Ottavia and I traded knowing glances.
Here we go.
The room fell silent as the team owner stepped in, Killer following closely behind. But it wasn’t a silence of intimidation—no, instead, it was one of righteous outrage, and the boys stared daggers at Mr. Capuano.
But he wasn’t worried about them—yet, anyway.
“Ottavia. Dakota.” Mr. Capuano stared us up and down, his nostrils flaring. But he held the most contempt for his newest adversary. “Leo.”
Leo stood his ground, unyielding under the red-hot focus of Mr. Capuano’s gaze. “Sal.” It couldn’t have been an easy position for him to be in, but the guy had won my respect for choosing to stand by Ottavia when it mattered most.
“Congratulations, the three of you have the media worked into a tizzy,” the owner murmured. “Mind telling me what the fuck this is about?”
“It’s about the truth,” I said. “Either you can go out there and tell the media the truth, or we will.”
“Truth?” He feigned ignorance. “The truth about what, exactly?”
“You can play dumb all you want,” I said, “but I already told these guys the whole story.”
“Thewholestory,” Ottavia added.
“Denying it only makes you look worse,” I said.
The boys leered at Mr. Capuano, nostrils flaring. More than a few ground a fist into their palms.
Mr. Capuano chuckled again, unbothered. He swept his hand over the locker room. “Then the rest ofyoucan learn about consequences, too. Because I specifically forbade you, Dakota and Ottavia, from contacting each other—”
“Whydidn’t you want us talking to each other,Dad?” Ottavia butted in. “Because you didn’t want us to realize that you’d been manipulating us? That you’d followed Dakota around, filming him talk with girls thatyoupaid to try to seduce him?”
“Princess.” He gasped, pretending to be hurt. “You really think I’d do that? You think I even have thetimeto do something like that?”
“Not youpersonally, no. You probably paid someone else to do your dirty work,” she said. “Your video was convincingat first, Dad. But isn’t it funny how it never showed Dakota doing anything wrong? Not one kiss, not one hug, not one phone number exchanged. That’s because he wasn’t the one approaching those girls. They were coming up to him. And Isawit happen with my own eyes, all summer long.”
“Hell, we saw it, too,” Brett said, sitting at his locker stall. “Chicks were screaming at him at our summer scrimmages. I knew something was up right then and there—because no one but the most hardcore hockey nerds bother coming to those scrimmages. And let’s be real, no girl wants Dak’s dickthatbad.”
The boys laughed. Never miss an opportunity to sneak in a shot at one of your buds.
“Well?Are you going to admit it or not?” Ottavia asked. “We all know you’re behind it. Just admit it already.”
“Fine. You’re right. It was me,” Mr. Capuano confessed, making my teammates gasp. “I wanted to test how seriously Dakota was taking his summer obligations, and his loyalty to you. Is that so wrong?”
“Yes, it’s wrong,” she said, “especially when you edit a video to make it look like hedidcheat on me, when he hadn’t.”
“And how wrong was it when you came to my house andliedto me that you were Dakota’s girlfriend?” he countered.
I piped up and claimed responsibility. “That’s my fault, Sal. I put her in that position. She didn’t know.”
“Maybe so, but she still chose to lie to her own father than be honest,” he said.
“Look, we could play the blame game all day,” I said. “The truth is, I created this whole mess when I wasn’t honest about my actions the night before Game Seven. And I take full responsibility for that. But I’ve grown a lot this summer—and I owe a lot of that to Ottavia.” I caught her eye, and we smiled at each other. “And now, all we’re asking for is that you let us be together without interfering in our lives.”
“Without interfering, huh? What does that mean, exactly? Let me guess—you want to continue to play in the NHL, and you want Ottavia to get her trust fund, too? Even though you were both given ultimatums, which you ignored?”
“That’s what we’re hoping for, yes.” I took Ottavia’s hand. “But if not, I’m willing to sacrifice my career to be with your daughter. Because I love her. And that’s how serious I am about her.”
“And I’m willing to sacrifice my trust fund to be with Dakota,” Ottavia said.
“Damned fools,” Mr. Capuano hissed. He turned to Leo. “And why haveyouturned on me, Leo?”
