Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 111 - Chapitre 120

Mia doesn't say a word. She takes her mother's arm and walks them both into the store.After making a full circuit of the shop, she confirms everything she had been hoping for. No player photos, no campaign imagery, just the logo emblem on a few pieces of merchandise.She steers them back out with a mild shrug. "Just the logo. Not even a promo video."Alice is undeterred."Your phone," she says. "You must have photos. A group photo, at least."Mia opens her mouth."Don't tell me you've spent all this time with someone and you don't have a single picture together."The photos exist. That is the problem. The photos exist in significant quantity and in a variety of formats that Mia would sooner dissolve into the floor than scroll past on her mother's behalf.Elias has an inexplicable fondness for using her phone to take pictures she then hides in a locked album. The thought of her mother's thumb moving cheerfully through that gallery is enough to close the conversation immediately."His

Alice finally finds her breath, the initial rush of the game receding just enough for her mind to start connecting the dots. She finally remembers what had derailed her—what had made her forget to grill Mia about her supposed "beginner" skating lessons.It was the voice.In a video Mia had sent weeks ago, there had been a man's voice lingering just off-camera.Alice knew Ellie was dating the team's right winger, so she'd simply assumed the voice belonged to Ellie's boyfriend. But now, watching Elias Weston move on the massive screen, the truth hits her like a body check.Alice steals a subtle, measuring glance at her daughter. Mia is leaned forward, her eyes fixed on the screen. She isn't just watching a game, she's watching her man.Alice shakes her head with a soft, helpless sigh.But there's no time for a lecture. The second period opens before anyone has finished their tea.Elias and Lucas run a position switch that the commentators clearly weren't expecting—clean, fast, Elias pul

The arena in Helsinki is still shaking when Ethan leans back into the sofa, watches the screen. "Remarkable composure. Under that kind of pressure, most people lose the thread entirely."On screen, Elias is being grabbed from three directions at once, Lucas's arm around his neck, the celebration loud and thoroughly uncontrolled.Alice is still recovering. She presses a hand to her chest. "I wasn't breathing for the last four minutes. I genuinely wasn't." She shakes her head, laughing at herself. "That was the most stressful thing I've watched since Mia's final year presentations."The broadcast cuts to a slow-motion replay—the collision, the lost balance, the wrist snap that shouldn't have worked and did."High hockey intelligence," Ethan says. "He made the decision in a fraction of a second and committed to it completely." A pause. "The luck was in the bounce. The shot itself was a choice."Mia exhales in a long, slow stream. The tension that's been living in her shoulders since the

Toronto Pearson International Airport.Mia weaves through the bustling crowds, her suitcase trailing behind her at a brisk, determined pace.After ringing in the New Year with Ethan and Alice, clears her ledger of all the necessary family politics, she finally makes her move. Using the excuse of "collating urgent data for a collaborative project," she bids her parents farewell and makes her escape.She hasn't breathed a word to anyone about returning to Toronto early. Mia acts with deliberate speed, bumping her flight up by nearly a week.It is an agonizing secret to keep. She manages to pull the wool over everyone else's eyes, but Elias is by far the hardest to fool.Shortly after the Christmas game, the players think they will finally catch a break. Instead, the American team, the Bears, go on a relentless streak, their points climbing until they are breathing right down the Raiders' necks. Consequently, the Raiders' schedule is suddenly packed to the absolute brim.During every vid

Elias's hands roam restlessly across Mia's back, his palms searing through the fabric of her clothes as he drinks in the intoxicating heat of her skin.Just as the air between them thickens, the rhythmic thud of footsteps echo from the hallway. Driven by a raw, guilty reflex, Mia shoves Elias back, the force of it surprising them both.They stand a few feet apart, chests heaving in a ragged unison, neither looking particularly composed.Mia's cheeks are a vivid, incriminating crimson, and her lips—swollen and darkened from the relentless friction of his mouth—are a dead giveaway of exactly what they've been doing.She casts a panicked glance at the door before darting to the corner sink. She frantically tries to smooth her hair and steady her breath, her fingers trembling against her skin.A sharp rap on the door precedes Dr. Anderson as he swings it open. He's decided to pull a "surprise inspection" to ensure his star player is actually following his recovery protocol rather than sla