“I’ll walk you all the way down,” I said, turning on the charm.
She shrugged and, once we were in the elevator, said to me, “You trust your father a lot.”
“He’s a brilliant businessman,” I answered.
Olivia’s lips tilted up in a lopsided smile that didn’t meet her eyes, and she hummed. “Still, I’m surprised you’re allowing him to sell off a building in your name and transfer the funds directly to his account.”
My smile didn’t falter. He was fuckingwhat?
“He’s my father, Ms. Gaines,” I said gently as the door opened to the lobby. “If I can’t trust him with my money, what can I trust him with?”
The moment she was out of the building, I texted the group chat.
Me
You know that property list I sent over last night? Can we figure out who actually owns what?
Coach
Dmitri can.
I look at my watch. Shit, late for?—
The realization gutted me. I wasn’t late for pregamewarmups. I wasn’t late for anything. My evening stretched empty ahead of me, empty where hours of hockey used to be.
I hadn’t gotten tickets to the game, because why would I? I’d never had to before. My shoulders slumped as heartbreak hit me again. This was worth it. Eva was worth it. And if I repeated that to myself enough times, I’d believe it.
Right?
By the time the elevator rose to the top floor, I’d pasted a smile back on my face and put back on my billionaire playboy persona.
“Your father’s waiting for you,” his receptionist said to me, jerking her chin toward his door.
Eva. Tristan. Alek.Their names pulsed under my skin, the only thing tempering my rage as I walked in and took one of the plush armchairs facing his desk.
“That was good work,” he said. “I wouldn’t normally have brought up a business partner’s shady dealings, but it seems to have gotten me exactly what I needed.”
His praise washed over me, warm and comforting.Fuck, maybe I could be good at this shit.The thought made me want to throw up.
“Do you want to go to the game tonight?” he asked. “I have season tickets to a box, and I have a few clients I’m bringing.”
When I met his eyes, they were as cold as ever. He knew exactly how much I ached to be on the ice, and he knew what watching from the outside would cost me.
He was offering me crumbs, and I was going to take them like a starving dog.
“Yeah,” I said, my voice hoarse. “I want to go to the game.”
49
TRISTAN
Noneof us liked playing without Cole.
The thought hammered through my skull as I pushed harder down the ice, my thighs burning with the effort. If Alek was our commander, Cole was our spear, as brilliant on the ice as he was difficult off it.
Now, we were down our coach and a star player, and it showed in every gap, every missed opportunity.
Rami sent the puck skidding toward me, and I caught the pass, racing to the opposing goal. My breath came hard and fast inside my helmet. Without Cole, we had to be spot on in our teamwork. There was no room for the sort of brilliant unpredictability Cole thrived in. Without Coach, we couldn’t hold ourselves together as a team.
