Chapter 4 The Chase
746 Words
Dante’s POV
The hallway still smells like her.
Sweet. Sharp. Nervous.
Sera Vega thinks she can outrun me, like a “no” actually means something when it comes out of her pretty mouth. She doesn’t get it yet, I don’t stop at no. I don’t stop at all.
My fist tightens around the crumpled exam paper as I head toward the locker room. My teammates are laughing, shoving each other around, tossing towels like idiots. I hear my name a dozen times, but I don’t care.
All I hear is her voice.
“I’m not for sale.”
Bullshit.
Everyone has a price. Even the scholarship girl who hides behind thrift-store clothes and a backpack that squeaks.
Maybe especially her. She needs this school. She needs that scholarship. She needs the kind of help only I can give.
And I’m going to make her realise it.
The locker room reeks of sweat and Axe body spray. I slam my bag into the bench and rip off my hoodie, letting the cool air hit my overheated skin. My teammates crowd around, already swapping stories about girls, grades, and practice.
“Yo, Moretti, heard you bombed Graves’s exam again.” Laughter erupts.
I don’t bother answering. My glare shuts them up quick enough.
I strip down to my compression shirt and joggers, muscles twitching with restless energy. Baseball practice is supposed to burn this out of me, but today it won’t.
Not when I can still see the way her eyes widened when I leaned in. The way her pulse jumped when I said her name.
Sera Vega doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in the game now.
And I play to win.
Practice is brutal. Coach has us running drills until my arm feels like it’s been set on fire. I throw pitch after pitch, each one harder than the last, until the catcher swears at me for nearly breaking his hand. My focus should be here, on the field, on the mechanics, on the scouts who’ll be watching soon.
But all I can see is her.
The way she clutched that exam paper like it was her lifeline. The way she tried to slip past me, head down, pretending she wasn’t trembling. The way she said no.
I want to hear her say yes.
I want to hear her beg.
By the time practice ends, sweat is dripping down my spine and my muscles are screaming. But my head is clear.
I know exactly how this will play out.
Step one: corner her where she can’t run.
Step two: remind her of what’s at stake.
Step three: make her want me enough that yes feels like her idea.
The plan is already forming when my phone buzzes. I wipe sweat from my brow, grab it out of my bag, and see the name flashing across the screen.
Matteo Moretti.
My father.
I almost let it go to voicemail. Almost. But I know better.
“Yeah?” I answer, voice rough.
“You failed that exam.” His tone is ice. No hello, no small talk. Just knives.
My jaw clenches. “News travels fast.”
“You forget who funds that school? Who pays off your coach, your professors, your scholarships?” His voice sharpens with every word. “You’re supposed to be the family’s golden boy, Dante. The one who proves we can be more than what they whisper about us. A Moretti in the Major Leagues.”
“I don’t need you to fix this.”
“No,” he agrees, his tone dropping lower. “You need to fix it yourself. Before I decide baseball is a waste of my money.”
The line clicks dead before I can answer.
I stare at the phone, my chest tight.
This is it. My father won’t give me another warning. Either I get my grades up, or he pulls the plug. No more team. No more scouts. No more chance at freedom.
And the only person who can save me is the girl with green eyes who just told me no.
The thought should piss me off. It should make me rage. But instead, it makes me grin.
Because I love a challenge.
And Sera Vega is going to fold.
I’ll break her walls down one by one.
I’ll get her to say yes.
And when she finally does, I’ll make sure she never forgets what happens when you give yourself to a Moretti.
- Writer
