CHAPTER 19: YOU ASKED TO FORGET 1
872 Words
JADA
I stared at the red words on the wall and felt completely sick.
“Stop digging, Jada. You asked to forget.” The stadium staff ran around us to clear the crowded hallway, but I could not look away from the wet ink.
Either my past self really chose this empty mind, or someone wanted me to believe a massive lie.
Horace looked away from the wall and pointed at Jordan. “Get the security footage right now. Do it before the stadium management can hide the files.”
Zayden stepped forward. His heavy hockey skates made a loud noise on the concrete floor. He pushed his chin out to look tough. This was his stadium, his team, and his world, and he wanted to control it. “This is my facility, dad. You do not call the shots here.”
Horace turned his head slowly. He shut Zayden down with a single look from his eyes. His voice was very quiet and cold. “Your team has a fake doctor, a missing suspect, and a fire alarm pulled during an investigation. This is not just your facility anymore.”
Zayden’s face turned bright red. His jaw went tight under his wet hair. “Do not talk to me like I am one of your employees.”
“Then stop acting less useful than one,” Horace said.
My body was still shaking from the loud alarm, but I refused to move. “I am not leaving until we check the hallway cameras.”
Horace looked down at me. His face went hard. “You are done for the day, Jada.”
“No, I am done being moved around because men are uncomfortable with my questions,” I said. “You all make me sick to my bone marrows!”
Zayden groaned and waved his hand. “You are making a scene, Jada.”
I turned to face him completely. “You keep saying that like scenes are worse than lies.”
That completely shut down the chatter around us. Several players stopped walking to watch us. They looked very interested.
In that exact moment, my reputation in the sports world changed. I was no longer a pathetic ex-fiancée. I was a woman who would fight in public.
Jordan got us into the arena security office after Horace made one quick phone call. The security manager looked terrified. He was sweating through his shirt because he knew Horace controlled several big sponsorship contracts for this stadium.
I sat on the edge of a desk and watched Horace use his power. I finally understood why my past self used him. It was a very tempting power to have on your side.
Horace noticed me watching him. He walked away from the manager and leaned down close to me. “Do not admire me too much. I know I'm all that.”
“I am not admiring,” I said, looking straight into his eyes. “I am trying to figure things out.”
Horace’s mouth twitched like he wanted to smile. “That is worse.”
The tension between us felt sharp and hot. Then Jordan pointed at the main screen.
The footage showed Dr. Pierce walking out of a staff exit. A woman in a gray hoodie walked right next to him. Her face was hidden under the hood, but she walked fast and knew exactly where to go. She knew the stadium perfectly.
Mila stepped closer to the screen and crossed her arms. “That could be anyone in a sweatshirt.”
Nora’s voice came out loudly from Jordan’s phone speaker. We had video-called her because she refused to stay behind. “That is the exact walk of a rich girl trying not to be recognized,” Nora said. “I know that walk because I watched Mila do it at every charity gala she wanted to escape.”
Mila snapped around and glared at the phone. “Why is she on speakerphone?”
“Because she is more useful than half the people in this room,” I said.
The room got too crowded, so I stepped out into the hallway to breathe. Zayden followed me immediately. He stood right in front of me, pinning me against the concrete wall outside the office door.
“You are enjoying this,” he said, his voice low and angry. “You love making everyone look bad.”
“No, Zayden,” I said, looking at his tight jaw. “I am enjoying not begging you to believe me.”
The words hit him hard. Zayden’s anger softened into something slower and more dangerous. He stepped closer to me. “You used to call me after every single game, Jada. Even when I ignored you for days. You used to wait outside the locker rooms in the cold. You knew my coffee order, the brand of tape I liked, and the way I liked my gloves broken in.”
He said it to hurt me, and to remind me of the old power he had over my life. I listened to him, but my heart did not move.
“That sounds exhausting,” I said. “For both of us.”
- Writer
