Chapter 10: The Shaving Bet

Lev went live again at nine that night, and my whole family watched it at the kitchen island.

He sat in a leather chair with a team banner behind him and a bottle of water in his fist.

"I'll say it plainly," he said to the camera. "Mara Brescia is Ghost."

Paolo growled.

"The turn, the hands, the no-look pass, I've watched it forty times. She plays like him. She is him."

"Her," I said.

"Him, her, whatever. The black visor is sitting in the Brescia locker room, and everyone in the league knows it."

Luca had his cast on a stool and a bowl of popcorn in his lap.

"He's not wrong," he said.

"Luca."

"I'm just saying he's right."

Lev leaned in, and his voice dropped.

"So here's my offer, Mara. The championship final, Harbor Kings against the Brescias."

He smiled at the lens.

"One-on-one, in front of the whole city. If she beats me, I shave my head live."

He tapped the bottle on his knee.

"If I beat her, she takes off the visor and tells everyone who she is."

The comments scrolled so fast they blurred.

"He wants it to be a bet," my father said.

"He wants me to say yes," I said. "If I say yes, I'm Ghost."

"If you say no, you're afraid," Paolo said.

"If I say nothing, he keeps the stream."

We looked at the phone.

My father put both hands on the counter.

"Tell me what you want to do."

It was the first time in a year he had asked.

"I'll bet on his head," I said. "I won't bet on mine."

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