The simple admission catches me off guard.
“Wh…what?”
“Which is why,” she continues, “I secured something stronger.”
My stomach twists.
“What are you talking about?”
Her eyes lift to mine. “Insurance.”
My pulse stutters as she pulls out the first folder and drops it on top of the contract stack. I gasp at the sight of Jayce’s name printed in bold letters at the top of the folder.
“What the hell is this?” I demand.
Leon is watching eagerly now as Aubrey opens the folder with unhurried fingers. She pulls out a paper and slides it to me. It’s a lab report. Confused, I skim it, then feel the blood drain from my face when I see it’s a positive report for steroids.
My eyes snap back to her.
“That’s fake,” I hiss.
“Of course it is,” Aubrey grins. “But he’s a professional athlete, and just a whisper of performance-enhancing drugs use would be enough to start an investigation, and … well, investigations have a way of becoming suspensions. Do you want to put poor Jayce through that?”
Leon chuckles softly beside me.
“Imagine the headlines,” Aubrey continues. “A hockey star caught using steroids. Team drops him. Endorsements disappear.”
My throat tightens painfully.
“You wouldn’t…”
“Of course I would. What does his reputation matter to me?” Her eyes narrow, and her voice is cold. “And if that alone doesn’t destroy him, we have other options.”
She taps the stack of files in the box.
“Financial allegations. Corporate interference. Conflicts of interest with Parker Global.”
“None of that is true!” I cry.
“It doesn’thaveto be true,” she chuckles. “It just has to be enough of a scandal to make sure he never takes over his family company. Enough to destroy the reputation he’s spent his entire career building.”
My hands begin to shake.
“You’re bluffing,” I say, but the words feel weak even as I say them.
Aubrey just watches me before shrugging. “You’re welcome to test that theory.”
The room feels suddenly too small.
“He’s a hockey player,” Leon says with a shrug. “Those leagues panic the second they smell steroids. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not.”
I feel like the air has been punched out of my lungs.
If they release those files…even if Jayce were cleared later…the damage would already be done. His team would suspend him. Sponsors would drop him. The league would tear him apart in the media.
His career could be over before anyone proved the truth and it would be all my fault.
“You sign the contract,” Aubrey shoves a pen across the glass toward me, “and these documents disappear.”
