Se connecterThe first time Mia Conti saw Elias Weston, she didn't even know his name. She just knew he was tall, absurdly good-looking, and effortlessly lifted her heavy suitcase for her at Toronto International before walking away without a word. Until she showed up as a new intern on the NHL team's medical staff and found herself face-to-face with the league's most arrogant, untouchable superstar—and his very wrecked, very uncooperative shoulder. It was him. And he remembered her too. A fiery, secret romance ignites between them, yet it burns out within a year. Mia had spent twelve months convincing herself she was fine with that. Now a respected lead physician for the upcoming Milan Winter Olympics, Mia has moved on...until Elias reappears on the official athlete roster. He finds her before she can even brace herself. Perfect smile for the cameras, cool and composed. Then she turns to leave, and his hand closes around her wrist. "Long time no see, Mia." The flashbulbs are still going off somewhere behind them. "I came back for you." An ocean between them didn't kill what they had. It just put it on ice. And Elias Weston has never once been afraid of thin ice.
Voir plusThe Blade is already shaking when Elias pushes through the door.The bar erupts the second the team walks in—chanting, beer sloshing, the highlight reel from last night's win looping on every screen. The bouncer doesn't even check them. He just steps aside and grins."Elias does it all," someone shouts from the back."You mean he handles it all," Lucas fires back, waggling his eyebrows."Shut your mouth," Elias says, without heat.The team's usual table is already cleared and waiting—a long stretch of carved wood near the center of the room, engraved with past players' names. Elias's signature sits dead center, like it was always supposed to be there.Ben, the bar owner, appears with a full tray of beers before they've even settled in. "First round's on me. That shorthanded goal last night—God, Elias, it looked like you were showing off."Elias takes his glass, tips it back, lets the cold slide down his throat. A drop catches at his collarbone and he doesn't bother with it."I was," h
"Save some energy for the rest of us, man."Lucas leans against the boards, energy bar hanging from his lip, watching Elias run backhand passing drills with the focus of someone who genuinely enjoys suffering.His curly hair is a mess, his grin is enormous, and he has absolutely no filter."Half the women in Toronto would pay good money to watch you train like this," he adds cheerfully.Elias doesn't look up. He repositions, lines up the angle, and sends the puck snapping off the boards with clean precision.Full-contact practice starts minutes later.Tyler Grant—left wing, notorious flirt, walking highlight reel of bad decisions—skates up and deliberately shoulder-checks Elias in the chest.The impact bounces right back.Tyler stumbles, grabs the boards, and stares at his own arm like it betrayed him."What the hell, Weston. Do you even have body fat?""You're one to talk," Lucas calls over. "You look like a bear in skates."Tyler rolls up his sleeve and starts skating toward Lucas w
The apartment door clicks shut behind her, and Mia exhales for what feels like the first time all day.Lemon cleaner, fresh wood, afternoon light pooling across pale oak floors—clean, quiet, nothing like the chaos she'd been bracing for.Then her gaze lands on the suitcase wheel, bent at a grotesque angle, the metal axle fully exposed. She crouches down and prods it with two fingers.Hopeless.The front door opens.A girl backs through the entrance carrying a tower of textbooks and a coffee cup balanced on top, blonde ponytail swinging. She freezes when she spots Mia, and the coffee sloshes dark across her sleeve that she doesn't even notice."Oh my God, you must be my new roommate!" She dumps the books on the entryway shelf and spins around, bright-eyed and completely unfiltered. "I'm Ellie Carter. Comm School. So happy you're finally here.""Mia Conti." She stands, smiling despite herself. "Medical exchange student. Nice to meet you, Ellie."Ellie's eyes land on the broken suitcase.
The departures hall of Milan Malpensa hummed with the electric energy of departures.Mia Conti watched the flickering screens, her fingers drumming a restless rhythm against the counter."The arnica cream is in the outer pocket," her mother, Alice Conti, says for the third time, glasses pushed up on her head. "Toronto gets damp in the fall. Don't strain your wrists. And I packed the supplements Dr. Ferrara prescribed—the real ones, not that pharmacy brand rubbish.""Momma." Mia's voice is steady even though her chest isn't. "I know."Her father, Ethan Conti, returns with the boarding pass. He rests a hand on Alice's shoulder, calm and composed as always."Everything's confirmed," he says. "Someone will be waiting for you at arrivals. Watch your things on the plane, and don't rush."Mia takes the pass, her gaze catching on the scar tissue between her father's thumb and forefinger.That hand rebuilt her wrist after the fracture at fifteen. That same hand, three years later, had left a m












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