Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
They’ve spared no expense on the ceremony with its bold, colored lights, pyrotechnics, and panoramic cameras. Marissa looks so tiny out there, but her charm and grace seduce both the camera and the viewer. If not, I wouldn’t have become so obsessed with her. I’ve said it all along, it isn’t just her beauty. Her light transcends even the flattest of portraits, making them come to life.
I wait for her at the exit, and it’s no surprise that she looks spent and ready for bed when she comes up to me.
“So, how does it feel to be a star of this magnitude?” I ask, taking her in my arms.
“Like someone just beat me up.”
“You looked amazing out there. You really are the most beautiful girl in the world.”
“Now, let’s hope I’m the fastest swimmer in the world.”
“I told you. You’re going home with the gold.”
I take her back to the hotel and put her to bed. As she sleeps, I think about the future. I don’t want to spend a single night without this girl. She’s so deeply a part of me now that this has to be forever. She wakes up and searches the room, finding me sitting in the chair under the window.
“Come sleep with me. I told you, I can tell when you aren’t here,” she says, half asleep.
“Anything for you, baby girl.”
She cuddles up beside me. “I wish we could do some sightseeing. I want to go to the Eiffel Tower.”
12
MALCOLM
This is it.
Marissa and the top swimmer from China have been trading first and second place all the way up to the final race. It’s Marissa’s favorite race, the fifteen-hundred-meter freestyle. She takes her place at the front of her lane and looks down at the water.
She’s so focused I wonder if she can even hear the crowd applauding and chanting her name. The gun sounds and she hits the water so quickly that her entry is just a blur. She’s moving faster than I’ve ever seen, and Andrika is bouncing up and down beside me. “She’s got this. Nobody is going to catch her,” she shouts at me.
At the tenth lap, I take my eyes off my girl and look up at the board so I can review each swimmer’s time. Marissa is about ten seconds ahead of the girl from China. Andrika is right, she’s got this. I rub my sweaty palms on my knees and take a deep breath.
Five more laps, then four, then three. All the while she maintains her lead. Then, something happens. I blink and her time jumps up by almost twenty seconds. This can’t be. It has to be a computer glitch or something. In the blink of an eye, she’s fallen from first to third.
“Did you see that? The clock. The clock just took twenty seconds from her.”
“No. It can’t be. What? A penalty? No. She hasn’t left her lane or anything,” Andrika replies as she stares at the board.
The race is called according to the faulty clock, and Marissa comes in third behind China and France. I march to the judge's table, tossing three security guards out of my path in the process.
“This is wrong. The clock malfunctioned. She lost twenty seconds in the thirteenth lap. You’re wrong!” I scream.
One of the English-speaking judges stands and holds his hand up to me. “No, our timekeeping has been tested. If you have a problem, take it up with the committee.” He tries to dismiss me, but at this point, I no longer have control of myself and I grab him by the collar and toss him down on the judge's table.
“You’re gonna fix this! Marissa Graves won this race, and she deserves the gold. We’re not leaving here until you fix it.”
“There’s nothing to fix,” another judge shouts and shrinks down in his seat when he sees the fire in my eyes.
The first man returns to his feet and screams, “Get out! I’ll have you banned for life.”
In my rage, it’s easy to justify my actions. If I’m going to be banned anyway, I might as well go out fighting. I grab the man for a second time.
“You’re a slow learner.” I head-butt him and toss him into the pool. Surrounded by security, I’m dragged from the arena and brought to a tiny concrete basement office. I take a seat on the cold, hard bench and grit my teeth.
“She won. Damn it, she won!” I chant over and over as I wait for the Paris Police and several Olympic officials to come into the room.
“Mr. Mason, we’ve spoken to Miss Romanov. She told us what you both believe you saw happen with our timekeeping. While we doubt that what you saw was real, we will look into it. I need you to understand that we aren’t doing this for you. We’re doing it because Andrika Romanov and Marissa Graves are respected Olympians. You, sir, have had your access to the stadium rescinded. If you put up a fight, these officers will book you on assault charges. I can’t say clearly enough that if I see you again, I will have you arrested.”