“Coach Novikov,” Carter drawled, urbane and confident, and for the first time, I truly saw the evil oozing from his pores. Why had I thought it was enough to simply refuse to play his games instead of working to end them? Why had I spent two decades running from this fight?
I’d run from the cost of revenge on Conrad Jackson.
I’d run from the cost of fighting Carter.
I’d used Eva as a weapon against her own father.
Coward.I’d wronged Eva and Cole and Tristan and the whole fucking team. And it was about time I did something about that.
“Carter,” I acknowledged, my voice carefully natural.
“I heard Eva Jackson’s been in the hospital for the last week,” he said casually, as if we were discussing something as mundane as the weather. “Word is, she quit the team.”
My eyebrows shot up despite my effort to remain impassive. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Dr. Parker had assured me Eva would have her position back when she was ready, but we’d agreed to let her make that choice herself.
“Make sure there’s a place for her if she wants to come back,” Carter continued, and the alarm bells in my head started screaming.
He was going to force her back, force her to continue spying, continue feeding him information that could destroy my players’ futures and the team’s shot at a championship. After everything she’d been through—the surgery, the trauma, the week in intensive care—he was going to drag her back into his web.
She’d been fighting for her father’s life while I’d been hell-bent on ruining it. Of course she’d done what Carter demanded. I would have done the same, and worse.
“I don’t know anything about Eva quitting,” I lied, meeting his eyes. He had to know I was lying, and I didn’t fucking care. “But she’ll always have a place with the Marauders if she wants one.”
“She’ll want it,” he promised, and my vision turned red around the edges.
“How do you know?” The words came out sharp. Too sharp.Fuck!
He looked me up and down, at my clenched fists, thetension in my shoulders, and smiled. “Have a thing for the pretty little medic, do you?”
The bottom dropped out of my world. If Carter knew about Eva and me, she was fucked. Her scholarship, her job, her entire future—gone. The university would fire me eventually, but they’d blame her first because she was young, female, and beautiful. She’d be too easy to paint as the seductress corrupting the older coach who’d led the Marauders to multiple championships. Her dreams would go up in smoke because I couldn’t keep my hands off her.
“I try to do right by all of my students,” I said, fighting to keep my voice neutral.
Carter laughed, low and cruel. “Yes, like you’ve done right by my son? Encouraging him to keep playing when he should be preparing to take over my empire?”
This was the first time Carter had stated his fury so plainly, and I wondered what was driving him to this uncharacteristic bluntness.
“I expect the Marauders to continue to lose this season,” he continued. “So badly, they don’t make the playoffs.”
“You’re out of your fucking mind.”
Carter’s smile turned cold. “If you don’t, I will kill Conrad Jackson. I’ll destroy my son’s future, and every dirty secret your team has will go public. It’ll be the end of several players’ careers.”
The threat hit, but I forced myself to stand straighter, to pretend he was as full of bullshit as I wanted him to be. “This team has won three championships in the last five years. I intend to take them all the way to the Frozen Four again this year.”
“Don’t cross me, Novikov.” His voice dropped to a whisper, more menacing for the quiet. “You don’t want me to take my gloves off.”
I turned to face him, looking him up and down, noting the worn lines around his eyes, not quite as perfectly put together as he usually was.
Whatever pressure he was under, it was taking its toll.
“I’ve been crossing you for almost two decades now,” I said. “Why stop now?”
His smile turned predatory. “Because this time, you have something to lose.”
He didn’t need to say her name. We both knew who he meant.
“If you fuck this season up for Cole, you’ll lose him forever,” I said, grasping for any leverage I could find.
