The Sounders’ goalie makes the save and I pound the sofa cushion.
“Damn it!”
The Sounders grab the rebound and they’re already breaking out the other way. Number 32 — the same asshole who taunted Bennett — chips it up the boards. A Sounders forward picks up the chip and dumps it deep. The puck cycles back to 32 and I don’t even see the shot — the red light flashes and my stomach drops.
Goal.
Sounders lead 2-1.
Callum never had a chance.
Numb, I watch the rest of the game in disbelief. The Crushers try to rally but never get anything going. Bennett manages to stay in the game but he can’t save it.
It’s too late.
Final score 2-1, Sounders.
I click the television off and sit in the dark, the muted sounds of the city punctuating the silence.
Buzz, buzz.
I lunge for my phone, praying it’s Bennett.
Email notification from an LP.
With shaky hands, I click into the message.
Subj: Pause on investment
Tori –
Given the recent noise and the optics around leadership focus, we’re pausing pending internal review. Our team has flagged reputational concerns we need to diligence. Please provide a consolidated update and any steps you’re taking to address the situation.
Regards,
Lucas
Fuck.
The phone slips out of my fingers and I don’t chase it. I have nothing to say.
For the first time in my professional career, I have zero good answers. I’ve always had a lever — positioning, liquidity, messaging. But this isn’t market risk. It’s trust.
And I can’t price it, can’t control it, can’t make it behave.
This is a spiral.
Once it starts, you can’t stop it.
I stare out the window, the bright lights of the city blurring through my tears.
I lost Bennett trying to protect the one thing that’s mine. And now that’s imploding too.
Buzz, buzz.
Another message. I ignore the phone, knowing it won’t be him.
Buzz, buzz.
