Free Follow Me (Caged Hearts Book 3) by Heather West Page A

desperately. To her, it made no sense. Why would Carl look to sabotage his own client? Surely it benefited him more for them to be on top? “Money?”
     
    “You’ve heard of people fixing matches?” Michael asked while Kait nodded. She had of course heard of it, but it was an illegal practice.
     
    “Well, the way Carl Santino works is that rather than get his hands dirty and ask his client to take a fall, he just drugs them.”
     
    “With the energy drinks?”
     
    Michael clicked his fingers together and pointed at Kait.
     
    “Exactly!” he enthused. “You’re a smart girl. I could have done with having you around when Santino was busy screwing me over.”
     
    “But I still don’t get it,” Kait gingerly raised her mug of hot tea up to her lips. “Is Carl betting on Jasper to lose?”
     
    “He will be, yeah,” Michael nodded. “And he’ll have people paying him to make sure Jasper loses. When Carl and I finally parted ways, I had nothing. All my sponsors had left me, and I was flat broke. So imagine my surprise when I learned that my agent had managed to purchase two new houses and several flash cars.”
     
    “Blimey.”
     
    “He’s a leech, Kait. He takes all he can from someone and then leaves them with nothing.”
     
    “I’ve tried to talk to Jasper about it, but he won’t listen,” Kait admitted dismally.
     
    “Because he trusts him,” Michael was nodding thoughtfully to himself. “That’s all part of it you see. For years he’s a great agent, helping you get on top, so that when he turns on you, you’d never dream that he’d do it. The guy is a pro. He’s screwed over loads of top athletes and keeps getting away with it.”
     
    “Well not anymore,” Kait gripped her china mug so tightly in her hands that she feared she might break it. “I can’t stand by and let Carl ruin Jasper,” she said tearfully. “I just can’t.”
     
    “The fact that you’re on to Santino already puts you ahead. You got a plan for the next time your boyfriend fights?”
     
    “I’m going to switch out the energy drinks for water.”
     
    “Good,” Michael smiled approvingly. “Those fucking drinks. He used to tell me they were imported from God knows where and that nothing else could hydrate me as effectively. I’d drink gallons of the stuff. Most of the time I’m certain it was just water, but then come fight night, he slipped in something else, and I was always too distracted to notice.”
     
    “Jasper has ended up in hospital a few times after his fights, but no drug has ever shown up in his blood,” Kait countered, starting to doubt her own logic.
     
    “Only because they weren’t looking for it,” Michael assured her. “Typical blood work checks white cell count, protein levels, stuff like that. To look for drugs in the system, you’d need to specifically do a full blood check, which takes longer and is more thorough so less practiced. I learned all this when I started looking back and trying to understand what had happened to me.”
     
    “What will happen if Jasper wins his next fight? To Carl, I mean?” Kait was leaning forward, eager to hear Michael’s response. He was so kind, personable, and willing to share what he knew. It pained Kait to think that Carl had ruined the career of someone so good and kind. It made her even more determined to save Jasper before it was too late.
     
    “He’ll be set to lose a hell of a lot of money,” Michael explained. “He’ll be forced to pay off a lot of angry people.”
     
    “So he’ll be the one losing everything?” Kait couldn’t help but smile at the prospect.
     
    “Indeed,” Michael was also grinning. “And it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
     

Chapter 34
     
    Jasper leaned back on the bed, exhausted. He’d never known Kait be so veracious when it came to their sex life. She’d wanted it in every possible position and had made him climax but not once but three times. That sort of performance was unheard