Chapter 33
CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE
Liam
The next morning, I show up early. I’m in the film room alone.
And it’s quiet as I rewatch yesterday’s throws.
I analyze my foot placement. My release timing.
Study the defensive alignment. And force myself to focus.
Because Presley’s right, and so is Aston.
Aaron doesn’t get to take football from me too.
And today, I’m going to man up and apologize to my team for being an asshole the past few days and tell them about Sera and Alie. Not all the details, but I want everyone to know they’re mine.
I walk over to Coach, my helmet in hand.
“Coach, if it’s okay with you, I have something I want to say to the team, before we start.”
He nods approvingly, then blows his whistle. Then, when everyone looks our way, he gestures to me.
I release a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
“First off,” I begin, scanning their faces, “I owe everyone here an apology.”
A few brows lift.
“My attitude the past few days has been piss poor. Uncalled for. Unprofessional.” I shake my head once. “That’s on me. You deserve better from someone wearing this jersey. You deserve a leader.”
I glance around the circle again, making sure the words don’t just fall flat into the air.
“We’ve got too much talent on this field to waste time on my bullshit. I’m proud to play with every one of you.”
There are a few nods.
“We didn’t get this far to just show up. We’re gonna dominate this season.” I put on my helmet. “I promise each and every one of you that I will give you everything I have this season.”
Everyone claps, and a few hell yeah’s are heard.
“Let’s fucking go! Titans on three.” I clap my hands once.
“One…two…three. Titans!”
I mean every word I said. This is my team, my responsibility on this field. And we’re gonna win.
Once practice starts, I lock in.
First rep in the red zone. Snap, drop back, set my feet, deliver a perfect spiral.
Brody snags it clean in the back corner, then points at me. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
I don’t react, but I nod once.
And we run it again. And again. Each rep cleaner and sharper than the last.
Then movement behind them catches my eye.
At first, it barely registers.
Just another body near the sideline.
But then my brain connects the shape. The posture. The face.
Aaron.
He’s leaning against the fence with a clipboard tucked under one arm, talking casually to one of the assistants like he belongs here. Like he didn’t destroy years of my life with one lie.
My jaw tightens as I stare at him across the field.
All I can see is Sera’s face. Her tiny hand wrapped around my finger. The way she laughed the first time I lifted her onto my shoulders.
And then another image pushes in behind it. Every birthday I missed. Every scraped knee. Every bedtime story I should have been there for.
All the years I didn’t know she existed.
Because of him.
Something inside my chest twists hard.
“Let’s run it one more time,” I say, my eyes still locked on Aaron. “Brody, go left fade, on two.”
We line up, and I call out, “Blue eighty.”
I catch Aston’s eye and see him inching toward the left side of the field.
“Blue eighty.”
I give a subtle nod.
“Set - hut!”
My arm moves before my brain can second-guess my actions, and I intentionally overthrow the ball, missing Brody, and it hits Aaron right in the face.
His head snaps sideways, his clipboard flies from his hand, and skids across the turf.
And then I see Aston barreling into him, and he hits the ground hard.
For half a second, the entire field goes silent.
The grass blurs beneath my cleats as the distance between us shrinks.
Then chaos erupts.
Shouting. Whistles. Cleats pounding.
Someone behind me calls my name.
“Pitz!”
I don’t stop.
Aaron looks up when my shadow falls over him, his hand covering the eye I hit.
His expression flickers from pain to confusion to recognition.
“Liam—”
I hold my hand out for him to take. “My bad. Ball gets a little slippery sometimes.”
For a split second, I see Sera again. The way she clung to Alie’s leg when she first saw me. The way her voice sounded when she said Daddy like she’d been waiting her whole life for it.
All the time I should have had with her.
Gone.
Because of him.
The last thread of my restraint snaps, and I let go before he can stand, making him fall again.
“Jesus, Liam!” Presley yells, then bends down to look at Aaron’s face.
Aston grabs my arms, holding me back before I can lunge forward.
“Pitz, what the hell!” Saint comes running up to us.
But my chest is heaving, adrenaline roaring through my veins.
“You lying son of a bitch!” I shout.
Aaron pushes himself up onto one elbow, snatching a towel from Presley’s hand, eye already puffy and blood blooming along his lip as he stares at me in stunned disbelief. “I don’t know what Alie told you. That woman is a liar.”
“Excuse me,” Presley says and stands with her hands on her hips, outraged.
I lean down and grip him by the collar. “Utter Alie’s name one more time and I’ll end you.”
“Liam I—”
“You told her I didn’t want my daughter!” My voice cracks through the air, louder than I intend. “You let her believe that!”
The field goes quiet again.
My teammates freeze.
Coaches stop mid-step.
Aaron’s face drains of color.
“You kept me away from her,” I continue, the words ripping out of my chest. “Years, Aaron. Years I didn’t even know Seraphina existed because you couldn’t stand the idea of losing Alie.”
No one speaks.
The truth hangs heavy over the field.
I shake off Aston just enough to step forward again, my gaze locked on him.
