Emily’s POV “Why did you bring me here?” I stepped forward into the hockey arena, and the cold hit me instantly—sharp, biting, seeping straight through my coat to settle deep in my bones. We had flown here on Will’s private jet, sitting side by side in silence, and now I stood in a place I had never seen before, a place I never should have been. Every step felt heavier than the last, every breath felt like I was walking into something I couldn’t turn back from. “Follow me,” Will said, and he started walking ahead of me, his back straight and sure, as if he owned every inch of this ice and every person inside it. I walked behind him, my eyes scanning the huge room. Several players were out on the ice, laughing and joking, passing a puck back and forth. But then my breath caught. I knew those faces. I had painted them. All of them. The men in the portraits Will had asked me to do—the ones he said were important, powerful people. They were here. They were real. And they were looking
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