Prologue: Chiara
Late December in Consequence, NC
Consequence, North Carolina is not what I expected.
For starters, it’s warmer than New Jersey in December, which is a blessing.No gray slush.No icy sidewalks waiting to kill me before my first day of work.
Just bright sunshine, the faint smell of pine, and a whole lot of small-town charm.
I pull into the Carolina Rovers training complex parking lot and turn off the engine, gripping the steering wheel for a moment longer than necessary.
This is it.
New job.
New town.
New year.
New start.
Exactly what I needed.
I grew up in a quiet suburb just outside Newark, New Jersey—the kind of place where everyone knows everyone’s business and your mother’s best friend still asks if you’re eating enough every time she sees you.
It’s safe.Familiar.
But it’s also the place where I made the biggest mistake of my life.
Of course it involves a man.
No, I don’t want to talk about it.
But it is why I’m here now.
Starting over.
I grab my bag, smooth my curly hair back into a ponytail, and step out of my older-than-is-reasonable Jeep Cherokee.
Professional.
Composed.
Focused.
That’s who I am.
And that’s exactly who I plan to stay.
Inside the facility, the place is already buzzing.Music thumps faintly from somewhere deeper in the building, and the smell of rubber turf and sweat hangs in the air like a warning sign.
Rugby players.
My new patients.
I square my shoulders and walk in.
There’s a woman sitting at the front desk—receptionist maybe—and she looks up with a bright smile that suggests she’s been waiting for me.
