Apex Five: Mech Elite novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Anchor's Boyfriend

I took the ring box out of Dane's hand.

The diamond was the size of a thumbnail.

Two hundred phones swung to follow it.

"Everything your father owns," I said.

"Everything." Dane's smile came back, warm and wet-eyed and camera-ready. "I made a mistake. I'm asking you in front of the whole city to forgive it."

"Tell me how long you knew."

His smile twitched.

"Wynne, not here."

"Here." I turned to the board. "He knew from the first season. Ask him."

The old board member spoke from the stage.

"Mr. Pryce. Is that true?"

Dane stood up.

He looked at his father, and his father looked at the ceiling.

"It's not what it sounds like," Dane said.

"Then what is it?" I asked.

A technician had left a microphone on the edge of the stage, still live.

I picked it up and held it out to him.

"Say it so the back row hears, Dane."

He stared at the microphone.

I watched him decide to lie, and I watched it fail.

"I woke up one morning in my second year and I understood," he said. His voice cracked. "Every frame in the Ring answered you. Not me. Not Mira. You."

"You told me you were lucky."

"I was lucky! I was captain of the best team in the League and I hadn't done a single thing to earn it!"

His voice went up and up, and the speakers threw it around the hall.

"Do you know what they called me? Every sponsor, every commentator, every kid at the gate? The Anchor's boyfriend!"

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