(Danica)
I never meant to fall asleep.
After the intense practice, I had curled up in bed just to answer Kane’s call. His voice came through quieter than I expected — raw honesty about the strategy shift, how he told his team to focus on Brooks instead of me, how he was starting to question everything his father had built. The conversation stretched longer than I planned. One question led to another, both of us navigating the strange new territory between enemy and something neither of us could name.
Exhaustion from the championship grind pulled me under mid-sentence.
A sharp knock woke me sometime later. The door opened, and Caleb stepped inside, closing it behind him with controlled force. The look on his face made my stomach drop.
“You didn’t come,” he said, voice low and edged wit
