Page 108 of Villainous Kingpin

“Let’s see what kind of show they give us today. I have a feeling it will be spectacular. And if they deliver, we’ll be seeing them tomorrow. I have no doubt these two are in the race for the gold.”

Emory snickered. “If she doesn’t win the gold medal, the Olympics are rigged.”

I watched in a daze as a woman that looked like my Wynter skated to the middle of the rink, looking like an ice princess. Or a queen.

Dante shoved a glass into my hand. “Here, sit down.”

For the first time in over a decade, I allowed someone to tell me what to do. My eyes glued to the screen, as if I was scared she’d disappear again. I watched them take their spot in the middle of the ice rink.

I watched her shake her shoulders out, take a deep breath in and then out, and then she was in the zone. Just as she was when I watched her take her ballet lessons. For fuck’s sake, I thought she was training to be a professional ballerina. Not a professional ice skater.

Star Flemming.

She gave me a different name. Wynter Star.

Her partner and she shared a glance. The audience was cheering them on. Chanting her name like they were celebrities.

Star! Star! Star!

Derek! Derek!

People were going nuts over them.

The two of them turned around at the same time to face the center of the ice. Her partner held out his hand to the side and without even glancing his way, Star put her hand in his. The two were so synchronized, almost as if they shared the same breath and same thoughts.

I fucking hated it.

Her hand pressed against her chest, her neck gracefully extended as the notes of a song came up. The music started. “Unstoppable” by Sia. I couldn’t tear my eyes off her.

She danced with him, but all I could see was her.

The music led her, her muscles relaxed as she danced expressing every single tune of the song with her movement. You felt her dance, felt her message. Fuck, she was unstoppable.

As she skated, her whole face glowed.

It made it impossible to look away from her. As if she felt every word and note of the song.

“Look at the height! Triple Lutz! And another. Look at those jumps! I have never seen such chemistry on or off the ice.”

My grip tightened around the glass and ice rattled in it, protesting. Wynter’s expression was of pure bliss. It was that expression which haunted me for the last nine months. It was the way she looked at me. Like I was her whole world.

“Wow, she’s really good,” Priest muttered.

“You think she’s boning him?” Dante asked curiously, and I wanted nothing more than to punch him.

“Speculation has been that the two of them are a couple,” Emory chimed in unhelpfully and unknowingly fed the rage boiling inside me. “She denied it, but her partner refused to confirm or deny, which feeds all the frenzy about them.”

I’ll hunt him down and kill him, I resolved.

“Impeccable triple Salchows, synchronized to perfection!”The speaker screamed, his words piercing through my brain. I had no fucking idea what that meant. Except that she flew through the air. She moved fast on the ice. So fast that if she fell, she’d break more than just one bone in her damn body.

“Look at that Death spiral! Amazing! These two are truly unstoppable.”

“Holy shit!” Emory exclaimed. “What a comeback!”

My sister was jumping up and down from the excitement while I felt my rage expanding in my chest, threatening to explode.

Wynter was arched backward on one foot, close to the ice as her partner spiraled her. One mistake and her skull would be split open. The next moment she flew through the air and landed on her feet. Emory’s excited screams sounded distant, the rush in my ears drowning everything out.