I look at Kye, searching his face for any hint that he’s having me on. But there’s nothing—just steady, unwavering certainty in his eyes.

A slow exhale leaves my lungs as I shake my head. “The ankle’s done. My playing days are over.”

The words taste bitter, even after all this time. Saying them out loud doesn’t make them any easier to accept.

Kye’s expression is unreadable. Then, that infuriating smirk of his spreads. “But what if those days weren’t over?”

I blink, surprised. “You’ve lost me.”

“Hypothetically speaking… if the injury was a non-issue, would you come back?”

No hesitation. “Of course I’d come back. I never wanted to leave. You know that.”

He nods. “That’s what I thought, but I wasn’t sure if you’d met the love of your life and moved on from it.”

I met the love of my life. And I lost her.

There’s a hollow space inside me that no amount of winning, no amount of moving on, will ever fill. You can’t patch up and forget some things. They carve their mark so deep that pretending you’re whole again just feels like lying.

I shake off the thought before it can drag me under. “Is there a point to this conversation about me returning?”

He grins, leaning back in his chair like he’s been waiting to drop this on me. “There’s a doctor in the States who specializes in sports medicine injuries, and he has a remarkable talent for Achilles repairs.”

“Kye—”

He holds up a hand, cutting me off. “Hear me out. This guy is a miracle worker. He’s getting athletes back to playing in record time, stronger than before. Your injury might be bad, but it’s not impossible. You just haven’t had the right medical team working on you.”

A war wages inside me.

The last surgery didn’t fix me. The rehab, the endless PT sessions, the hope—none of it was enough. And the risk of going through it all again only to end up back at square one scares the hell out of me.

“David is asking you to do this.”

“David?”

“He wants you back. Bad.”

David isn’t only the team’s owner—he’s the pulse behind it. Ruthless when he has to be, loyal when it counts. He doesn’t throw second chances around like confetti. If David’s asking for me, it’s because he believes I still have something worth fighting for.

“Think about it, Alex. You could have another chance.”

Something twists in my gut. “I have to think about this.”

“Go see the doctor for a consultation. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“The worst? I let myself hope for something that’s never gonna happen.”

Disappointments have dominated my life the last few years. I don’t want to go through another.

The last one almost killed me.