Chapter 40
Nik
Club Trick is quiet as the employees begin prepping for opening.
I’m sitting upstairs with Dante, leg bouncing furiously, hands tapping on the table top.
We wait, and watch, the tracking device in Noelle’s shoe showing us she’s still sitting at that piece of shit bar, straight across town, too far for my liking.
“You gotta calm down. We’ve got eyes on her.”
I shake my head. “Until she’s back in my sight, I’m not resting.
” I stand, pacing the room, glancing down below onto the empty dancefloor, then right onto the empty tables and black screens that show no game stats.
A ping hits my phone. I look down and see an email from an unknown sender.
No subject, no sender, just numbers as an address. I open it, and my heart drops.
The locker room from all those years ago at Zeiders University fills my screen.
The video is old, grainy-looking, but I see it clear as day.
All of a sudden, I’m transported back in time, standing back there, sophomore year.
I watch the video as Trevor gets in my face.
I shrug him off, but he won’t stop. I finally turn and throw a punch.
He charges me, pinning me to the locker.
The guys rally around us, while the coaches tear us apart.
There’s yelling, and then Trevor flips a bench before storming off. Shame. My gut twists.
Only one person could’ve kept this. My sister.
She sat in on those meetings with me, controlled the interrogations by the school and insisted on handling everything.
I remember her asking for the locker room tape.
And having this tape only means she has them all.
The tape from the interview room, from the coach’s office.
She was cleaning up and storing ammunition for later.
I’m alerted that the tracking device we planted on Noelle is on the move. I open the app and see her moving, “Where’s she going?” Dante sits forward in his chair, watching the same app I am.
“She’s moving too fast to be walking. And in the opposite directi–”
“He’s fucking taking her!” I roar.
Dante stands, putting his hand up as the security guards come around us. “We don’t know that–”
Before he can finish his sentence, a text comes through with a picture of Noelle, hands tied behind her back.
Unknown: Time to play, Warrior.
“Follow her, now. I’m not waiting.” He’s up in a second, eyes snapping wide when he sees my face. I shove the phone at him as he sees the picture and reads the text. His mouth hardens.
He rounds his desk, opening the bottom drawer, pulling out a Glock, and sliding it into the waistband behind his back.
Another drawer, another gun as he hands it off to Stone.
“Take Stone. I’m behind you.” Stone and I are moving already, feet pounding, the night pressing in close.
Every second that ticks by is another second she’s alone with Rhett. My sister’s name burns in my brain.
~~
We follow her path, taking us into the back roads of Mistletoe Falls.
We’re about ten minutes behind them when it takes us off onto a dirt road.
There are no street lights, and we cut our headlights, only the moon lighting our way.
We drive, and my heart only races faster as a fence comes into view.
It’s dilapidated and looks like it’s been here for a hundred years.
The fence eventually breaks away, and we’re able to turn onto a field.
I realize this is an old, long-abandoned football field.
The goalposts still stand, but there is no grass, only weeds and dirt, rocks thrown around. Behind the furthest goal post is a building, and as we approach, I see a car with the trunk still open, the inside light showing it’s empty.
“Motherfucker. What's her location?”
“That building," Stone says as we creep slowly, trying to remain invisible.
“Where the fuck is Dante?” I grind out my teeth, wanting him here.
Stone checks his phone. “On his way.”
“Let’s go. I'm not waiting.”
We make our way around the building, which appears to be an old equipment shed.
Overgrown bushes and low-hanging tree branches are pushed aside as we try to get close.
We come up to the only door, slowly stepping in.
Glancing around, I try to get my bearings as quickly as I can.
There are shelves lining the left side, all empty.
To the right are rusty tacklers and old push-pull sleds that have long been forgotten.
We walk further inside, and I stop in the middle of the room, spinning to look at Stone. It reeks of cigarettes here.
“There’s no one here,” I speak softly, then freeze when I hear a slow clapping begin. Looking back over my shoulder, I see Eva leaning against double doors.
“I knew you'd come, Warrior.”
I turn and square off with her, feeling Stone come right up behind me. Neither of us makes a move closer; instead, we wait for Eva to show her hand first.
