"It's not mine, obviously," she said, "so by process of elimination, thanks to your ridiculous game-day superstitions, that means it's one of your teammates.
"And you want more honesty? You want to be able to trust me? You know that fair and honest article on the Sports Nation blog? The one about how you're hurting your team? I wrote that."
Blood roared in his ears as he processed that betrayal.
"I wrote it before I ever met you and when I found out they were going to publish it against my objections, I asked them to take my name off it. Because not hurting your feelings and continuing to work for the Storm meant more to me than the byline that would have helped me reach my dream job in sports reporting.
"You think I'm out to hurt you and the team? Then why have I kept this illegal activity under the radar instead of selling the story to any number of media outlets who would pay me large sums of money and give me my pick of jobs? Your heart is not the only one that got bruised here. And while I've always admired your loyalty to your teammates, if you do not figure out who is poisoning your team right now, then you're all going to end up infected."
Luke crossed his arms, kept his voice level. "I think you've said everything there is to say. You should go."
"I agree." The tears she'd so valiantly held back spilled down her cheeks, but he refused to be moved. Holly's words were impassioned, but they didn't change anything.
All this time he'd been giving her his heart, and he meant nothing to her. Just as he'd accused her of from the start, all she'd wanted from him was a career-making story. She'd written the Sports Nation article. She'd been investigating them the whole time. And he'd taken her to his home. He felt sick to his stomach, like he'd just put the puck in his own net.
He'd let his heart overrule his head. Ignored the clues-he'd caught her in her lies about not knowing hockey, listened raptly to her stories about her mother and her childhood dreams of becoming a reporter. She'd been rubbing it in his face for their entire relationship, and he was too stupid to have even noticed.
She might have kept this story secret for a couple days, but she wouldn't sit on it for long.
He should have trusted his instincts and fought harder to get her fired from the get-go. He'd had his own suspicions about the list but he'd let her distract him. And now his reputation, the reputation of his entire team, was going to be dragged through the mud in the court of public opinion. All because he couldn't keep his dick in his pants.
He was the worst kind of fool-a willing participant in his own downfall. That ended now.
* * *
"FIRED?"
The word felt like ash on her tongue, chalky and bitter. The taste of lost dreams.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Evans, but it was stated very clearly in your contract that you were not to interact with players outside of your professional capacity."
"But who-?"
"I'm sorry, but we can't release that information. Suffice it to say, a reputable source came forward and we have no choice but to enforce the terms that you yourself agreed to."
Said contract sat on Hastings's formidable oak desk, mocking her. Holly raised her eyes from the blinding whiteness of the paper with binding black type marching in perfect lines that reminded her the striped prison garb in old-timey movies. She raised her eyes to the man who sat across from her.
"I don't even get to defend myself?"
"I'm afraid the informant is a rather...important member of the Storm's organization."
Hastings was one hell of a finesser, she'd give him that.
"As such, we will be terminating your contract immediately and your services will no longer be required. In return for this short notice, you will receive your full compensation, as outlined in your notice of hire. Do you agree to these terms?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"I will take that as a yes." Hastings slid another piece of paper toward her. "We do require you to sign this nondisclosure agreement, which states that you will not discuss the details of this parting of ways, or anything leading up to it, upon threat of legal action."
She grabbed the pen and with numb fingers, scrawled her signature on the designated line.
Luke had sold her out. She'd gotten too close to hurting the team and he'd turned her in.
Betrayal burned white-hot in her chest, and she had to gulp to get enough air in her lungs. The fact that he hadn't even given her a heads-up... She understood that he was angry at her, but at least she'd had the courtesy to bring her concerns to him first, even though it had been the last thing she'd wanted to do. She'd been honest with him. To his face. Because she loved him.
She hated herself for it, but she did. Even when she'd believed he might have been involved in illegal activity, some part of her still believed that what they'd shared was real. And now, when he'd sold her out, she was still conflicted about breaking the story.
Luke had seemed genuinely hurt by her accusation, even as he'd confirmed all the reasons that some extra money could have gone a long way. She thought of Luke's parents, of Ethan, of everything the Maguires had been through. Luke loved his family enough to do anything for them, but she hadn't considered what a betting scandal would do to them if he'd been exposed. He would never have taken that risk.
She'd interpreted the evidence, but she'd boiled it all down to numbers, to probabilities and stats. She'd been so focused on doing what it took to get the job of her dreams that she'd failed to take the man himself into account. And now she'd lost everything. Her story. Her job. And the man she loved. Unsure what to do with herself, she gathered her things and headed for her father's house. He looked up with surprise as she entered the door.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the day?" he asked.
"I got fired, Pop."
"Oh."
"Oh? That's all you have to say about this?"
All her frustration, all her anger, everything she'd kept bottled up since the night she found out her mother was never coming home again roiled up from the depths and she was powerless to hold it in.
"Everything I've ever done is to make you proud, and you just look right past me!"
"That's not true."
"It is true! I've been sitting on this couch beside you for years trying to get your attention, and all you've ever done is ignore me and watch sports! So I watched sports, too. And I learned everything there was to learn about them. Players, rules, stats, just so we could have a conversation sometime. But you wouldn't even give me that! You just act like I'm not even here!"
"Holly-"
"Don't ‘Holly' me! You talked sports with Neil! Why not me? Why not me, Pop?" She was too angry to cry, too exhausted to shout anymore. She was just empty. Holly sat on the couch in her usual spot and stared at the basketball game on the television.
"When I lost Mom, I didn't think anything could ever hurt as badly as that again. But I was wrong, because Mom didn't leave me on purpose. Not like you did."
Her dad got out of his chair and joined her on the couch. In her entire life, her father had never sat on the couch. She almost jumped when he put his hand on her knee.
"You remind me of her. Especially when you're on camera. That's always been hard for me."
Holly looked at her dad, felt like she was seeing him for the first time. "What?"
"You're smart and beautiful and you're so good at everything you do. Of course I'm proud of my girl. But sometimes it hurts to look at you because I miss her so much. I didn't realize how unfair I've been to you all these years. I never meant...I never meant to push you away. I love you, Holly. I do."
The words brought tears to her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time her father had said something nice about her, or told her he loved her. Throughout the years, his sporadic comments were always externally focused: "work harder, know more, do better." And she had. She'd lived her whole life striving to be good enough for him. To actually hear that he was proud of her made her heart swell.
"They were stupid to let you go. You're an expert at that game. If they can't see that, then they don't deserve you. And you'll show them. Because when you put your mind to something, there's nothing that can stand in your way. Now don't go and cry on me. I've never been good with that."
"Well, tough beans," Holly said with a watery laugh, and she hugged him. He stiffened in her grasp, but then his arms came around her and she felt his weathered hand pat her shoulder. It was like she was six years old again. Like she had her dad back. "I miss her, too," she confessed.