The Referee Problem

Chapter 14

Mbappé could hear some shuffling behind him. He turned around to see a few cardboard boxes start to move around. He grew suspicious and turned back to Gianni.

"Don't tell me that you kidnapped another player?" Mbappé sighed. Gianni's expression was a bit emotionless, but he could see a very faint smirk on his face.

He heard some footsteps behind him and decided to turn back around. Vinícius headed over to the cardboard boxes and removed them. Mbappé could hear a slight gasp from the Brazilian as he saw who was in the middle. He was eager to see, so he poked his head a bit, but didn't need to see and Vinícius already called the player's name out loud.

"Rodrygo!" Vinícius kicked the rest of the boxes away and helped his Real Madrid teammate up. Mbappé's eyes widened a bit as he saw that they kidnapped another player. But there was a pattern...

I see what Gianni is trying to do...there's a similarity. He's trying to capture the player's closest to us! Mbappé grew angry as he shot around, back to Gianni.

"I know your little plan! You're trying to capture those closest to us!" Mbappe clenched his fists. Gianni smiled, "Puzzle solved!"

"Wait...then who've you got for me...?" Haaland's voice sounded from behind Mbappé. Mbappé rolled his eyes, "Who's closest to you, dumbass."

Vinícius came back, Rodrygo by his side. Rodrygo dusted himself off. Mbappé gave a fierce stare to Rodrygo, still irritated about making fun of him and Haaland previously. Rodrygo then stood back up, he hadn't met eyes with Mbappé at all. Mbappé scoffed and looked at Gianni's desk. His eyes were attracted to the red card contract.

But he saw that it wasn't just one contract...there were two. Underneath the clipboard that the contract was in, there were more papers underneath. He nudged Hakimi in the shoulder and whispered about it into his ear. Hakimi's eyebrows rose up a bit.

"Are you going to get it? Steal it?" Hakimi said. Mbappé glanced over to Rodrygo. He had a plan. "Not me."

•••

Mbappé made a plan with Rodrygo and Haaland. Though Haaland didn't have the best feelings towards Rodrygo, he didn't mind working for him on this occasion. The plan was that Haaland would talk to Gianni about who he had captured from Manchester City. Meanwhile, Rodrygo would sneak to Gianni's desk and get the contract.

When Mbappé turned back around to Gianni, he was having a salad, looking at Hakimi. Mbappé narrowed his eyes and stepped in front of Hakimi, blocking Gianni's view.

Haaland then went up to Gianni. "Sir, may I speak with you for a bit?" Haaland stepped forward. Gianni looked to Haaland with a bit of confusion. "Sure, what is it?" He asked. Haaland then went up more to Gianni and spoke to him about who he might've stolen. Gianni didn't seem to mind the topic, but didn't answer his question.

The two went back and forth. Now it was Rodrygo's part. Rodrygo looked around, looking as if he was exploring the room. He casually walked around, looking at the room up and down.

He whistled and made his way right next to Gianno's desk. Mbappé could see that Gianni suspiciously looked at Rodrygo, but then drew his attention back to Haaland. Rodrygo swiftly put his hand out and slipped the paper out.

Mbappé looked up to Gianni, hoping that he hadn't seen. But nope...they were caught red handed.

"What're you doing?" Gianni asked, lifting an eyebrow. He slowly began to rise from his chair. Haaland then tried to block his way from getting to Rodrygo. "I just wanna take a look at it." Rodrygo replied, lifting the paper up. He began to read what was on the paper and Mbappé could see his eyes widen a bit.