I twisted my lips, not wanting to spill secrets that weren’t mine.
“Is it Eva?”
I swallowed.
“I’d like to think he’s the kind of man who’d resign so he can pursue the woman he loves without the power imbalance that comes from employing her,” she continued.
“Me too,” I replied quietly.
“Cole always seemed to be the type of man who’d fight his father to his very last breath,” she continued.
“He is.”
“And yet?—”
I decided to trust her. We needed allies. “How better to take down his father than from the inside?”
Dr. Parker’s eyes widened behind her wire-rimmed glasses, and she leaned back in her chair. “That’s quite a sacrifice, given that he could simply graduate and play in the NHL, live his life in peace.”
I scoffed. As if anyone could escape Jed Carter if Jed Carter didn’t want them to. “It’s not just his future on the line,” I admitted.
“Eva’s,” she breathed. “Jed Carter threatened Eva. That’s what all of this is about. That stupid, stupid man, thinking fear would beat out love.”
I swallowed, that final word lodging in my chest. Was that what this was?
Of course it was.
Of course that’s what we were fighting for.
Eva. Alek. Cole. Myself.
Love.
Dr. Parker settled her hand on top of mine. “Is Coach Novikov involved?”
I nodded, and she laughed softly. “Good. And his cousin in the bratva?”
My eyes widened.
“What, you think I don’t know who I’ve been working with for the last six years?” she asked.
“Yes,” I answered shakily. “He is.”
Dr. Parker stood. “Stay here.” A moment later, she returned with a thumb drive. “Don’t burn me with this. He’s putting more pressure on athletic staff lately and isn’t bothering to hide his tracks.”
“Thank you,” I said, my eyes burning. Dust—she had to have dust in her apartment, no matter how immaculate it might have seemed.
“Tell Alek to stop being a martyr. It doesn’t suit him.”
I laughed softly.
“And tell Eva—” Her voice gentled. “You tell her she has more people in her corner than she realizes.”
Love. She hadlovein her corner. Why had it taken me so fucking long to realize it?
48
COLE