Once my fatherand the legal team have joined the meeting, I’m left sitting at my desk like a voyeur, as the pit in my stomach grows impossibly larger. All I can do is wonder what signs I could have overlooked and curse myself for missing them. Dad and I have never been overly close, but how could he be in this kind of financial trouble... the kind that would force him to sell the team without me seeing it?
Have I been that wrapped up in myself that I missed it?
Or has he been that good at hiding it?
Five days a week, I sat just a few steps from his office, and he didn’t say a word.
Now I’m stuck waiting for answers I might not get for hours, and waiting has never been my strong suit. Instant gratification is more my speed. But my father asked me to wait outside instead of sitting in on this meeting, so I put my internet stalking skills to work in the meantime.
In less than a minute, Google tells me everything I need to know about every Kingston sibling from their list of romantic partners and net worth to shoe size.
But I narrow down my focus on the two in my office: Max and Scarlet.
There are endless articles and websites about them both, but there’s no mention anywhere of today’s sale or their interest in expanding their kingdom.
I’m surprised a sale that’s bound to be as newsworthy as this one, in a city this big, where the elite keep their circles so small, could be kept hush-hush.
Before I can think better of it, I pick up the phone and call Kelly, the VP of Human Resources and my godmother. She was my mother’s best friend in the world before she died, and she tried to fill that role for me as much as she could through the years. She picks up on the second ring, and I don’t waste any time. “Did you know?” I’m surprised by the catch in my voice and the angry tears threatening to fall.
I might as well have asked her if she was in on the betrayal too.
“Well, hello to you too, Daphne. How was your weekend?” A chastising tone is evident in her answer. “Mine was fine. Thank you so much for asking.”
I wish I was calling just to check in or schedule a lunch date, but neither of those is happening today. “Kelly... Did you know?”
“D, it’s Monday morning. My inbox is full. I have two files sitting on my desk, waiting for my attention, and I’ve just sat down with my second cup of coffee. You’re going to have to be a little more specific. Did I know what?”
I glance around the empty office before trying to get a clear view of the suits sitting in the conference room. I can see them through the glass walls covered in life-size images of our hockey players. I lower my voice. “Did you know Dad’s selling the team?”
“What?” Kelly’s voice jumps five octaves before she yelps. “Shit. I just spilled my coffee.” There’s movement on her end of the call before she blows out a long breath. “Okay. Now, tell me what the hell you’re talking about.”
I tear my eyes away from what Google informed me earlier was the oldest and hottest Kingston sibling. Not that I needed Google to tell me that, but seriously... Last year, he was declared Philly’s most eligible bachelor, and the pictures online don’t even do him justice. According to my stalking, I now know that he’s the youngest GM in the football league’s history and is as opposite of the other stuffed suits as he could possibly be.
He wears his dirty-blonde hair a little too long. Thanks to a few candid photos, I can see his designer suit covers drool-worthy muscles wrapped in colorful ink. And his eyes... His eyes are the color of a dark ocean wave you drown in miles from shore. “Dad’s selling the Revolution to the Kingston family. He told me when I got in this morning, then Max and Scarlet Kingston walked through the doors a few minutes later. They’re all in the conference room now. But from what Dad said earlier, I think today is just to finalize everything. It’s already a done deal.”
“What the hell is he thinking? He didn’t say a word to me.” I know Kelly well enough to know the exact look of annoyance accompanying those words.
“Me either. Not until this morning. And our conversation left me with more questions than answers.” The door to the conference room opens, and my skin prickles with awareness as the Kingstons walk through, followed by my father. “Shit, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you back.”
I hang up the phone just as the three of them approach my desk.
Dad seems small and lost, sandwiched between these two powerhouses.
And while I might be mad as hell at my father, I’m heartbroken to see him like this.
I want to reach out and wrap my arms around him protectively, hoping he’ll tell me he has a plan. That everything’s been handled and not to worry about anything. That the team is still ours.
But that’s not going to happen.
Scarlet stands on my father’s right, looking flawless and smiling from ear to ear as she reads something on her phone while her hand rests on her pregnant belly.
She was born into this world the same way I was, but looking between us, we couldn’t be more different. Scarlet is dressed from head to toe in designer labels, and I get excited about vintage thrift store finds. She exudes confidence, and right now, I feel like I’m balancing in my heels across quicksand.
It’s like she’s on top of the world.
Why wouldn’t she be though?
Her father didn’t just sell her family’s business right out from under her.