The Request

CHAPTER TWO

Scarlett POV

Today was the announcement, I was supposed to run away

I did not run this time.

Maybe I should have.

Maybe if I had left before the announcement started, I could have kept pretending there was still a chance that something would change.

But I didn’t.

So I sat there with everyone else.

The announcement hall was packed with players, coaches, officials, and reporters. The room felt too bright and too crowded. Every sound seemed louder than it should have been. Every laugh felt directed at me even when it probably wasn’t.

My hands would not stop shaking.

I kept telling myself to calm down but it  didn’t work.

I already knew what was coming.

The match had ended yesterday. Ryan Carter had won and I  had lost.

There was nothing left to decide, this was just the part where they made it official.

One by one, names were called.

Players whose contracts had been renewed walked onto the stage. Some of them looked relieved. Some looked excited. A few of them looked like they were trying not to cry.

I watched all of it without really seeing any of it.

My stomach felt sick. The official standing on the stage turned a page in his file and I knew before he even spoke, I just knew.

“Scarlett Hayes.”

My heart dropped.

The entire room suddenly felt too quiet, i slowly stood from my seat, my legs felt weak.

The official glanced down at the document in front of him.

“Following the conclusion of the season and the final review of performance records, Player Scarlett Hayes has failed to meet the requirements necessary for contract renewal.”

The words hit me harder than I expecte, I Failed.

The word echoed in my head.

Failed.

Failed.

Like I was some kind of broken thing.

The official continued speaking, I barely heard most of it.

Something about regulations.

Something about contract termination.

Something about residency privileges.

The only thing I really understood was that it was over.

Everything I had worked for, everything  I had sacrificed. Gone, just  gone.

My eyes started burning.

I blinked hard, I refused to cry in front of all these people.

Then I heard laughter, it was a loud  laughter.

My entire body went cold. Slowly, I turned my head toward the entrance and there they were.

My stepmother and my stepsister.

Standing together near the doorway.

Both of them were smiling.

No.

Like this was the best day of their lives.My stepsister actually looked excited. stepmother looked proud, like  she had been waiting for this moment.

The second she saw me looking at her, her smile grew wider. I felt sick.

What were they doing here?

Then I remembered of  course they were here.

They had come to take me home, to take me to that sick alpha place.

The official finished speaking.

I could not hear anything anymore.

My stepmother was already walking toward me.

My stepsister followed behind her.

They looked happy.

My stepmother stopped in front of me.“Well,” she said, smiling. “I guess that’s over.”

I lowered my eyes, I didn’t trust myself to speak.

She laughed softly. “I told you this would happen.”

My throat tightened. 

“I warned you not to get your hopes up.”

I hated that she was right, I hated it so much.

My stepsister crossed her arms. “You should have seen your face during the game. It was embarrassing.”

That was when the tears finally came, I tried to stop them, I really tried.

But I couldn’t. Everything hurt too much, the loss, the humiliation. The future waiting for me.

My stepmother reached for my arm.

“Come on,” she said. “Your future husband is waiting.”

I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

My chest hurt, I didn’t want to go, i I didn’t want to go back, I didn’t want that life, I didn’t want that Alpha, I didn’t want any of it.

But nobody was stopping her, nobody  cared about the loser 

To everyone else, it was a family matter, not to interfere. 

I was crying openly now, I didn’t even care anymore.

My stepmother tightened her grip on my arm and started pulling me toward the exit.

Then a voice spoke from behind us.

“Stop.”

The entire room went silent, every single person turned and that’s Including me and when I looked toward the entrance, my breath caught.

Ryan Carter was standing there.

For a moment nobody moved, Nobody uttered any word, my  stepmother frowned.

Ryan’s eyes moved from her hand gripping my arm to the tears running down my face.

Something changed in his expression.

His jaw tightened, then  he looked directly at my stepmother. “Let her go.”

My stepmother blinked. "What?”

Ryan took a step forward.

The room was so quiet that I could hear my own heartbeat.

“I said let her go.”

For the first time since she arrived, my stepmother’s smile disappeared.

And for some reason, standing there with tears all over my face and my entire future falling apart around me, Ryan was the first thing that made me feel like maybe everything wasn’t over yet.