Jax cracked his knuckles. “The guy’s been one bad day from snapping since we got here.”
“And Elise?” Chase asked.
“The freeze is holding,” I said. “So far. Regardless, we don’t let our guard down. Not with her.”
Theo grinned, shaking water into his hair from a water bottle. “I’ll keep her friend busy. Tori talks post-hookup.”
The room rumbled with their low laughter.
“Taking one for the team?” Jax smirked.
“I’m committed to the mission,” Theo said, mock-serious.
“Yeah, committed to what’s between her legs,” Chase muttered.
I let them joke. It was good for morale. But under it, we all knew the game had changed.
I stood, yanking my shirt over my head. “Watch Elise, watch Logan. We control the story. Not the other way around.”
The silence that followed wasn’t empty as they nodded their agreement. It was loaded. Lines were drawn.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
MILA
Icouldn’t keep my mind on the game. Luke and the other guys blurred across the ice while my thoughts tunneled back to what Mom told me before I left the house.
She had been waiting for me when I got home. Unusual for her to be around that early, even stranger the way she sat—purse perched on her lap, hair still twisted tight, as if she’d barely paused. There had been a gleam in her eye. Not pride. Not exactly triumph. Banked intensity.
“I went digging.” Her lips curved at the corners. “You asked me to look into Dunn. I did.”
I didn’t breathe.
“They’re buying up King Enterprises stock and real estate—quiet moves through companies. The trail’s clean if you don’t know where to look. I do.”
I stared at her. “Why?”
Her mouth curled—not quite a smile. “Because you asked.”
I could barely find my voice. “Will you get caught?”
She shook her head no then glanced at her phone before standing. “I took a late lunch to tell you. I’ve got to head back to the office. Now you know. And, Mila,”—she waited until ourgazes locked—“be careful with this information. These are heavy hitters. They don’t play fair or nicely.”
And just that quickly, she was gone again. Back to her job. Back to Dunn. The principal. Back to pretending.
But I wasn’t pretending. Not anymore.
So here I was at the rink, because Avery had dragged me out that evening. Throughout the game, I couldn’t follow anything. They’d scored? I went along and pretended to know what was going on by mimicking Avery. I needed more than a moment to weigh whether to tell Luke what I’d learned or keep it buried. Because it meant something huge for his family business, his legacy.
The information gnawed at me. After the final buzzer, we gathered by the exit, and I’d made my decision. Avery and I waited by her blue Mercedes. Her two friends—Jasmine and Margie—floated nearby, flirting with two guys from our school.
Chase clocked them and barked, “Aves!” He bounded over, the rest trailing.
Avery lurched toward him, throwing her arms around her brother in a congratulatory hug. As she pulled away, Jax leaned in just enough to murmur something that made her roll her eyes, but she didn’t move away. Her smile tugged at the corner, as though she refused to give him the satisfaction.
I stood back, unsure. I mumbled something vague—“Great game, congrats”—then edged away as Jasmine and Margie joined her. Luke’s hooded gaze followed with banked intensity, as if he was trying to read me.
I leaned into the small gap between me and the trunk, edging away from everyone else as much as I could without notice.
