Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 114951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Nathan reached for Ben, a soft laugh spilling from him like this was all some unfortunate misunderstanding as he grabbed his shoulders. “Ben, you’re emotional. You’ve had too much to drink. Let’s get you home and talk when you’ve calmed down.”
I swore I was about to watch an NHL player kill a man with one punch, but before Ben could swing, a calm voice cut cleanly through the chaos.
“Nathan.”
The man stepped forward from the edge of the crowd, his presence immediate and unmistakable. He was impeccably dressed, composed, his expression unreadable.
“Michael Reeves,” he said evenly. “League Integrity.”
Just as he introduced himself, I spotted Ariana standing next to Georgie near the door of the ballroom. Our eyes met, recognition widening her eyes as it buzzed through my veins.
I turned back to Nathan to find his face drained of color.
Then, reflexively, he smiled.
“Michael,” he said, spreading his hands. “My old pal. Hell of a party, right? Looks like you showed up just in time to—”
Reeves shook his head once. The motion was small and controlled — an entire conversation in one tiny gesture.
“I’m afraid I’m no pal tonight,” he said. “I need you to come with me now, okay?”
The panic in Nathan’s eyes should have satisfied me. I should have been beaming at his demise. But I only felt sorry for the bastard.
What a miserable existence. What a fucking terrible life to live in, where you had everything you could possibly want and it still wasn’t enough.
“We need to speak privately, Nathan,” Reeves said when Nathan didn’t move. “Now. You can either come willingly or we can assist you.”
Security was already moving in.
Nathan looked around, searching for an ally, a lifeline. His gaze snagged on Ariana across the lawn, her face bloodless, Georgie’s arm firm around her shoulders.
For the first time, he looked a little like a man regretting his choices.
“This isn’t necessary,” Nathan said tightly.
Reeves met his eyes. “I’m afraid it is. I’ll admit, I admire your creativity. You went to impressive lengths to delay me tonight — flagging my arrival with airport security, having me intercepted the moment I landed, questioned, separated from my phone.”
The explanation for why Reeves hadn’t answered my texts had my heart pounding quicker. My eyes caught Ariana’s across the crowd.
He was always on our side.
“It didn’t help that you’d preceded tonight’s actions with calls to the league,” Reeves continued. “Claims that the situation was already being handled internally. Suggestions that my presence here would be unnecessary and disruptive.”
Reeves’s gaze drifted to Ben standing shattered in the open, to the guests frozen in place, to the phones raised and recording.
“It was clever,” Reeves said. “And it bought you time.”
Then his eyes locked back onto Nathan’s.
“But all it did was delay me long enough to see the truth loud and clear. You’re not the only one with influence, Mr. Black. And this stopped being something you could control a long time ago.”
Security stepped in beside him.
“Now,” Reeves finished, “you’re coming with us one way or another. My suggestion is that you don’t make more of a scene than you already have.”
And just like that, Nathan Black was escorted out of his own party, the crowd buzzing with shock, whispers, and the unmistakable sense that something irreversible had just occurred.
For a beat, I couldn’t move.
The adrenaline that had carried me through the last hour drained all at once, leaving my limbs heavy, my chest tight. The noise of the party faded into something distant and unreal, like I was underwater again — except this time, I wasn’t panicking.
I was finding the sweetest release.
Carter moved to Ben, approaching him carefully before our goalie let Carter take him into an embrace. Carter nodded to me that he had it under control, and with that taken off my plate, my heart could follow the magnet pulling it so forcefully.
My gaze found Ariana.
She stood frozen near the edge of the ballroom doors, Georgie still beside her, one hand hovering at her back like he wasn’t sure whether to pull her close or let her go. Her face was pale, eyes glassy, her breath coming too fast. She looked like she was bracing for impact that had already passed.
I didn’t think.
I crossed the distance between us in long, urgent strides, my heart thundering in my ears with every step. Go easy, my common sense told me. You’re still in public. She’s still a married woman. You’ve got to take this slow.
But I just fucking couldn’t.
I swept through that crowd with everyone watching me and pulled her into my arms.
She made a small, broken sound as she crashed into me, her hands fisting in my jacket like she was afraid I’d disappear if she let go. I wrapped myself around her, one arm tight across her back, the other cradling her head against my chest, breathing her in like that first sip of oxygen upon ascension.