Page 142 of Twisted Play

Familiar rage started building in my chest, hot and desperate. “That contract is worth millions. I’ve worked for this since I was?—”

“Since you were what?” His voice was silk over steel. “Since you were six and I paid for your first skating lessons? Since you were ten and I bought you custom equipment? Since you were sixteen and I covered up your little drug problem so it wouldn’t affect your future draft prospects?”

Each word reminded me everything I’d ever accomplished was somehow his doing, even the things he hated. I owed him my dreams.

Nate smiled, but there was no warmth behind the expression. “We’ll announce your engagement in a week.”

“No,” I said, but the word came out weaker than I intended. The walls felt like they were closing in, and Icould smell my father’s cologne, the same scent that used to make me hide under my bed as a child.

“The hell you won’t,” my father snarled, and for a moment, I was eight again, cowering as he backhanded me.

“Boy,” Nate said, his voice a relaxed drawl despite the menace underneath. “I don’t think you understand this isn’t optional. I certainly don’t think you understand how Delaney’s going to suffer if you turn her down.”

My eyes snapped to the blonde woman, noting the way she’d gone completely still, like prey freezing when a predator looks their way. The hint of bruising on her pale cheekbone became suddenly, sickeningly clear.

Fuck.

“You don’t want Tristan to lose his hockey scholarship, do you?” My father’s voice was conversational again, like he was discussing the weather. “Or any of the other members of the team? And that cute little redhead, the team’s new medic?—”

The air left my lungs in a rush. No. No, no, no, no. Not Eva. Not my fierce, beautiful sparrow who trusted me despite having every reason not to, not the woman who fit so perfectly between Tristan and me, who made us both better just by existing in our world.

My eyes flew to my father’s, and I knew my face had betrayed me completely. The bastard was smiling now, triumphant.

“—You don’t want her to lose her job, do you?”

How does he know about Eva?

I dropped back into the armchair, my legs suddenly unsteady. The weight of the trap crashed over me like an avalanche—Eva, Tristan, their futures balanced against Delaney’s safety, against my own freedom. Every person I’d ever cared about dangled from strings my father controlled.

“You’re a bastard,” I snarled, but there was defeat in my voice, and we both knew it.

My father smiled, the same cruel expression he’d worn when he’d burned my acceptance letter to a different university, when he’d crushed every dream I’d ever had that didn’t serve his purposes. “The comfortable lifestyle you live is entirely due to my ruthless business practices. Call me whatever names you want, but you are going to announce your engagement next week.”

The whiskey glass sat on the table beside me, amber and tempting, promising oblivion from this nightmare. I stared at it, remembering how easy it would be to drink until none of this mattered, until I couldn’t feel the way my father had just carved out my heart with practiced cruelty.

Fuck.

52

EVA

The kitchen tableat the hockey house had become my sanctuary. Textbooks and highlighters created a fortress around me while takeout containers from three different restaurants testified to the team’s commitment to procrastination.

Tristan sat across from me, dramatically failing to balance a pencil on his nose while Haruto quizzed me on bio-chem.

“Benzene ring,” Haruto said patiently.

“Hexagonal...thing...with...carbons?” Tristan interrupted, smiling broadly as he teased me.

I snorted. “That’s technically correct, which is the worst kind of correct.”

Katie looked up from her Mandarin flashcards. “You sound like my high school chemistry teacher. She was terrifying.”

“Eva’s terrifying too,” Tristan grinned. “Yesterday, she made me redo flashcards because my handwriting looked like ‘drunk spiders having seizures.’”

“It did.” I flipped through my notes, amazed to realize Ifelt normal for the first time in months, studying with new friends.

When was the last time I laughed?