SHATTERED ICE:One rink, bound by betrayal 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 181 - 챕터 190

Samantha's POV"Her name is Vera Sousa," Isaac said. "She's flown in. She's waiting in the upstairs room. She's coached three Olympic pairs. Two of them medaled."Samantha looked at Cole. "Did you pick her?""I helped," Cole said. "She was my first call."Anthony turned around. He looked at Cole for a long moment. Something moved across his face, something that didn't have a clean name. Then he crossed the space between them and put his arms around Cole once, firmly, the way men hug when they don't want to make it into anything.Cole gripped his shoulder. "You're ready," Cole said. "Both of you. You don't need me the way you did in September."Anthony stepped back. He nodded once. He didn't say anything.Samantha stood and hugged Cole properly. She pressed her face briefly against his shoulder. He smelled like the same laundry detergent he probably used for thirty years."Tell your dad someone in Chicago is rooting for him," she said.Cole laughed softly. "I will." He pulled back and

The music started and Samantha stopped thinking.That was the goal, anyway. That was what six a.m. training for three consecutive days was supposed to produce. Muscle memory deep enough to silence the brain. Body knowledge so automatic that there was nothing left to do but feel.Except she was thinking. She was thinking about her left shoulder, about the entry angle on the first combination jump, about whether her free leg was fully extended on the back outside edge. She was thinking about Vera standing at the boards with her arms crossed and her eyes moving over everything like a scanner.She was thinking too much and she knew it.They moved through the first movement of the program in parallel, the choreography keeping them apart, two figures sharing ice without sharing space. That part was easier. Distance was something both of them understood.The music shifted at the two minute mark. The key change Vera had described in the conference room. The moment the program stopped being a

Anthony's POVDerek looked at him for a moment, then wrote something on his notepad."One more question on a different topic," Derek said, shifting his eyes to both of them. "Your program this season is titled 'Found.' There's been a lot of speculation about the narrative. Some people are saying it's autobiographical. Is there truth to that?"Samantha spoke before Anthony could. "Every program has a personal element," she said. "That's what makes skating worth watching. We put ourselves into the work. That's all I'll say about it."Derek smiled. "Fair enough."The bell rang.He stood, shook their hands, and moved on.Samantha exhaled slowly through her nose.Anthony said nothing. He poured himself a glass of water from the table and drank half of it."You did fine," she said."I know," he said."The Celeste question was a trap.""I know that too."She looked at him. His eyes were forward, watching the next journalist settle into the chair across from them. His jaw was still tight. He

Anthony's POVThe equipment room was narrow and smelled like rubber and cold metal. Vera let the door close behind them. She stood with her arms at her sides and waited.Anthony leaned against the storage shelf behind him. He looked at the floor for a moment. Then he looked at her."I have a degenerative eye condition," he said. "Keratoconus. It affects the shape of the cornea. On good days my vision is near normal. On bad days the left eye is significantly impaired and my depth perception drops."He said it the way he had learned to say it. Flat and factual. Clinical enough to keep the vulnerability out of it.Vera's face did not change. "How long?""Diagnosed four years ago. Managed with lenses. The degeneration has been slow but it's progressing.""Who knows?""Samantha. Our previous coach, Cole, was informed before we began training." He paused. "The federation has documentation. It was disclosed when I renewed my competition license."Vera was quiet for a moment. "Today is a bad

Samantha's POVSamantha arrived at the rink at five fifty-eight.Anthony's car was already in the lot. She had stopped being surprised by that. He was always there first. She suspected he had never fully learned how to be late to anything, that punctuality had been drilled into him so early it had become part of his structure, like the bones underneath everything else.She pushed through the side entrance and found the rink empty.Not just of people. The ice had not been resurfaced yet and the overhead lights were still on their low morning setting, casting everything in a pale, even glow that made the rink look underwater. She stood at the boards for a moment and just looked at it. She did that sometimes before training started. Just looked. Reminded herself why she was there.Vera came in from the corridor at exactly six.She was carrying two folders, one in each hand. She set them on the bench and looked at Samantha."Where's Anthony?""His car is outside," Samantha said.As if on