“I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you, to all three of you. I swear.”
Slowly, tentatively, her fingers stretched out to push a strand of blond hair out of my face, but still, she sat in silence.
When I took a breath to keep apologizing, she shook her head sharply. “I got another message tonight while I was at the gala. From your father.”
My stomach dropped. “What did he want?”
“He’s threatening to expose Alek.” Her voice was flat. “He’s given me until Saturday to give him blackmail material, or he’s going to put my father in the hospital.”
“He’s desperate,” I said. “I’ve been telling him I want to learn the business to get access to his records and accounts. He’s skimmed millions over the past year.”
Alek went very still. “Your father built a sports betting empire that none of the Yorkfield families can touch. Not the bratva, not the Italians, nobody.”
“Yes.” I met his eyes. “But I think it’s failing. I think he’s running out of money, or there’s something else that’swrong. That’s why he’s so desperate to keep the programs he can control under his thumb.”
“But if he loses that control—” Alek’s expression was unreadable.
“Exactly,” I said, satisfaction in my tone. “He loses everything.”
“How?” Tristan demanded. “We can’t go to the cops. Eva’s the one stealing information. We can’t go to the university. There’s no way your father doesn’t own AD Hall.”
Eva swallowed hard and opened her mouth to speak, then shut it.
“Eva?” Alek prompted gently.
“We have the tools we need to take him down.” She looked at Alek. “The bratva.” Then, she looked at me, still on my knees beside her. “Your insider information.” She swallowed hard. “And the people who have been talking to me about how he’s blackmailed and manipulated them.”
I exhaled sharply. This was what I wanted. This was what I’d said I was going to do on my own. Eva was giving me the gift of doing it together, with her, withthem.
“Will the bratva help?” Eva asked Alek.
“For a price,” he answered.
“So we get proof,” Tristan said slowly. “And then what?”
“We give it to someone who can’t be bought or threatened,” I said. “Reporters who’ve been trying to break into college athletics corruption for years.”
“The NCAA investigation would destroy the university’s athletics program,” Eva said slowly. “They could vacate every championship. So many scholarships?—”
All the players, the team—fuck! I’d sacrifice anything and anyone to keep the people in this room safe, but my heart ached for the damage we’d leave in our wake.
“Or we could see if we could get the SEC to investigatehis businesses,” I added. “Even if the books look clean on the surface, federal investigators would find the skimming.”
“And he goes to jail,” Eva replied.
The plan hung in the air between us.
“Except he’s threatening Alek now. We don’t have months to bring him down,” she murmured.
Alek looked at the ceiling for a long moment, more human than I’d ever seen him, including when he was face-first in Eva’s pussy.
He swallowed hard then pushed away from the table and walked to stare out the windows of his apartment, overlooking the Yorkfield skyline.
Eva joined him, wrapping one arm around his waist and leaning into him. He pulled her close, his fingers gripping her shoulder, then bent down to kiss her forehead before stepping away.
He pulled out his phone and dialed.
“What are you doing?” Eva’s voice was quiet.
