“While you were at practice, I was drafting a few emails and gearing up to make a few calls.” He produces a folder and hands it to me. I carefully pull out the pages within and my jaw drops. He’s drafted emails to numerous contacts that paint Kai as some sort of deranged boy with a habit of lying, cheating, stealing, and manipulating everyone around him, mainly me. He looks like a concerned father crying out for help for his poor, naive daughter who fell into Kai’s trap. It’s a bunch of bullshit, but given that the sports industry is very much a boys’ club, it’s enough to make Kai a pariah. No one would hire him, and they may just try to have him committed if these emails went out.

My father is the COO of Momentum, the biggest athletic apparel company in the industry. Every single athlete dreams of brand sponsorships from them. Somehow the company gets away with having no women in leadership positions, and my dear old dad is one of three Black men in positions of power. After his injury, he went back to school to finish his degree and landed a job with them soon after in Strategy and Development. He climbed the ladder from there, working in many other departments and building connections along the way. When my mom took off eight years ago, he had gotten himself to a VP position, but I guess she got tired of waiting.

On top of that, he’s also a silent investor in Propel Sports Management, the largest sports agency in the United States. He and the CEO go way back. He also has numerous connections with sports medicine doctors, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and universities across the country. Countless people in the industry owe him favors for God knows what. All it would take is one phone call or email from him for Kai to be blacklisted in the industry. I can’t believe he would even think to go this far.

“Let me tell you what’s going to happen, Olivia. Tomorrow at ten a.m. you will be standing in front of this building waiting for me to pick you up. You will not make another foolish attempt at arguing with me about your rights, your choices, or your silly wishes. You will go to the appointment I’ve set for you, and you will get your situation handled and then you will carry on as if this never happened.