Page 19 of Slap Shot (Charm City Chill #3)

Oliver opened the stairwell door, and Charlie immediately came up to her and stuck his furry face into hers. It was hard to be sad when a fluffy Golden Retriever wanted to cheer you up.

"Thank you, boy," she said, petting him.

"Was your meeting with Westlake any better than the team meeting?" Oliver asked, settling beside her on the step. Charlie positioned himself between them, his head in her lap.

"Jack's furious. One week to stop Kai or I'm out." She rubbed her temples, the weight of the ultimatum pressing down on her. The injustice of it burned. She was supposed to solve a problem that had roots going back years, with an enemy who knew their systems better than she did.

Oliver was quiet for a moment, his hand finding Charlie's head. "This is exactly what Kai wanted. Turn the team against itself. Make everyone question each other instead of focusing on the real threat."

The solution was right there, obvious to anyone thinking strategically. "We need to tell Coach Vicky the truth," she said. "About Kai, about why he's targeting the team, about your past. She's fighting a war without knowing who the real enemy is."

Oliver's expression darkened. "Absolutely not."

"Think about this logically." Heather kept her voice reasonable even as her instincts screamed they were making a tactical error.

"She's making decisions blind on how to handle the media, how to protect team morale, how to respond to future attacks.

If she knew this was personal revenge against you, she could adjust her strategy. "

"And if she decides I'm too much of a liability to keep around?" Oliver's voice carried an edge she'd rarely heard. "You don't know how this world works. One whiff of scandal, one hint that a player has a criminal background, and management cuts ties."

Her patience was fracturing. She understood his fear. She really did. But watching good people suffer while holding the key to their defense was unbearable. "She's not management, Oliver. She's the coach who's defended you through everything. And right now, she's taking bullets meant for you."

The image of Coach Vicky's strained face during that press conference flashed through her mind, questions about favoritism and competence that all traced back to Oliver's hidden past.

"My plan is to catch Kai without burning down everything I've built," Oliver said.

"Coach Vicky is taking fire for decisions that stem from your past. If she knew the real reason behind the attacks—"

"So this is my fault?" Oliver's voice went sharp and defensive. "Coach is getting attacked because I exist? Because I made mistakes years ago that I can't undo?"

The sudden shift caught Heather off guard. "That's not what I said."

"Isn't it?" Oliver stood abruptly, Charlie scrambling to follow. "You think I should just confess everything, destroy my career, because other people are getting hurt by something I can't control?"

Her own frustration rose as she watched him pace. "I think transparency gives us better options than hoping this all goes away quietly."

"Transparency." Oliver's laugh was bitter. "Right. Because the hockey world is so understanding about players with criminal records. Because management will definitely keep me around once they know I used to be a hacker."

"You don't know that—"

"Don't I?" Oliver whipped around to face her, something wild in his eyes that reminded her of his panic attacks. "You think because you've been here six months, you understand how this works? You think because your ex was a criminal, you know what it's like to be one?"

Her jaw dropped and she just stared at him, seeing the fear and trauma driving his anger, but feeling the sting of his dismissal.

"I get it now." His voice was getting louder, more agitated. "You're under pressure from Jack, so obviously the solution is to throw me under the bus. Sacrifice the player with the shady past to save everyone else."

"That's not fair." The words came out steady despite the hurt blooming in her chest. She could see Charlie pressing against Oliver's legs, trying to ground him, but Oliver was too far gone.

"Fair?" Oliver laughed again, harsh and pained. "What's fair about any of this? What's fair about my past destroying everyone I care about? What's fair about you looking at me like I'm the problem that needs to be solved?"

Something cracked inside her chest. This wasn't the man who'd held her after nightmares about her ex-husband, who'd trusted her with his deepest fears. This was someone lashing out from raw terror, and she was taking the brunt of it.

"I don't look at you like that," she said.

"Don't you?" Oliver's eyes were bright with hurt and anger. "Because right now it feels like you think I'm just another selfish criminal who doesn't care who gets hurt."

The accusation hung between them. Heather wanted to reach for him, to remind him that she understood his fear, but the distance in his expression stopped her.

"I think you're scared," she said finally. "And I think fear is making you assume the worst about people who care about you."

"Right. Of course." Oliver was already moving toward the door, Charlie reluctantly following. "I'm just being paranoid. It's not like I've ever been betrayed by someone I trusted before."

The reference to Kai felt like a slap. Somewhere in his panic, Oliver had lumped her in with his former partner.

"Oliver, please."

"Good luck with your investigation, Dr. Quincy," he said, his formal tone like ice. "Apparently, I'm too much of a liability to be useful anyway."

The door closed behind him, leaving Heather alone in the stairwell with the echo of harsh words and the growing certainty that she'd just made everything worse.