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Sven

S ven was leaving the ice, feeling on top of the world. He got a goal. The team won. And he was on his way home to Natalie and Winnie. It was perfect.

He got off the ice and headed to the booth. They had already talked about him doing media since the article came out.

“Sven, Conner’s doing media tonight,” Coach Wagner said, stopping him.

“Oh, okay.”

The team made it into the locker room, and the coach followed them. Usually, Coach Wagner talked to them and then soon after, that there would be post-game interviews with the players in the locker room.

“Good game out there tonight. I just got word we are having a closed locker room. Cash and Ethan, you guys are going to head into the press room. I’ll see you all tomorrow for video game review.”

That was odd, and Sven would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. The article had landed well. He tried to push away the nerves and just get home to his girls.

Once he was out of the shower and got dressed, Sasha and Hillary headed into the locker room.

“Sven,” Hillary said with an expression he couldn’t quite read, “can we have a word?”

His heart dropped. He nodded and walked over to them.

“Is this about the article?”

“No. There is a new article.”

His brows drew together. “What did it say?”

“It wasn’t about you . . .” Sasha said carefully.

“What was it about?”

“It was about Natalie,” Hillary blurted.

“What the fuck?”

Sasha nodded and looked concerned, but Hillary’s murderous expression matched his own.

“Was it bad?”

“Yeah,” said Sasha, who somehow was remaining composed. “It’s bad. Somehow, the press got wind of her being Mr. Roper’s granddaughter....”

Sasha bit her lip.

Hillary continued, “And the bullshit reason she was fired from her last job.”

Sven’s heart dropped, and adrenalin pulsed through his body. “Where is she?”

“We sent security up to get her during the third when we caught wind of the story, but she was already gone,” said Hillary.

“Yeah, she was going to take Winnie home after the second period. Let me call her.”

“How protected is your house Sven?” Hillary asked.

He walked over to his bag, digging his phone out. “Ummm. We’re over in the Arbor District, so we are off the road a bit, and I have a security system, but that’s about it.”

He pulled up Natalie’s contact and called her. She answered on the second ring.

“Sven.”

The panic in her voice activated the fighter in him.

“Where are you, baby?”

“I didn’t know what to do. This woman in the bathroom started asking me some questions. Then I got followed out by reporters, and they were taking pictures and shouting and?—"

“Baby, breathe. Where are you?”

“I’m at Sydney’s. I tried to go home, but there were reporters outside the driveway. I was so scared. Winnie was crying, and they were shouting, and I didn’t know what to do.”

“You’re okay. You’re safe now?”

“Yeah, they didn’t follow me here.”

Fuck. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

The panic she must have felt all while taking care of Winnie had him seeing red. He was ready to fuck some shit up, but he just needed to get to Winnie and Natalie.

“Can you send me the address? I’ll come over.”

“Where is she?” Hillary butted in.

“She’s at Sydney’s.”

“Okay, good. Tell her we are going to send a car for her,” Hillary said.

“Why don’t you guys come back to our place? We have plenty of room and a good fence and security system.”

“That’s a good idea,” Hillary agreed.

“Okay, baby, we’re sending a car for you. I’ll meet you at Conner McPhee’s house, and we will figure it all out. You’re going to be okay.”

“Okay . . .”

“Natalie, baby, are you okay?”

There was a long pause.

“Talk to me. Are you okay?”

“I don’t know . . .”

“Listen, the car will be there. I will meet you at Conner’s, and we will get this all figured out. You are safe. I promise to keep you that way.”

“Okay. I’ll see you then.”

“Tell her the car is on its way,” Hillary said, putting her phone down to her side.

“The car should be there soon.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at Conner’s.”

“Bye,” he said before sliding his phone into his pocket and dropping down on the bench with his head in his hands. “Fuck.”

“Is everything okay?” Conner McPhee asked as he came into the room.

Sven closed his eyes tight. He would not cry in this room, but, damn, was he on the verge.

“I’ll explain on the way home. Sven and his family are coming to our house tonight.” He heard Sasha say.

Conner came and tapped him on the shoulder. “You good?”

Sven nodded, but his head did not leave his hands.

“Sven, listen to me,” Sasha said in a voice he hadn’t heard before.

He looked up at her.

“We have cleared the hallway of press, and they won’t be able to get to you in the player’s lot, but they might tail you. You need to have your head on straight.”

Sven nodded. She was right. He could only imagine what Natalie had gone through all while having Winnie. That thought made him seethe. He needed to get to them.

“Why don’t you just ride with us?” said Conner.

“That’s not a bad idea,” said Hillary.

“Okay, give me a minute, and I’ll get dressed,” said Conner.

Before he knew it, he was headed down the hallway with Conner and Sasha. This hallway was usually full of reporters and other people milling around, but it was quiet with only some staff and security. His phone vibrated in his pocket.

