The Bloodline She Burned novel · Chapter 4 of 24
Chapter 4: Crown's Three Habits
"I played a lot," Roz said. "Nobody ever watched."
Gabriel Rook did not look convinced.
He pulled out the chair at the next machine and sat down so they were level.
"Rosalind who?"
She could have lied.
"Ellsworth," she said.
The room had gone quiet around them, and Nina, at the counter, stopped wiping the same spot.
Gabriel's hand closed slowly on the edge of the desk.
On the wall behind him hung a framed photo of a girl of maybe seventeen holding a small trophy and a controller.
He glanced at it and then back at Roz.
"Conrad Ellsworth's daughter," he said. "Playing for forty dollars in my cafe, with her hand bleeding."
"His former daughter." Roz pulled the folded severance from her coat and laid it flat on the desk. "I signed that four hours ago. Read the first paragraph."
He read it.
His face did not change, but he read the paragraph twice.
"So you sold your family for eighteen million."
"I put a price on it," Roz said. "They got off cheap."
Nina made a small choking sound at the counter.
Gabriel set the paper down.
"What do you want from me?"
"A coach," Roz said. "And a team for the Open Gate qualifier."
"The Open Gate is in six weeks. You need five players, a name and an entry fee."
"I know."
"And your father's team has won the title twice."
"They want a third. I can tell you how Crown loses."
He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms.
"Go on."
"They draft the same carry every match, because Dane likes the way she looks on the loading screen," Roz said. "They push mid at the two-minute mark, always, even if the other team has not shown. And when Dane is behind, he switches to the Warden, which he cannot play, because he thinks it makes him look calm."
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