THIRTY-TWO
HAYDEN
WISCONSIN
FEbrUARY
"I was going to confess and take my punishment from the league."
Jace's words are shaky, scratchy, like they're tearing themselves apart on the way out. He just confessed to shaving points for money—something I would have called shameful. Yet, I don't feel any disdain for him. I know who pulled the strings. I know what it takes to make someone sell their soul.
Looking at Samantha, I know Jace believed she was worth everything.
My eyes drift to Emerald. If I were in Jace's position, Rick might have pushed me to do the same.
"I sold my soul, and I wanted it back. I..." His voice cracks, and the tears he's been fighting spill over, staining his cheeks. "I disappointed everyone I love. I wanted to be the kind of man my wife and son could be proud of."
Samantha sniffles and turns to grab a tissue from the counter, but before she can reach it, Emerald moves quickly, grabbing the box and setting it in front of her. Samantha nods her thanks, wipes her eyes, and I wrap my arm around Emerald, pulling her close to me.
"Rick wasn't picking up his phone. Maybe he knew where my mind was. Or maybe he was celebrating too hard. I tracked him to Vegas. I told him that tomorrow, we'd release a statement, go to the league, and tell them what we did. "
My brows lift. "What did he say?"
Jace gives a bitter, broken laugh. "He said he felt the same.
Said he couldn't stomach it anymore, that he'd been thinking about coming clean, too.
Told me we should do the right thing. And I believed him.
God, I was desperate to believe him." He laughs again, regret ripping through his words. "I was a blind fool."
He trusted his agent. Just like I did.
Maybe we were fools.
But Emerald and Samantha sure as fuck didn't deserve what it cost them.
"We had a drink. I started feeling sick.
I wasn't planning on staying in Vegas, but I was too sick to fly home.
I got a hotel room to sleep it off. I woke up to police banging on the door, and two—" He closes his eyes.
Samantha flinches. Jace glances at her, broken, before dropping his gaze.
"Two naked women in the bed. Cocaine on the dresser.
The room was trashed like somebody threw a party.
I couldn't remember a fucking thing, but I know—I know—I wouldn't have—"
He cuts himself off, eyes wild and desperate, like he's begging us to believe him. Samantha reaches out to him and lays a hand over his.
His gold wedding band glints in the firelight; her ring finger is bare.
My gaze drops to my hand. Then to Emerald's bare ring finger.
Jace's shaking body steadies just from that small touch; it seems that only Samantha is holding him together. He drags in a breath, closes his eyes for a second, then looks at her as he speaks to us.
"I would never cheat on Samantha. I've been hers since I was eight years old. Gun to my head, I would never— "
"Jace," Samantha says softly. "I know."
Jace's face crumples, agony and devotion warring within him, and he gazes at Samantha as if his entire universe rises and sets with her.
The way I look at Emerald.
"I believe you," I tell him.
And I do.
I look at Jace and Samantha now, trust fractured, and all I see is a potential future, a version of us that could have been .
It turns my blood cold. My hand tightens around Emerald's beneath the table.
I would never cheat. But I trusted the kind of man who was going to make it look like I did.
"I do too," Emerald says, giving them a small smile.
Samantha returns it, and something silent passes between them.
"Mommy?"
The small voice comes from the hallway. I turn to find a little blond boy standing half-hidden in the shadows, a stuffed Winnie the Pooh clutched to his chest.
"Come here, little love," Samantha's face transforms, and she wheels back from the table, opening her arms.
He toddles toward her on unsteady feet and right into Samantha's open arms. She pulls him onto her lap and presses a kiss to his head. He pulls the bear closer to his chest like he's protecting it, or maybe it's protecting him.
As Jace watches his wife and son embrace, the sharp edges of guilt on his face melt into relief, his expression softening completely for the first time.
"You okay, honey?" Samantha murmurs into her son's hair.
