|| Soft || Roy Kent

Prologue

When faced with her entire existence being turned on its head, Rebecca Welton found the opportunity to take a step back and calculate her next move with meticulous attention. A man, not just any man, but the man she had spent the last 12 years of her life with, had dragged her name, reputation, assets, and her heart through the proverbial mud. And she was given the opportunity to remind him that the Rebecca that smiled in their staged photos for the bulk of their marriage was a woman with a brain and guts to match.

So it was easy for her to take the axe to the company without so much as a second glance at the poor souls who were dismissed from their posts. It was easy enough for her to get rid of the team's head coach, that was a long time coming. She never liked George Cartrick from their first interaction, so the pleasure was all hers in dismissing him from the club. Unfortunately, she told herself, he'd land on his feet. She knew that her plan to punish Leslie Higgins for his crimes against her would be better off in a long game. But Rich Porter, the head physio for the club, was another easy chop. Rich put up a bit of a fight. Higgins questioned the difficulty of trying to interview a physio and find replacement team management at the same time. Rebecca was much less worried. A haphazardly thrown together group of people under the name AFC Richmond was exactly the kind of chaos that would give Rupert's ass a bit of a chap.

That all being said, three hours into interviewing for a new physio and she was starting to question her decision. But only slightly.

When Alexandra Banks entered the large office with an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling windows with a composed smile. Her shoulders backs, her head high, she carried herself with the confidence of a woman who would leave the room with a new job.

Rebecca was impressed with the woman in front of her. At nearly 27, the applicant was highly educated, highly spoken of in her references, and well put together. It reminded her of a younger version of herself, one who felt the world was her oyster. That same light once shone in her, something she was sure had brought Rupert out from the shadows. Rebecca felt herself lingering on her own memories of being young, educated, confident, and wide-eyed as the conversation bounced effortlessly from topic to topic, that as the interview rounded to a close, she realized she hadn't taken a single note on what Alexandra had said.

"Well," Rebecca cleared her throat and got to her feet, trying to smooth out her own trailing thoughts as she smoothed the silk of her blouse, "I am so grateful that you came in today, Ms. Banks."

"Please, Alex is just fine," the smiling redhead reached out her hand to shake.

"Alex." Rebecca smiled back, taking her hand in a firm, yet friendly grip.

And it was then that Rebecca decided that taking a chance on a young, capable, and eager young woman may be just as significant to her healing as burning AFC Richmond to the ground.