Alle Kapitel von The Hockey Star Wasn't My Baby's Father. His Father Was : Kapitel 41 – Kapitel 50

041: RONAN POV"So why are you actually here, Ronan? Not the version you'd tell your teammates. The real reason."Dr. Ferris asks it plainly, no judgment in her voice, just genuine curiosity, and I sit with the question longer than I expect to before answering. I found her through the athletic department's counseling referral list, picked more or less at random, and I haven't told anyone I'm coming here. Not my coach. Not Elara. Not my father."I hurt someone," I say finally. "Someone I've known my whole life. I want to understand why I did it, and I want to make sure I never do it again to anyone else.""That's a real reason." She makes a small note, unhurried. "Tell me about the hurting. Not the excuse for it. Just what happened."I tell her about the kitchen. The grip. The kiss she didn't fully consent to in the moment I forced it. I tell her about the folder my mother sent, the blackmail, the version of myself that briefly considered doing what she asked before deciding against it

043: ELARA POV"You're going to need to give a formal deposition. Sooner rather than later, given the freeze motion timeline."Kieran's family attorney, a sharp, unhurried woman named Patricia Ashford, slides a folder across the conference table toward me, and I take it without flinching the way I might have months ago at the word "deposition.""What does that actually involve?" I ask."Sworn testimony, recorded, answering questions about the estate, the original rumor, the harassment pattern everything relevant to both the civil case and the criminal complaint. It's more formal than a conversation, less formal than trial testimony. You'll have Kieran and me both present throughout.""When?""Ideally before the freeze hearing in two days, so we have your sworn account on record supporting the emergency motion." She studies me for a moment, something assessing in her expression. "Are you ready for that timeline? I don't want to rush you if you need more preparation."I think about the

045: ELARA POV"The court grants the emergency motion. All remaining assets in the trust are frozen effective immediately, pending resolution of the underlying criminal matter."The judge's words land in the courtroom with less drama than I expect, delivered in the same flat, procedural tone she's used for everything else this morning, but I feel Kieran's hand briefly touch my shoulder beside me, quiet acknowledgment of what we just won.Eleanor doesn't react visibly from her seat across the room, her composure as immaculate as always, though something tight around her mouth suggests the ruling landed harder than her expression admits. Her attorney leans in to murmur something, and she nods once, already recalibrating, already, I imagine, searching for whatever angle comes next.I don't feel triumphant walking out of the courthouse. I feel something quieter than that — relief, mostly, the specific relief of watching a wound finally stop actively bleeding even though the healing itself

047: ELARA POV"Can we talk? Actually talk, not just text back and forth."Ronan's call comes in two days after the photo breaks, his voice careful in a way that makes me set down whatever I'm doing and give him my full attention immediately."Of course," I say. "What's going on?""Not over the phone. Can I come by? Somewhere neutral, if that's easier. I know your dorm's probably still a lot with everything happening."We settle on the campus coffee shop near the library, a quiet corner table tucked away from the main foot traffic, and I get there first, watching him cross the room a few minutes later with something more measured in his walk than the old confident swagger I remember from years ago."Thanks for meeting me," he says, sliding into the seat across from me."You sounded serious on the phone.""I wanted to actually talk about the photo. Not just the polite text version." He wraps his hands around the coffee cup in front of him, not drinking from it, just holding it like it

049: ELARA POV"Miss Vale, can you confirm the nature of your relationship with Dominic Hale? Miss Vale... just one question—"The reporter's voice trails after me across the quad, one of three who've been camped near the lecture hall entrance since the photo broke wider than I expected it to. I keep my head up, keep walking, the old instinct to run buried under months of practice at simply enduring instead of fleeing.It's worse than the initial scandal in some ways, this second wave quieter, more persistent, less explosive but somehow more exhausting for its sheer duration. The estate case going fully public has reignited interest that had started to fade, and now every trip across campus involves some combination of reporters, curious classmates, and the occasional stranger who feels entitled to comment on my life as though I owe them an explanation.A professor pulls me aside after my afternoon lecture, gentle and unexpected in her kindness. "