“If you ever come near me again,” I say, my voice dropping low, lethal, “or Alie, or my daughter …”
My hands flex at my sides.
“I swear to God I will end you.”
Aaron doesn’t answer.
He just stares up at me like he’s finally realizing what he did.
Behind me, Coach’s voice cuts through the silence.
“Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?”
My chest rises and falls as I look around at the team.
At the confusion.
At the shock on their faces.
They deserve the truth.
So I drag a hand down my face and say it.
“Some of you may have seen me around the complex with Alie Grant and her daughter.”
A few guys nod slowly.
“Well … they’re mine.”
Silence falls again.
“Seraphina is my daughter,” I say, my voice rough now. “And Alie … she’s the love of my life. I just found out about my kid when I got to New York because of him,” I say, jerking my head toward Aaron. “Because he told Alie I didn’t want them.”
Murmurs ripple through the group.
“He made her believe I chose football over my own family,” I continue, my voice rough. “So yeah … I lost almost two years with my daughter.”
I swallow hard.
“And I lost years with the woman I love.”
The words hang there for a second.
Presley touches my arm. “I think you made your point.”
I look over at Coach and see his jaw tighten.
He turns slowly to Aaron, who’s now standing again, wiping blood from his mouth.
The look Coach gives him is pure ice.
“You done here?” Coach asks.
Aaron opens his mouth like he might argue.
Coach doesn’t give him the chance. He steps forward, his expression carved in stone.
“Get off my field.”
The words are quiet.
But final.
“Now,” Coach continues, stepping closer, “or you’ll be escorted out by security before you can blink.”
Aaron looks around, realizing no one here is on his side.
Coach jerks his head toward the parking lot.
“Go, Muldoon.”
Aaron hesitates for half a second.
Then he picks up his clipboard and walks.
No one stops him.
Then the gate slams shut behind him.
“The fuck,” Coach says under his breath. “Did you know about this?” he says to the OC standing next to him, who shrugs and shakes his head.
“Thank god that this was a closed practice today.” He huffs.
“Alright, show’s over. Hit the showers,” The offensive coordinator barks.
Aston clamps a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go, buddy.”
I take a few deep breaths and nod. Then I jog off the field, feeling steadier than I’ve felt all week. Not because the problem is gone. But because I’m not letting it own me.
I shower and make it back to my room in record time. I’m anxious to talk to my girls, and I know the late-night calls are hard with bedtime for Sera.
Alie answers on the second ring, a little breathless. “Hey.”
“You busy?”
“No, I just left my phone in the kitchen, so I had to run and get it. I was in Seraphina’s room.”
“Ah, okay. Do you want to call me back?”
“No, no. We’re good. As long as you don’t mind sitting in on bath time.”
“Not at all. Where is my girl?”
Alie’s eyes go soft. “She’s right here,” she says when she walks into her room.
Sera’s twirling around her room, listening to some music that I can’t make out.
“Daddy’s on the phone.”
Sera spins. “Daddy!”
“Sera!”
That makes her giggle.
“Daddy’s going to talk to us while you take your bath.”
“Yay!”
Sera holds the phone and rambles on about her day while Alie grabs what she needs from the room.
“Okay, let’s go.” She walks out of the room, and Sera follows with the phone. I nearly get motion sickness as she walks with it.
Once she’s in the bath and distracted with her toys and bubbles, Alie props the phone on the counter.
“So…I talked to him again today,” she says.
“A—” I start to say, but she puts her finger to her lips.
I look at her, confused, but then she points to Sera. Probably best that I not bring up my little incident with Aaron right now.
“Okay, and?” Wondering if it was before or after I hit him in the face with the football.
“It was interesting.”
“Interesting how?”
“Well, I’ve been avoiding his calls, but after you and I talked, I answered today.”
“So what did he say?”
“He admitted more than he meant to, I think.”
My jaw tightens.
“He said he didn’t want to lose me. Or Sera.”
I inhale sharply.
“And I told him that keeping a father from his child isn’t love.”
My eyes close, and I rub them with my palms.
“Alie—”
She stops me. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”
I shake my head. “You can ask me anything. Talk to me about anything. Just don’t let him interfere in our life together again.”
“I won’t.”
She bites the inside of her cheek and looks at Sera, then back at me.
“How was practice today?”
I scoot back on the bed and lean against the headboard. Internally debating whether or not I should tell her for a split second.
I’ll tell her later.
“It was better today.”
“Good, I’m glad.”
We’re quiet for a moment.
“Camp feels really long this year,” I admit.
“It feels long for me too.”
“I really hate not being there with you two.”
“Me too. But we’re okay, right?”
A few days ago, I was the one asking this question.
“Yeah, we’re okay.”
Now, I feel it, believe it.
“I love you, Alie,” I tell her.
“I love you too.”
After I say goodbye to Sera, we hang up, and this time, I don’t feel like I’m crawling out of my skin.
I feel more focused than I have the whole time we’ve been here.
Aaron tried fucking with the wrong man. But what he didn’t count on was that pressure makes diamonds too. And I’m not breaking.