The little guy nods, cheek pressed to her shoulder, but his blue eyes stay on Emerald and me—wary in the same way his father's were.
"This is our son," Jace says, his voice thick with pride.
He glances at his father and gets a shaky smile in return. Emerald smiles and waves, which he returns after a second, before ducking his head back into his mom's shoulder, shy.
"This is Emerald and Hayden," Jace says, gesturing to us. "Can you say hello?"
The boy glances up at his mom, who nods encouragingly.
He gives a small wave, "Hi."
"Hi," Emerald says brightly. "What's your name?"
"Christopher," he whispers, lifting his head slightly. His voice has a lisp, catching on the s in his name.
Emerald gasps and points to the bear in his arms. "Wait. Are you Christopher Robin? "
Christopher nods, lifting up the bear and waving it.
"Where's Tigger? And Piglet?"
"My room!" he says excitedly.
Wiggling, he slides down from his mom's lap and toddles over to my wife. A grin spreads across my face as he reaches for my wife. Emerald takes his small hand, smiling as she lets him lead her down the hallway. Samantha smiles, navigating her chair after them as they go into his bedroom.
I hear Emerald exclaim, "Wow!" followed by Christopher's giggles, and Samantha's murmuring voice.
"Do you guys have kids?" Jace asks me, a small grin on his face at the noise.
"No." I shake my head.
The yearning punches me right in the gut.
Emerald cradling her pregnant belly, glowing and beautiful.
A tiny person in my arms, half her and half me. Her green eyes, her dark hair.
"When you do—if you do—be there for every second," Jace says quietly. "I missed a lot of her pregnancy on the road. Our parents are gone. We're all we have. And she was alone in Boston for most of it."
I nod, my jaw clenching. "Boston was..."
"A fucking nightmare," Jace finishes for me.
"What happened?" I ask Jace, who looks at me, confused. I clarify, "After you were arrested."
"Charged with solicitation and possession.
Later dropped. Public embarrassment. Released by the Bullies.
Dropped by Rick, who put out a scathing statement about how disappointed he was in me.
" Jace's face twists. "That fucking prick.
I told the police in Vegas about the point shaving, and they didn't believe me.
They thought I was coping with the loss.
It got buried under the juicier story of me getting caught with drugs and women. "
"At that point, I was sitting in a jail cell, fucking terrified. The only thing I could think of was that my marriage was ruined, that Samantha was going to be devastated..."
He scrubs both hands down his face, eyes glassy.
"I had to call my wife—five months postpartum, still dealing with paralysis in her right leg and PPD—and tell her I'd been caught with drugs and hookers.
" He leans forward. His voice is ragged, gutted.
"How do you think that gutted her? I'd already been dragging us through my failures.
But I'd never betray her. My heart can't beat for anyone else. "
There are moments in life when you meet someone who understands you down to your bones.
I felt it when I met Emerald.
And I feel the same now.
"Sounds familiar. "
"That Rick, huh?" Jace mutters, scowling. "If I ever get my hands on him again."
My hand curls into a fist, my knuckles cracking.
Jace tilts his head. "What about you?"
My mouth goes dry, and my eyes drop to the dark wood table. Taking a deep breath, I start from that night.
"Emerald was assaulted after a game..."
Expression after expression crosses his face as I talk. Horror at Emerald's assault, disgust at the state of the Bullies organization and the social media harassment, understanding at beating Doyle in that bathroom, to frustration at Rick not being able to be found.
I tell him about violation after violation, and his face settles into something blank.
That feels more dangerous than rage.
"I go over it in my head, again and again, and I can't figure it out," Jace shakes his head. "What was it about Rick that made us believe him?"
"Because we told ourselves we were doing it for our families," I echo his words, and watch the second it hits his face. "And because he'd had years of practice being exactly who he is—not caring who gets hurt on the way to getting rich."
"How's Emerald doing now?"
I glance down the hallway. Three sets of laughter drift down the hall, and the sound hits me right in the chest. Emerald's stands out—bright, light, carefree.
