“My only regret is that I didn’t find you a good woman, Mikey.Luka sorted himself out.His Bree is the cutest, and he’s going to marry an engineer.Can you believe that?”
Mike shot me a testy glance, likely irritated that his mother was singing my family-man praises.
I pressed a kiss to her leathery cheek.“I’ll give you two a minute.”I needed to touch base with Millie.
Maybe the Wildcatters would call me in to fire me or trade me, not wanting to deal with the drama surrounding Millie and me.That actually brought a shadow of relief through the sadness.I’d hoped to be a career Wildcatters player, but I refused to leave Millie scared and uncomfortable for the rest of my professional years.So we’d have to move.Maybe her company had a location in another state.Or she could get another job with a different firm.Or stay at home with our daughter.I wasn’t sure what Millie wanted, but as long as we were together, I’d do my best to make it happen.
I strode down the hospital hallway, looking for a place to make a phone call as thoughts swirled through my mind.I stepped into an empty waiting room, and Millie picked up on the third ring.“Hey, Luka.”
“Will you tell me why Gunnar Evaldson came to see you today?”I asked.
“Oh!Yeah, just a second.”I heard her riffling through papers and talking to someone.A deep voice replied—not Cruz, who I’d expected to be there.
“Where’s Cruz?”I asked.
“He’s dealing with something.Lennon’s a fortress of impenetrable silence, so I didn’t get enough out of him to satisfy my curiosity—”
“His first name’s Lennon?How did Inotknow that?”
“Ah, because he doesn’t like it,” Millie said.
“Fuck that,” I muttered, annoyed she knew more about my best friend on the team after two days than I’d learned in all the years I’d been playing and training with him.
“Luka,” Millie said.She sighed.“We need to talk.”
I stopped pacing and waited.Twice in ten minutes, I’d felt like my world was ending.
“Luka, it’s not his money.It’smine.”
I leaned against the wall, wondering if I’d entered the Twilight Zone or something.I swallowed.“That’s…great.”
“Actually, it sucks,” Millie said glumly.“What do I know about running an empire?”
“More than me.”
She snorted.“I seriously doubt that.I’ve seen you talk to your agent and PR person, remember?You’re on top of your assets and time.Me?I know how to write code to search for oil.”
“You do so much more than that, Millie.You were in charge of a team—”
“That I had to leave because of bed rest,” she replied.
“Which you were doing to keep our baby safe,” I countered.
“I don’t know that I want her to be an heiress, Luka.That kind of money…it’s evil.”
Staring up at the ceiling, I tried to tease apart her words and her fears.“I don’t think the money’s evil,” I said into the long silence.“I think your father did evil things with it.”Like hide the fact that it was actually hers.Like force her toward a man who wanted the money, but not her.
“Well, I don’t like what he did to me, but also to the companies he’s bought and broken apart.”
“No, I don’t like that either.”
“I’m scared I’ll have to fight him for it.In court.”
That was a given.“I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
She seemed to absorb that.“Thank you.”Her voice broke.“You make this bearable—knowing we’re a team.But Luka?”
“Yeah?”
