THE LAST HONEST TRY
Read Chapter 15: The Offer
January brought rain, mud, and an offer for Yannis.
Béziers wanted him for a three-week trial beginning after the regional season. Not a contract. Not even a promise. But it was a door.
The whole squad celebrated when Marc announced it after training.
Yannis smiled for twenty seconds, then grew quiet.
“What?” Marc asked later.
“Dumas called again.”
“The agent.”
“He says Béziers only invited me because he pushed.”
“Did he?”
“I don't know.”
“Then ask Béziers.”
Yannis looked embarrassed. “He offered me five thousand euros signing money if I make him my agent.”
“Five thousand before he earns anything?”
“Yes.”
“That's not signing money. That's a hook.”
Yannis rubbed his jaw. “My parents could use it.”
Marc hated how predictable the sentence was.
“Call the scout directly.”
“What if it makes me look difficult?”
“It makes you look like an adult.”
They called together. Béziers' recruitment manager had never heard of Laurent Dumas.
Yannis went very still.
Marc said, “Now we know.”
“Know what?”
“That somebody thinks you're valuable enough to own early.”
Yannis stared at the floor. “Maybe I'm not built for this.”
“For rugby?”
“For all the shit around it.”
“No one is. That's why rules exist.”
“Rules didn't protect Lucas.”
Marc looked at him sharply.
Yannis shrugged. “People talk.”
“How much do they know?”
“Enough to know something's wrong.”
Marc sat beside him.
“Lucas made choices.”
“Bad ones?”
“Yes.”
“Is he still captain?”
“Not officially.”
“Is he still on the team?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because punishment and abandonment aren't the same thing.”
Yannis considered that.
“Would you keep me?”
“If you told me before I had to catch you.”
“That sounds conditional.”
“Everything worth trusting is.”
That weekend Saint-Aurèle faced league leaders Gruissan. The match was televised on a regional streaming service, which meant more betting markets than usual.
Marc banned phones from the dressing room two hours before kick-off.
He also changed the lineup at the last moment, moving Yannis to inside centre and starting veteran ten Julien Marty. Only Marc, Jean, and the two players knew until warm-up.
It was partly tactical.
Mostly it was bait.
Claire monitored offshore odds from her office.
Thirty minutes before kick-off, she texted Marc:
MARKET MOVED ON YANNIS TOTAL POINTS BEFORE YOUR TEAM SHEET WENT PUBLIC.
Someone inside had leaked the original plan.
Marc looked around the changing room.
Twenty-three players. Four staff. Jean.
A leak did not mean a fixer. It might be careless talk. But it meant the network still had ears.
Saint-Aurèle lost 17-14 in a match of relentless rain.
Marc barely cared.
After the final whistle, he gathered everyone.
“Nobody leaves.”
The players groaned.
Marc closed the door.
“An hour before kick-off, someone outside this room knew Yannis was supposed to start at ten.”
Silence.
“That's not public information.”
A prop said, “My girlfriend knew.”
“Did she tell anyone?”
“I don't know.”
Another player had messaged his brother. A physio had discussed the lineup in the medical room. Two players had posted a photograph from breakfast where the tactics board was visible in the background.
Marc felt almost relieved.
The leak was not one hole. It was the culture.
“We are not professionals,” he said. “That doesn't mean our information is worthless. It means nobody taught you it has value.”
He looked at them.
“From now on, team sheets stay inside. Injuries stay inside. Tactical roles stay inside. Not because we're paranoid. Because someone is monetizing our trust.”
Lucas raised his head.
“Tell them the rest.”
Marc froze.
Lucas stood.
“I said tell them.”
Then, before Marc could stop him, Lucas told the squad himself.
Not every detail. Enough.
His debt. Kovač. The margins. The pressure.
When he finished, nobody spoke.
Yannis looked sick.
Baptiste asked, “Did you cost us games?”
Lucas answered, “Yes.”
The room exploded.
Continue Reading Free
Unlock This Chapter
Watch a short ad to unlock this chapter.
No payment required.