Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
I blink at a pigeon pecking at a discarded beignet on the pavement, too stunned to know what to say. “Wow. That’s… That’s amazing. I’m so glad to hear it. Thank you so much, Coach, really, I—”
“Don’t thank me,” he cuts in gruffly. “I’m just sorry I wasn’t able to keep the suspension from happening at all. I know you’re not the kind of man who’s a danger to the people he loves, but…my hands were tied. I hope you know that.”
“I do,” I assure him, forehead furrowing. “But I… What changed? Did management get the results back from the investigative firm they hired? I hired someone, but they said—”
“No, that hasn’t come back yet. Not to my knowledge anyway. But in light of recent developments, I insisted that continuing your suspension would be egregious. Management agreed.”
My frown deepens. “And what recent developments are those?”
He grunts. “You haven’t seen? I just… I assumed you had. The post is everywhere. All over social media, and it hit news outlets about an hour ago.”
“No, I haven’t seen anything,” I say, my pulse picking up again. “I’ve been at a closed industry event with my sister. They made us check our phones at the door.”
He grunts again, a softer one this time. “Oh, well… I’ll send you a link when we’re done. Best if you see it yourself. See you on Thursday. We’ll be glad to have you back on the ice.”
“Okay,” I say. “Thanks again, Coach. See you next week.”
He ends the call without another word.
I pull my phone from my ear, scowling down at my screen. What the hell happened? I honestly can’t imagine what kind of social media post could have led to this kind of about-face from Voodoo management.
Luckily, I don’t have to wait long for an answer.
A few seconds later, Coach sends a link to a vertical video. The still frame shows a woman in her late twenties or early thirties with long brown hair and serious brown eyes. It’s clear from the image alone that whatever she’s talking about is heavy, but I have no idea how heavy until I press play and her voice drifts from my phone’s speaker.
“This is my first post on this app, and it might be my only post. Ever. I never wanted to be famous, not even social media famous. If I’m honest, I was afraid to be. I was afraid being too visible might attract the attention of the one person I never wanted to see again. But in light of recent events…”
She trails off, her throat working for a beat before she fixes her focus on the camera again and adds in a steady voice, “When I was fifteen years old, my boyfriend shoved me into the trunk of his car and drove into the woods surrounding our small town. He forced me into an abandoned hunting cabin, tied me up in the cellar, and held me there for three weeks. Three terrifying weeks when I was positive that I was going to die, and this boy, the boy who had told me he loved me just a few weeks before, did nothing to ease those fears.”
She wets her lips before pushing on, “He eventually came clean, and I was set free, but the trauma of that experience has never fully left me or my family. The fact that the justice system released this boy with a slap on the wrist and community service only made it worse. It also made me afraid that if anything else happened to me, justice would not be served.”
“I’ve kept quiet for years, but as a woman who believes in supporting women and a mother of two little girls, I wanted to say this openly.” She drills an unflinching look into the lens as she adds, “Kai Morrison is the ex-boyfriend who took me and hurt me. Before anyone takes his accusations at face value, I think it’s only fair you know what kind of boy he was. And, I strongly suspect, what kind of man he still is.”
She arches an imperious brow I hope makes Kai feel like the lowest form of scum before the feed cuts.
I watch it again, the words lifting the hairs on my arms all over again.
She’s incredible. And brave. And Kai…
Kai is finished. He might still make music. He might even become an even bigger star—I realized a long time ago that a lot of people don’t actually care about keeping women safe or punishing the men who hurt them—but his power to control my sister is slipping through his fingers.
And he involved the police in his lie.
I was already pretty sure they weren’t going to like learning they’d been lied to, but now there’s no way for Kai to pretend he’s an innocent who had no idea that voice message was fake. Or that he was simply “confused” about what was happening with Bea. Law enforcement is going to know there’s a very credible report that Kai himself has a history of abusive, criminal behavior.