Chapter 162
ROMAN
AN-
They were in the living room. My so-called parents.
Helena standing. Victor with a glass he was not drinking.
The tablet on the table still open to a clip of Eden on the court, my face next to hers, the quote already captioned.
“You had no permission to do that,” I said before my mother could start. “You brought Eden onto the court. You let the whole building think I played for her. You forced the interview.”
My father did not blink. “You would not have agreed if we had told you beforehand.”
“That is the point.”
My mother’s voice went sharp. “We are your managers. This is the job. You had a night to boost your sales.
“You put her in the building to make things harder on me!”
“We put the arrangement where it belongs,” my father said. “On camera. After a win. You skipped the last few dinners with her. It had to be done without you knowing for it to even be possible.”
“Forcing me to do interviews with someone should not be allowed,” I growled.
My father set the glass down. “Eden Hart is always booked. Eden Hart is contracted. She is a great partnership. We are only doing what is best for you and this family. You never had a problem with it
before.”
To fuck with this. I was already pissed and they were not making this situation any better.
“I am done with the PR relationship.” I looked at both of them. “I already told Eden. It is called off. Immediately.”
“The contract-” my father started.
“I do not care about the contract. Take the losses. All of them. Buy it out. I am not standing next to her again so you can sell my win.”
My mother laughed like this was some sort of joke. “You think you can walk away because you are angry. Aria did the campaigns she hated. Damon sang the singles he did not write. Miles sat through rooms that made his hands hurt. You do not get a special exemption because a redhead in the stands made you sentimental.”
Redhead in the stands? Did they know about Olivia? How?
“I wish you would stop acting like my managers for once and act like my parents.” I shouted.
I was tired of this. Tired of them controlling my life.
The room went quiet.
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The Mockey Captam’s Unwanted Wife
My father recovered first. “We are both. That is the arrangement you were born into. You have a name. The name has terms. You do not end those terms when you feel like it.”
“Watch me.”
They started shouting. Mentioning money and the Vale name. What I owed. Dates still on Eden’s calendar. A post already approved. Brands I was supposed to memorize. My mother said I was embarrassing them and would regret my decision.
My father said people who mattered had bet on more than a basketball game. The relationship.
I told them I had won the game and they had still stolen it. I told them I would not smile for another camera with a woman I did not want. I told them if they put Eden on another court I would walk off it.
“You will ruin yourself,” my mother said.
“If that is what it takes then so be it.”
I walked straight out of the house in the middle of the argument.
Their voices followed me to the door and then the glass cut them off.
Damon was on the front steps with a cigarette he was not supposed to have and a look that said he had heard every word.
“You finally did it,” he said.
“Don’t.”
He flicked ash on the ground. “Sit down before you put your other hand through a wall.”
I sat, needing someone to talk to.
Olivia was still in my head in that jacket, telling me I had gotten my wish.
Damon waited. He was good at that when he was not on stage.
“It is Olivia,” I said.
He nodded like he had already guessed.
“Monroe.”
“Ethan’s sister. I have been trying not to fall for her…I failed.”
“Did you?”
I stared at the lawn. “Yes.”
Damon let out a long breath. “Vale boys are excellent at wanting something and then building a fence around it.”
“I do not know what to do. Ethan is my best friend. He will never approve. I risk losing our friendship if I continue whatever this is with Olivia.”
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The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
“You already know,” he said. “You just do not like the cost. Ethan. Mom and Dad. The press. Her father You want a version where you get the girl and keep the friend and nobody makes it a problem. When you want something that bad, you need to be prepared to lose things in return.”
“I think I already messed it up. She told me I got my wish. She told me she will be staying away from now
on.”
Damon glanced at me sideways. “And you are sitting on the steps telling me instead of driving back there. Instead of apologizing and begging her for another chance?”
“I pissed Ethan off. I don’t think now is a good time to be around them.”
He stubbed the cigarette. “You cannot please them both. You are going to have to choose one, brother. That’s just the way it is.”
I put my head in my hands.
“I do not want to hurt Ethan.”
“But you also need to stop hurting her to protect him,” Damon said. “And if Ethan is such a great friend, shouldn’t he be happy that you’re serious about his sister? Who else is he going to trust more than you with her?”
He had a point. But I saw the way he looked at me earlier. Ethan would not take the news lightly, especially since I’d kept it from him.
Still, if I do nothing and let things remain the way they are now, I would lose Olivia for good.
AD
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T841 Mon, Sep 21 JJ M J
The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.