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“So which one are the Carolina Rovers?”

Her expression doesn't change. But something in her eyes does.

“And if they're the second,” I continue quietly, “I want to know why they matter so damn much.”

Carolina studies me.

“Because you think he's hiding something?”

There's the question beneath the question. I consider my answer before giving it.

“I thought he might be.”

Her eyes narrow slightly.

Past tense.

She caught it though.

“When I started digging into Mitchell, the Rovers didn't fit. They still don't, really. This is a man who could buy almost anything he wants. If he wanted a sports franchise as an investment, there were safer choices. Bigger leagues. Established audiences. Proven revenue streams.”

I gesture around this ridiculous library.

“He could buy another company. Another building. More technology. More media outlets. Hell, probably a rocket ship or an island if he woke up bored enough.”

“Don't give him ideas,” Carolina mutters.

I laugh.

“But he chose rugby. He chose the Carolina Rovers when they were losing money, and then he kept choosing them. Every time the rational financial decision might've been to stop spending, Mitchell spent more.”

I shake my head.

“That interested me at first because it looked like a contradiction. And contradictions are where reporters usually find the real story.”

“What story?” Dani asks.

I hesitate. Because I think that's changed too.

“At first? I was looking for the angle.”

There it is. The ugly truth.

“I wondered if there was something underneath the purchase. Real estate. Media rights. Political connections. Some brilliant long-term play nobody else had figured out yet. Or maybe something worse.”

Carolina's expression hardens slightly. I don't blame her.

“That's what people do with billionaires,” I say. “Especially billionaires who don't talk.”

That gets her attention.

“Mitchell is practically a blank space where the public is concerned. He's worth billions of dollars. He owns companies that affect people's lives. He owns media companies. He employs thousands of people. Now he owns a professional sports franchise. That's power.”

I pause.

“And people don't trust that kind of power anymore just because the man holding it wears a good suit and writes checks to charity.”

Nobody jokes now.