Semua Bab Monsters on Ice: Bab 21 - Bab 30

Chapter 22 – Anchor Point Cody Brennan "She's right, Hunter... stop lying to your sister and just tell her it's true." The words left my mouth before either of them could speak. Lena stood frozen in the entryway, overnight bag on the floor, eyes moving between the three of us like she was still hoping the picture would rearrange itself into something less permanent. "How did you even get here?" Atlas asked, low, glancing at Hunter. "This address isn't public." "I sent it to her," Hunter admitted, jaw tight. "Weeks ago. In case of an emergency." He looked at his sister. "You didn't say you we're coming today." "I didn't think I needed an appointment, Hunter." Lena's eyes hadn't left the space between the three of us. "I called you a few weeks back. You told me about Cody. About wanting him — you used the word starving, if I remember right. Eight months, you said." Her gaze cut to Atlas. "I figured that part was real. What I didn't believe was the rest of it." "The rest of it," A

Chapter 24: United Front Atlas Kane "Step off my property in the next five seconds, Reyes, or you won't walk into that hearing tomorrow." Rain hit the black asphalt in a steady, relentless sheet, lit harsh by two mobile ring lights. Someone had rigged to the back of a rented SUV parked crooked across the end of our driveway. Dom Reyes stood near his car, legal folder tucked under one arm, a freelance crew fumbling with camera gear behind him in the downpour, a lean man in a windbreaker positioned slightly apart from the rest — private security or a hired investigator, I clocked immediately, someone who'd been paid to escalate rather than document. I stepped out into the driveway first, rain soaking through my shirt within seconds. Hunter took the right flank, broad and coiled, every line of him radiating restrained violence. Cody held the left line, steady in a way that surprised even me, watching the crew's hands and movements instead of Reyes's face, exactly the way I'd have po

Chapter 26: Out in the Open Hunter Conner "Get those cameras out of his face right now, or I'll break every lens on this plaza." The concourse had turned into a wall of noise the second we stepped through the glass doors — reporters pressed hard against the security line three deep, mics shoved forward at every angle, red recording lights blinking everywhere I looked in the gray morning light. Cold air cut through the open entrance behind us, doing nothing to cool the heat already climbing up my neck. "Mr. Brennan, is it true you're involved with both—" "Hunter, any comment on the leaked photos—" "Kane, does the organization know about—" "Keep walking," I said to Cody, low, my hand finding the small of his back and pressing him forward between me and Atlas, close enough that nobody could get a clean angle on him without going through one of us first. "Don't look at them. Don't answer a single question. Not one." Cody's jaw was tight, eyes fixed straight ahead on the

Chapter 28 Unbroken Cody Brennan "We're not taking those seats, Harlan, and you're not talking to Cody without us." Harlan's hand hovered over the three chairs he'd gestured toward at the far end of the table, jaw tightening at the refusal. The boardroom hummed with air conditioning and the smell of old carpet and stale coffee, a dozen executives shuffling folders they clearly hadn't finished reading before this meeting started, glancing at each other like nobody wanted to be the first to speak. We stood together instead — Hunter's shoulder solid against my arm, Atlas steady on my other side, both of them close enough that nobody in that room could have wedged a single word between us. A month ago, this many eyes on me would have made my knees buckle. I'd have shrunk into whatever chair they pointed me toward and let someone else do the talking. Now, it just felt like standing exactly where I belonged, chin level, spine straight. The general manager cleared his throat, a

Chapter 30 Monsters on Ice Atlas Kane "Three months ago, Harlan thought he could break us. Tonight, we just took his team's home ice." The banner hung from the rafters before we'd even finished the handshake line — CHAMPIONS, gold letters catching the arena lights, confetti still drifting down in slow spirals over the ice we'd just won on. Cody's stick was raised over his head, visor fogged, screaming something wordless into the roar of the crowd. Hunter had him by the back of the jersey, hauling him into a bear hug that lifted his skates clean off the ice. I watched them from a few feet away, chest still heaving from the final shift, and let myself feel exactly how far we'd come to stand on this exact patch of ice. "You scored the winner in the building that tried to trade you away," I said to Cody once we'd made it back to the locker room, gear half-stripped, champagne already opening somewhere down the row of stalls. "I hope you understand the poetry in that." "I understand