All Chapters of Until the Final Whistle: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

UNTIL THE FINAL WHISTLE---EVELYN---The executive floor was silent when we stepped out of the lift.It was after seven o'clock now. Most of the staff had gone home hours ago, and the lights had been dimmed to the low amber glow they used overnight. The corridor stretched ahead of us, lined with the same glass offices and framed photographs I had walked past a hundred times since my return, and somewhere at the end of it was the door with Victor Hale's name on it.Kovac walked ahead, his footsteps quiet on the carpet, his head turning slowly from side to side. He had the gait of a man who had spent his whole career watching for the ball and was now using the same instincts to watch for something else. Luca stayed at my side, close enough that his shoulder brushed mine every few steps, and I could feel the tension coming off him in waves.We reached the third door down from my father's suite and stopped.

UNTIL THE FINAL WHISTLE---EVELYN---We didn't go straight to my father's office.Luca took my hand in the corridor and pulled me into the small kitchen at the end of the executive floor, the one the staff used for coffee and quiet conversations, and he closed the door behind us and stood there with his back against it, looking at me."You don't have to do this tonight," he said."Yes I do.""You could wait. Sleep on it. Come back in the morning with a clear head.""If I sleep on it, I'll spend the whole night imagining what he's going to say. I'd rather know now." I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms. "Kane was either telling the truth or he was trying to break me before I could get to the police. Either way, the only person who can answer that is my father."Luca studied me for a long moment. Then he crossed the small room and stood in front of me, close enough that I could see the faint lines of tiredness around his eyes, close enough that I could feel the warmth comi

UNTIL THE FINAL WHISTLE---EVELYN---The police arrived twelve minutes later.I heard them before I saw them, boots on the stairs, radios crackling, the low murmur of voices passing instructions back and forth. Kovac met them at the door of the archive and spoke to them quietly, and two officers stepped inside and looked at Victor Hale sitting on the edge of the table with his hands in his lap and his eyes on the floor.He didn't resist. He didn't argue. When they told him he was under arrest, he stood up slowly and let them cuff his wrists behind his back without a word. When they read him his rights, he nodded once. When they led him past me toward the door, he stopped for a moment and looked at me, and something in his expression shifted."For what it's worth," he said quietly, "I'm sorry."I didn't answer. I didn't have words for him. I just watched him walk out of the archive between two officers, and then the room was quiet again, and Luca was beside me, and Kovac was standing

UNTIL THE FINAL WHISTLE---EVELYN---The forecourt emptied slowly, and the noise faded with it.Luca kept his hand in mine the whole way back inside. His grip was steady. His pace was quick. He didn't look at the cameras and he didn't look at the fans and he didn't look at anything except the doors ahead of us, and I matched him step for step because that was the only way I knew how to get through the next ten minutes without falling apart.Sarah met us in the corridor. Her tablet was pressed against her chest and her face was pale, and she stopped in front of me and said nothing for a moment before she spoke."I didn't know you were going to do that.""Neither did I.""You just told the entire country that you and the captain are together. In front of everyone. Without warning anyone. Without clearing it with the club.""I know.""Do you have any idea what that's going to do to the press office tomorrow?""Sarah." I stopped walking and turned to face her. "I've spent five years hid

UNTIL THE FINAL WHISTLE --- EVELYN --- We dressed in silence. Luca pulled on his jeans and the shirt from yesterday while I found a clean jumper in the wardrobe and ran a brush through my hair. Neither of us said anything. There was nothing to say. The television was still on in the other room, still showing the same photograph of my father, still running the same headline on a loop. By the time we reached the front door, Kovac was already parked outside with the engine running. "Get in," he said through the open window. "Traffic's already building." I climbed into the back seat. Luca took the front. Kovac pulled away before either of us had closed our doors. "Tell me what you know," I said. "Not much more than I told you on the phone. He walked in on his own. No lawyer. No statement prepared. The officers who processed him said he was calm. Almost relieved." Kovac glanced at me in the rearview mirror. "The only thing he said was that line about keeping his promise." "What p