Page 29 of Hard to Hold

“So I’m posing as an MLS ambassador under the guise of being a player advocate, but what you’re telling me is that’s all a ruse because this player and getting him to commit to the MLS is the real end goal.”

His smile widens almost as if he’s proud of me for reading between his unspoken lines. “Yes.” Unabashed. Definitive.

“That’s . . . shady. A fox in the hen house kind of shady.”

He snorts in dismissal. “I like to think of it as being proactive and a tad aggressive. You’ll still be carving your niche with the first task, but the second one, this player? He’ll be your added bonus.”

“Why not just go through his agent? Wouldn’t that be simpler than paying me to negotiate with his agent?”

“I don’t want you speaking to his agent at all. Any and all conversations will be strictly between you and the athlete.”

“Does he know this is the endgame that you have in mind for him?” I ask.

“Not at this time . . . no.”

“So is it my job to tell him outright or is it more, ‘rah, rah, go MLS’ all the time until he sees how great the league is and never wants to leave?”

His laughter echoes through the room. “The latter.”

“Again, this would be easier if you just went straight to this agent. Cut out the middle man,” I explain.

“His agent doesn’t have the pull and influence that you do.” He clasps his hands in front of him and leans forward. “I’ve done my research on you, Lennox. You’re persuasive, firm when you need to be, but likable too. You don’t take no for an answer.”

I open my mouth and shut it, ignoring his praise as I run every scenario through my mind. There are so many ways this could go wrong.

“So, you’re paying me to circumvent his agent and lure an athlete away from his existing team.” That would piss me off if someone did that to me. But . . . at the end of the day, the agent still gets paid.

Unless of course, he wants me to steal the client as well.

“Don’t get all ethical on me. You agents do it every day when you trade players, so don’t get all high and mighty on me now.” He gives a sharp nod. “Think of it more as I’m paying you to influence a player to play here.”

“Smoke and mirrors.”

“Your words, not mine,” he says.

“For clarification’s sake, when it comes down to it, obviously after the end of the “ambassador” deal, which clearly is a ruse to help sell him on the league, you make a contract offer to him. I’m the one wooing and selling him, so how is that fair that you’ll then give the offer to his agent? That agent will present it to his client and then make a commission on it, when I’m the one who has done all the work. Don’t you think that’s convoluted—”

“Then steal him for yourself.” He lifts a brow as I startle. “That solves everything, right? And wouldn’t that be a nice, shiny feather in your cap? You took this job when I know for a fact your father told you not to take it.”

“No, he didn’t.”

“I talked to him last week, Lennox,” he says and it does nothing more than reinforce the puppet strings I felt controlled by yesterday. “I know he wasn’t thrilled with the offer. Bright side? You went against his wishes, took the job, and when you steal this new client, look what you win in the process? A shiny, new star athlete any agency would kill to have on their client list.”

I rise from my chair and walk toward the windows looking out to the offices beyond. He has a point. A huge point.

“You get a huge win for you and KSM”—why the shady sales pitch when I’ve already signed the contract?—“and then get a little victory in the process.”

“What do you mean by that? A little victory in the process?”

“Finn Sanderson is his agent,” he deadpans. “Do you know him?”

Son of a bitch.

And the hits just keep on coming.

I try to mask my surprise. There are so many pieces to this puzzle right now that I’m having a hard time lining some of them up, but damn, I should have known.

“Of course, I know him.” I clear my throat. “In fact, he was at the conference in Vegas too,” I say as my mind mulls over the notion that Finn teased me about taking this job. A job where it would put me shoulder to shoulder with his client.