My Husband's Entire Hockey Team Knew About His Mistress novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Clause

At midnight someone pounded on the door of Beck's apartment.

Lena was alone.

Beck had gone out an hour ago, to the gym, he said, and he had not told her why he took the truck.

She went to the door and looked through the peephole.

Stanton stood in the hall, in a wet jacket, without his wedding ring.

"Lena," he said through the wood. "Please. It's me."

"I know who it is."

"I'm alone. I swear to God. Open the door."

She opened it as far as the chain allowed.

He looked ten years older.

His hair was flat from the rain, and there was a cut on his lip.

"What happened to your mouth?"

"Amber threw a glass."

"Good arm."

"Lena, please, five minutes."

"You have two."

He pushed his hands through his hair.

"I can't stay with her," Stanton said. "I can't. She took my phone. She tells me where I'll be every hour of the day. She says if I leave, she'll ruin me."

"She can't ruin you. You're already on every sports site."

"She can, though. There's a clause."

Lena went still.

"What clause?"

"In the contract. The real one, not the one the press saw." His voice dropped. "I signed it in August, in her father's office. It says if I end the relationship, I owe the Dunning Group three million dollars and I can never play in this league again."

"You signed a contract to stay with her."

"I thought it was a joke. She laughed when I read it. I thought, who writes that?"

"Her father did."

"I know that now."

"Did you know it then?"

Stanton looked at the floor.

"I knew the offer wasn't coming from the scouts," he said, very low. "I knew it had to be somebody. I didn't ask who."

The words sat in the hall between them.

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