Page 49 of Worth the Risk
I lean in to my uncle’s ear. “I’ll text you later. Your office might be bugged.”
Uncle Bennett’s arms stiffen around me. “You think?”
“I don’t know. Better safe than sorry,” I whisper. I pat him on the back before stepping away and raising my voice slightly. “I need time to think about this. Please tell Coach Woodward he’ll have my answer in the next two days.”
As Uncle Bennett nods, I hold my head high and quickly walk back to my office. Upon arriving, I find a huge bouquet of flowers. My heart constricts as I think about Luca and everything I’ve learned over the past hour. Finding the card, I pull it open and gasp.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
You thought you escaped me,
But I just found you.
-J
As if I didn’t have enough to deal with, now I have an abusive ex to throw in the mix. Fantastic.
What am I supposed to do? Should I go to the NHL myself? Will Uncle Bennett really lose his job? Will he ever forgive me if that happens? What about Luca? Will he still want me if he’s humiliated by any video being released? I still have the video of the woman coming to his hotel door. Can I release that to counteract our possible video? Woodward could be lying about everything.
I’m second-guessing my gut instincts. It takes me back to telling my parents about Jefferson threatening to rape me, and the constant gaslighting he did whenever I expressed a desire to end our relationship. My parents blew me off every time. When he did hit me, my father asked what I had done to deserve it. Because, to them, Jefferson was well within his rights to assault me had I done virtually anything that could be deemed a disgrace.
If this goes public, who is here to support me? Would Aunt Caroline be there for me? What about Arianna and her friends? They’ve become my friends, but surely they’d support Luca if it came down to picking.
Luca.
Anything I do reflects on him. If a video is released, I don’t know if he’d keep his position with the team. That publicity could hinder him getting picked up from another team. Luca and Arianna have both talked about their family and how close-knit they are. Would a public scandal like this affect them? My parents would be absolutely horrified. It would be my fault that someone planted a camera in Luca’s hotel room. They would be the laughingstock of their country club, and that is simply unacceptable. Do better, Hannah Ann. Do better.
I don’t know what to do. How to protect those that I care about. How I’m supposed to move forward now.
When I arrive back at my aunt’s apartment, she’s left a note for me that she’s out for the evening. She also conveniently left me a pile of realtor cards. Seeing as my aunt is a realtor, the fact that she’s trying to push me to work with someone else is concerning. We’ve never had a close relationship, but that still stings.
As I enter the guest room, I can hear muted music playing through the walls. Luca is there. Right there. So close, yet so far away. I know I can’t go over there right now. He’ll see right through my faux bravado. I won’t be able to lie about anything. And I need time to think. To figure out if there’s anything I can do. How to protect myself and Luca.
I whip out my phone and text the only person I can think of. Well, the only group I can think of.
Me: Y’all, I need help.
Claire: What’s going on?
Arianna: Who do we need to murder? Wait. If it’s my brother, I’d prefer to not be involved. I don’t want to explain being an accessory to my entire family.
Natalie: You don’t want to explain being an accessory to his murder, but you’d be fine explaining the murder?
Arianna: Well, yeah. Hannah’s a level-headed gal. I doubt she’d want to murder him unless it was justifiable.
Me: Not wanting to murder your brother.
Arianna: See? We’re good. Who are we murdering though?
Natalie: Can we maybe not murder anyone?
Arianna: WAIT! I need to add someone to this chat. Remember me telling you guys about my almost-cousin, Kate? She’ll totally be on board with murder.
Arianna Santa adds Kate Reynolds to the chat
Kate: Hi, ladies! Who are we murdering?