My wife.
"Healing. It's... a process." I shrug. "I think she trusts me. I think she forgives me. I was blind and careless, and I... I'm terrified of breaking her trust again."
Jace nods toward the hallway. "She did the bravest thing I've ever seen. She chose to believe me. All the evidence stacked against me, and still she believed me."
My mouth curves.
Yeah. She sounds a lot like Emerald.
"Granted, circumstances kind of kept her from leaving me, but I would've slept outside in a tent if that's what she wanted. For the first couple of months, I slept in a sleeping bag outside the bedroom while she and Christopher were inside."
His eyes drift toward the spot outside their room.
"Whenever he cried, I brought him to her so she could breastfeed him.
Changed every diaper. Cooked every meal.
Fed her, bathed her, took her to physical therapy and doctor's appointments.
" He huffs out a humorless breath. "I did everything I should've been doing all along—as her husband, as his father.
I buried myself in hockey and brand deals instead. "
Jace's eyes fill, a bitter smile on his lips.
"I guess I'm lucky in that sense, but I just wanted my wife back.
Trust is rebuilding, slowly, but her PPD was vicious , and the paralysis on top of that.
.." Jace chokes out, wiping harshly at his eyes.
"She's only just starting to feel like herself again.
But there's always that question in the back of her mind.
She didn't think I was capable of shaving points either, so. .. what else was I capable of?"
He pauses, then corrects himself. "What else would he make me capable of?"
"I understand," I say.
For the first time in a long time, I don't feel like we're alone in this.
After a couple of minutes, Jace gathers himself and asks, "So what now?"
"Wait for my PI to work. Give the information to the detectives in Boston," I meet Jace's eyes. "And make him pay."
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't see him getting caught."
"I've got people on him that won't give up," I say firmly. "And I won't give up. He almost took my Emerald away from me. I'll never forgive that."
I hesitate before asking, "Are you alright with me talking about this with the detectives? The points shaving?"
Jace shrugs. "Sure."
"It might get out. People might talk—"
"People already talk. They already think I'm a washed-up cokehead. As long as I don't lose them," he points down the hall. "I don't care what people say about me."
The door opens, and Samantha comes out of the room, her cheeks wet, her eyes puffy and red. Jace immediately stands up, alarmed, rushing over to her. "Baby? What's wrong—"
She stops right in front of him and then holds out her hands. He bends and gently helps her stand from the chair. Shaky, she leans most of her weight on her left leg, Jace's arms sliding around her waist.
"I'm sorry," she cries. "I'm sorry—"
Jace makes a choking sound and folds her into him. "You don't say sorry. You did nothing wrong—honey, oh, baby—"
He presses kisses to her hair, and out of the corner of my eye, Emerald comes down the hallway with Christopher cuddled in her arms, both of them watching with soft smiles.
The sight knocks the breath out of me. Emerald's always loved kids, and whenever we talk about having our own, it's always three or four. Always someday.
But maybe someday doesn't have to be so far away.
Emerald turns to me and beams, and I raise an eyebrow. "What happened?"
"Girl talk," she says with a shrug, smiling at the giggling boy in her arms as she bounces him .
"Mommy's kissing daddy," Christopher whispers conspiratorially to Emerald.
We both laugh. "They are?" Emerald asks, eyes twinkling.
Christopher nods before looking over to me. I cross my eyes and stick out my tongue, which makes him laugh even more. As Jace and Samantha reunite, holding each other through their tears, laughter, and kisses, Emerald and I take Christopher back to his room to give them some privacy.
Christopher climbs into Emerald's lap as she sits cross-legged in his room, and she reads out loud from the book he gives her. I sit by the door and watch them, laughing when Emerald does the voices and makes Christopher giggle.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and when I pull it out, all the humor dies.
It's a text from Aisha.
WE NEED TO TALK.
CALL ME ASAP.