“She’s safe, Nik. For now.” A sly smile curves across her lips, and it makes my gut roll. I don’t see Noelle or Rhett anywhere. “Don’t believe me?”
I shake my head. “Show me.”
She raises a brow. “This is the problem, Nik. You're too emotional. You react and ask the wrong questions instead of looking at reality and what is needed, step by step.” She tsks me, but opens the two doors she’s standing in front of anyway.
They swing wide open into a garage. The floor and walls are concrete, but the garage door is all glass.
I try to look at the make of it, if it rolls open, or if it’s mechanical, no doubt having no power to open it anyway.
I track Eva as she walks inside, and when she turns on a floodlight, illuminating the room, my heart stops. Off to the left is Noelle, sitting in a chair with her arms behind her. She’s got a rag wedged into her mouth and tied behind her head. Her eyes plead with me to save her.
And behind her, Rhett. My hands bunch into fists, and only when I feel Stone grab my bicep, holding me in place, do I realize I was already walking towards him.
Tamping down my anger, I speak lowly. “What is all this about, Ev–”
“You wanna know why?” Her voice cracks into something raw.
“When you were born, he stopped looking at me. Ten years of being Dad’s world, gone the second you arrived.
And once you started playing football, it was worse.
I was invisible. So I found a way back in.
I learned sports management, played the doting sister, and helped Dad with the bets. ”
Her laugh is sharp. “I kept his secrets, Nik. Even when it meant getting close to men who wanted more than business. Even when it meant selling pieces of myself to make sure he kept you safe.”
My chest tightens, heat rising up my throat, but she keeps going, each word a strike.
“And just when I was getting to the point of starting my own business, built on the money I helped him win, he said he couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t risk your future. He tossed me aside again, because it’s always you, Nik. Always.”
Her voice breaks then, rage and grief twisted together. “And I was supposed to just smile, play the good sister, and watch the two of you ride off into glory while I rotted in the shadows?”
“Den eínai efkairía”. She spits on the floor, eyes still locked on mine. “Not a chance.”
I don’t even know who I’m looking at right now. She’s manic, yet stoic. Her voice is sharp, but laced with hurt.
“So, I convinced him. One more big game. Just do one more, get us some cash, and be set for life.” She’s smug like she’s the smartest one in the room.
“I knew your bowl game was key. Dad never owed anyone else money, though, Nik. That second crew he got in deep with?” She laughs.
“It never existed. Unless you think Ghosts are real.”
“Eseís.” My eyes burn into her.
“Mou.” She nods, proud of herself. “I really loved working with Dante. He was so accommodating.” She scoffs.
“And so was Dad. He had buyer’s remorse, so to speak.
He wanted to come clean and wanted you to know what had happened.
He wanted it all out in the open so he could move forward with a clean conscience. But I knew that couldn’t happen.”
She scoffs, circling around Noelle. “It’s so funny to me, how your Saint personality has everyone fooled. You never dropped a pass. You never failed to cover your best friends. It was clear as day, Nik, and I don’t know how nobody else saw it.”
My stomach twists, but she doesn’t give me time or space to answer.
“You made me so proud going to work for Dante. You were just like me after all. And Club Trick owned by W. Priestly?” She raises a brow and slow claps. “Nice touch using our name like that. I always knew you’d make an amazing Warrior.”
I don’t know what to say. I feel like I can’t even process what I’m hearing. Her words crawl under my skin. Every part of me wants to shout that she’s a liar, make her take back what she’s saying. Make Dad stay. But the worst part is she’s not lying. Not completely.
I remember Dad’s hand on my shoulder after a win, pride thick in his eyes.
I remember Eva standing just off to the side, smiling that practiced smile that I see her wear every day she's in the office or meeting with clients.
Or standing at my draft night. I never asked how she felt, or if she was happy.
She just carried on like her life was exactly what she wanted it to be.
My stomach knots. What if she’s right? What if I got everything I wanted because they gave up what they wanted? I ball my fists, nails biting deep into my palms. No, she ruined this. She ruined it with jealousy.