael took a long sip from his coffee, his expression turning contemplative. “I don’t think you being too open about your past relationship has anything to do with how you’d handle Lou’s career. It’s not as if you know all that much about her past anyway, or that you’d ever think it’s an important factor in her skating.”
I paused, thinking that over. “They are pretty different situations. I mentioned my ex because I was happy being with him and wanted to share that happiness. There’s definitely nothing to be happy about anything to do with Lou’s mother.”
Rafael gave a low guffaw. “Not at all. You’ve got to convince the officials that Lou is a great skater and not a liability, and that’s what you already believe. Seems pretty straightforward to me, not much room for slipping up. Unless you were thinking you’d start pitching gunfire as a fun addition to the routine.”
I couldn’t restrain a snort. “No, there’s no chance of that.”
“There you go. You say what you mean, and that’s what they need to hear, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
He sounded so confident that my nerves settled a little. He was right, after all. I wasn’t hiding anything about Lou that I’d have wanted to say anyway. Everything I’d like the world to know about her was exactly the kind of things theyshouldknow to appreciate what an amazing athlete—and person—she was.
I smiled at Rafael, hoping I could return the favor. “You know, I could make a similar point when it comes to you. You made a big mistake years ago. But when you found out new information, you adjusted your mindset and took steps to fix things rather than sticking to the same course like the rest of your gang wanted to.”
“I did what anyone should,” Rafael muttered.
“But lots of people wouldn’t,” I said triumphantly. “Learning from your mistakes and being able to adapt and grow are things that don’t come easily to a lot of people. But they are marks of a great leader.”
Rafael opened his mouth as if he were going to argue and then paused. He frowned pensively before shaking his head in apparent bemusement. “Okay, you turned the tables on me. Maybe we’re both being too hard on ourselves.”
I grinned with the lift in my spirits. For a little while, faced with the barrage of accusations and requests, I’d felt alone and adrift. But we were a team—all of us, including Rafael.
We worked together in harmony, supporting each other, like any good relationship should work. The fact that we’d managed it even in one as complicated as ours was nothing short of incredible.
That’s what we had here. Something totally incredible.
I picked up my phone. “I’m glad I could help—and thank you for your pep talk. Now I’ve got a couple of calls to make.”
