CHAPTER 3 #3
“He never spoke about it.” Daniel looked toward the paused screen. “After Parker left, Morgan started checking every younger player’s medical clearance himself. Not the details. He would ask whether doctors had signed off, whether the player understood the risk. Coaches thought it was leadership.”
“You think it was guilt.”
“I think guilt and leadership can wear the same jersey.”
Another phrase she would remember.
Luke entered without knocking. He carried Alex’s phone, which had been left charging in the locker room. “He asked me to give this to Olivia.”
“Why?”
“Unknown number sent another message.”
The screen displayed a photograph taken during the game. Alex in the penalty box, blood at his mouth. Olivia visible as a reflection in the owner’s glass above him.
The caption read: HE ALWAYS LOOKS UP BEFORE HE LOSES CONTROL.
Daniel read over her shoulder. “That was taken from the broadcast control room.”
“How do you know?” Olivia asked.
“The reflection is visible only on the isolated suite feed. We use it for sponsorship footage.”
Luke nodded. “Restricted room. Six staff credentials.”
Olivia forwarded the image to Noah. “I need those names.”
“I will get them,” Luke said.
She looked at him. “Will you get them legally?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Daniel laughed. “He had to think about it.”
Luke ignored him.
The door opened again. Adam Wilson entered with a cut over one eyebrow and a takeout container. “Are we having a secret meeting?”
“No,” all three said.
He sat anyway.
Olivia looked around at them: Daniel hiding intelligence behind charm, Luke making silence feel like a decision, Adam carrying reckless energy into every room. Noah’s reply arrived with a list of broadcast-control credentials before she finished the thought.
One belonged to Elaine Foster, the missing communications director.
Another belonged to Martin Vale.
“Why would the security chief have broadcast access?” she asked.
Luke read the list. “Executive emergency override.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened. “Vale was in the locker room after the second period.”
“Doing what?”
“He said Robert wanted updated security around the owner’s suite.”
Olivia’s father had stood beside her while someone used his security chief’s credential to photograph her watching Alex.
Whether Robert knew or not, his organization had become the delivery system for every threat.
Adam opened his food. “Should someone tell Morgan?”
“He knows Vale is compromised,” Olivia said. “He does not know about the broadcast room.”
Daniel slid off the table. “I will find him.”
“No.”
The word came sharper than intended.
Three players looked at her.
“I will tell him,” she said.
Daniel’s grin returned slowly. “Of course.”
Olivia did not dignify that with a response.
She found Alex near the medical room, sitting while a trainer examined his hand. He dismissed the trainer after seeing her face.
“What happened?”
She showed him the credentials.
His anger did not explode. It compressed.
“Vale was near the locker room,” she said. “The image came from broadcast control.”
“Then the threats are not only about you.”
“They have never been only about me.”
“He is documenting my reactions.”
“Building a narrative.”
“Violent captain. Vulnerable owner’s daughter.”
“Useful scandal.”
Alex stood. The trainer’s tape was unfinished around his knuckles. Olivia took the roll before thinking.
“Sit.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“You heard me.”
He sat.
She wrapped the tape the way she had watched trainers do since childhood, careful not to pull too tightly. Alex watched her hands.
“You defend me to reporters, investigate threats, and repair my tape,” he said. “Someone might misunderstand.”
“I am preventing you from bleeding on team property.”
“Of course.”
His voice held quiet amusement.
Olivia secured the tape and released his hand.
He turned it palm-up before she could step away.
Her fingers remained in his.
“Thank you,” he said.
The sincerity removed her easiest defense.
She withdrew carefully. “Do not make me regret it.”
“I am beginning to think that is our team motto.”
She left before he could see her smile.
The team security officers drove her home as agreed. Olivia spent the ride reviewing the access list and trying not to feel the shape of Alex’s palm against hers.
At her apartment, the hallway lights were on. The lock showed no damage. The security seal Alex had placed across the frame remained unbroken.
For one hopeful second, she believed the night was over.
Then she saw the envelope beneath her door.
Inside was a photograph taken from the owner’s suite during the game.
Olivia stood at the glass, her body angled toward the ice. Alex was visible below, looking up at her.
On the back, written in black ink, were seven words.
HE WILL BLEED BECAUSE OF YOU.
Her phone rang.
Alex.
She answered without speaking.
“Open the door,” he said.
Olivia looked through the peephole.
He stood in the hallway, still wearing his suit, one taped hand at his side.
“How did you know?” she asked.
His gaze lifted directly to the peephole.
“Because I got the same photograph.”
She unlocked the door.
Alex stepped inside and placed his phone in her hand.
His copy showed a different image.
Olivia leaving the press room alone.
The message beneath it read:
NEXT TIME SHE DOES NOT MAKE IT HOME.