Hope Unbroken (Unveiled Series Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

do it.” He tipped his hat at me as he turned.
    Adrenaline still pulsing, I jetted inside and left the door open.
    Trey met my eyes from his desk.
    I pointed at the sign. “Did you know he was doing this?”
    His glance circled by Darius and Brandon on its way back to me. “Mr. Glyndon told me he was sending someone by.”
    “And you just let him?” Trey’d always been able to work things out with our landlord.
    He adjusted his dark-rimmed glasses. “I’m not exactly in a position to argue.”
    How could he say that? If we didn’t rally for the center, who would?
    He motioned to Darius. “Give a holler to the guys out back, will ya? Tell them it’s time to hit the books.”
    Darius corralled his peers off the basketball court and led them into the classroom. After all that time being A. J.’s right-hand man on the court, he’d earned a certain respect from the rest of the kids.
    I charged straight for my desk phone and the chance to give Mr. Glyndon an earful. Only one ring went through before his voicemail kicked in.
    Trey eased the receiver from my ear and set it in its base. “I broke the lease, Emma. We’re four months behind on rent. He’s doing what he needs to.”
    “But he was working with us. What changed?”
    “Not sure.” He tucked one arm under the other. “It’s business. Guess grace wore out its welcome. At least he gave us three months’ notice.”
    Like that made any difference. I slouched in my chair. “Can we move somewhere else?”
    His forehead creased. “No one’s gonna sign a lease with someone who can’t even pay a deposit, let alone keep up with rent. Mr. Glyndon owns half the city’s buildings, anyway, and rubs shoulders with whoever owns the rest.”
    I flicked a pencil into my keyboard. “Why couldn’t the Success Foundation have sent someone other than Mr. Brake last semester? We wouldn’t even be in this situation if he didn’t blow our chance at getting that grant.”
    “But we are.” He squeezed my shoulder and brandished one of his famous father-looks. “No use casting blame.”
    “Sorry. It’s just frustrating.”
    “I know.” He smiled with the same assurance that’d guided his actions time and again. “It’s gonna be okay.”
    Breathing in, I nodded. We’d find a way.
    He patted my back and waved a hand over the mess that was supposed to be my desk. “We missed you while you were away.”
    “I see that.”
    His laugh boosted my spirits. We might’ve been running out of time, but we were here now. Time to get to work. He strolled off to the classroom, and I dove in.
    How had this many papers accumulated during such a short time away? I shuffled the bills into a giant pile and glanced at the trashcan. Tempting. I shoved them into my inbox instead to deal with later. Right now, finding funding was the only thing I needed to tackle.
    I pulled up Google. Were there any grant leads left? Even if there were, three months wouldn’t be enough time to pull it all together. I raked my hair out of my face. If Mr. Brake hadn’t flown off the handle last semester, we’d already have the funds we needed. His arrogance still burned me. The assumptions he’d made. How he’d accused Dee of things he didn’t have anything to do with and then wrote us off like we were nothing. The whole thing made me want to scream.
    A wave of young voices rolled out from the classroom and settled over me in a plea to focus on the present instead of the past.
    I opened my notebook to a clean page, tapped my pen against the desk, and drew another deep breath. Hopeless or not, I had to try.
    After hours of scouring sites for a possible benefactor and catching up on my regular work, I stashed my pen into the notebook’s spiral binding and sank into the back of my chair.
    Trey passed my desk on his way to his own. His gaze skimmed my scribbled notes, but he didn’t mention it. “Is Riley living it up in Nashville like I told him?”
    I returned his grin. “Just for