Natalie: The car is here. Leaving now.

Sven: We are leaving the arena now. See you soon.

“That was Natalie. The car is picking her up now.”

Once they made it out to Conner’s car, he started it up, and they were on their way.

“Okay, can someone explain to me what is going on?” Conner asked.

“Well, the article about Winnie came out yesterday, but it landed well... but then some news broke about Natalie,” she said carefully.

“Your nanny?” Conner asked, making eye contact with him in the rearview mirror.

“The media are going nuts on some of the stuff being reported. I’m not even sure what is all true... but it’s bad. I think I’ll let Sven start because I’m not one-hundred-percent clear on that myself,” Sasha said, turning in her seat to him.

Sven ran his hand through his hair and blew out a breath, and he told them all of it. From who her grandfather was to the disgusting Moms Fighting For Freedom and the real reason she was fired.

“That’s fucked,” Conner said plainly as he turned into his subdivision.

“And her grandfather did nothing?” Sasha asked. “I’ve always loved Mr. Roper,” Sasha said, sounding a little sad.

“I’ll let Natalie explain more because I don’t want to speak out of turn, but she adores her grandfather, so I don’t think you need to worry about a childhood hero being sullied.”

“Good,” Sasha said, turning back around as they pulled up to Conner’s house. “I don’t think I could handle another tarnish childhood memory.”

There was a black SUV waiting outside of Conner’s house. As Conner stopped to open the garage door, Sven got out of the car and ran over to the SUV. He pulled open the back door and found Natalie looking rough with sleeping Winnie in a car seat next to her, and something in him broke.

He fell into the car and pulled her into his arms and held both of them as the tears he had been holding back spilled from his eyes. Sitting up, he cupped her face in his hand and kissed her before bending his head to drop a kiss on Winnie.

He got Winnie out of the car seat and held her close before helping Natalie down from the SUV. He held her hand tight as Conner held open the front door for them.

Sven held onto Winnie with his other arm wrapped around Natalie. He couldn’t bring himself to be parted from them. He still wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but he could tell Natalie was shaken.

He ushered his sleeping daughter and the woman he had fallen in love with through his teammate’s front door.

“What happened?” he said as they made their way into a great room.

“They found out. They found out everything. I don’t know how. I thought the foundation was killing the story.”

“Did something happen at the game?” he asked.

“I went into the bathroom to change Winnie into pajamas after the second period, and there was a woman talking to me. At first, she was nice... but then she started asking me about things. I left and got Winnie’s diaper bag from the family suite, but when I came out, there was a swarm of reporters following me.”

“They were following you when you had Winnie?” Sven asked Seething.

Sasha came over and set a mug of tea in front of Natalie as she continued.

“I made it home, but then there were a bunch of reporters outside of your house, and I just went to Sydney’s. I didn’t know what else to do,” she said, looking up at him with her big blue eyes, and it made him want to burn the world down for her.

She did not deserve any of this.

“You did the absolute right thing,” he said as he cupped her cheek.

“I’m sorry. I think I made a mess of things,” she said, looking down in the mug of tea before her.

“Why don’t you guys stay here for a few days?” Sasha said.

Conner came and stood behind her with his hands on Sasha’s shoulders and nodded.

“Yeah, it might be for the best,” Sven said.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. “That’s Hillary,” Sasha said to Conner as he left to go answer the door.

“I thought we could come up with a plan on how to best proceed with this.”

Natalie nodded numbly.

Hillary came into the room on a mission. “What the hell is happening and who do I have to kill?”

Sven had always been kind of scared of Hillary, and in that moment, he knew why. He was glad to have her on his side.

They filled her in while Sven grew more and more angry.

“Okay,” said Hillary after hearing everyone. “Sven and Conner, you go to Sven’s and get what you guys need for a few nights here. Natalie, you’re here until further notice. We will fix this.”

“Are you okay if I go?” Sven asked Natalie.

If she didn’t want him to leave, he would not be going anywhere. She’d gone through enough tonight.

“Yeah,” she said barely above a whisper. “You know what I need?”

The look in her eyes filled him with more rage than he safely knew what to do with, but he didn’t have a place to direct that anger.

“I can figure it out,” he said before dropping a sweet kiss on her lips. “Can you take Winnie?”

She nodded, and he carefully passed her the sleeping baby.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, tipping Natalie’s chin up to him.

She just nodded and blinked away tears.

Sven seethed.

Conner grabbed his keys, and they headed to the garage.

“How are you holding up?” he asked as they made their way to his car.

“I’m so fucking pissed.”

“We got your back,” Conner said as they got in. “We’ll get it sorted out, and you and your girls are good to stay here as long as you need. It’s safe here. I remember keeping Sasha safe here,” he said as his mouth turned up in the corner.

“Can we not take a journey down memory lane right now while everything is so fucked?”

“You’re right. Let’s get your stuff.”