Chloe POV:

The name on the screen was Eleanor Hayes. My adoptive mother. My heart tightened again, but this time, for an entirely different reason.

I swiped to decline the call. I didn't want to talk to anyone from the Hayes family. But a text immediately followed.

"Chloe, come home for dinner tonight. We all miss you."

"Home?" I scoffed at the screen. That place was never my home. It was a gilded cage where I was always the outsider.

I tossed the phone aside and curled up on my bed, pulling my knees to my chest. Was last night a mistake?

My mind drifted back a month ago, to the engagement party for Xavier Hayes and Babette Franco. Xavier, the boy I'd loved for ten years, my nominal brother. Babette, my former best friend, the girl who took him from me.

At the party, Babette had flaunted her enormous diamond ring in my face. "Thank you, Chloe," she'd whispered, her voice dripping with venom only I could hear. "If you weren't so boring and pathetic, always following him around, how could he ever see how amazing I am?"

Xavier had just looked away, embarrassed, but silent. He let her humiliate me. In that moment, my heart finally died.

I couldn't let it go. I needed them to feel the same pain they had caused me. I needed to destroy the one thing they valued most: their obsession with climbing the social ladder. Babette had spent her entire life dreaming of reaching the highest circles of society, and Beckett was the peak she could never reach.

So I made a plan. Using my internship with the Stallions, I would get close to the one man in the league famous for being untouchable, for his absolute disinterest in women. The Ice God, Beckett Sterling.

I would become the one thing Babette could never be: the woman by Beckett Sterling's side. Even if it was only for one night, it would be the cruelest revenge I could ever give her.

I spent weeks studying his habits, his schedule, manufacturing "accidental" run-ins. I played the part of a bold, flirty, carefree puck bunny-exactly the kind of woman I thought he'd be interested in for a night.

And it worked. He noticed me. And then came last night.

But what was the price? I looked at the bruises on my wrists and laughed, a bitter, hollow sound. I thought I was the hunter, but I was the one who ended up torn apart.

I never wanted to get this entangled with a man like Beckett. He was a predator. Unpredictable, violent, and he made me tremble to my core.

I just wanted my revenge, and then I wanted out. But now, it felt like things were spinning out of my control.

The pain in my abdomen flared again, a brutal reminder of last night's violence. I struggled out of bed and into the bathroom, swallowing two painkillers.

Looking at my haggard reflection, I made a decision. This had to end. I couldn't keep his money. I had to break this connection.

I picked up my phone again, ready to transfer the money back, but the text from the Hayes family stared back at me.

I sighed. I couldn't avoid it. If I didn't go tonight, Eleanor would find a hundred ways to make my life hell.

She always did. Using the excuse of "caring for me" to control every aspect of my life. It had been that way since my parents died and they took me in.

"Okay, I'll be there," I texted back.

A wave of exhaustion washed over me. On one side, the terrifying Beckett. On the other, the predatory Hayes family. I was trapped in the middle of a spider's web.

But before I went to the Hayes house, there was one more thing I had to do.

I pulled up a map and searched for the nearest pharmacy. I had to get the pill he commanded me to take.

I changed into a turtleneck sweater to hide the bruises, adding a hat and a mask, covering myself completely.

Outside, the sunlight was harsh. I felt like a vampire, allergic to the day.

The corner coffee shop was playing sports news on the TV. Beckett's cold, handsome face filled the screen. He was giving a post-game interview, his answers short and clipped, the same impenetrable wall he showed on the ice. No one would ever guess what kind of monster he was behind closed doors.

I looked away quickly and hurried down the street, desperate to escape anything related to him.

I walked into the pharmacy, my head down, and found what I needed in a forgotten corner of the store.

The small box felt like it weighed a thousand pounds in my hand.

At the checkout, the pharmacist's sympathetic glance made me feel ashamed.

Outside the store, I leaned against the brick wall, tore open the package, and swallowed the pill with a bottle of water I had in my bag.

The bitter taste spread from the back of my tongue, just like the taste of my life right now.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Chloe POV:

The emergency contraceptive left me feeling miserable. A pounding headache and waves of nausea made it hard for me to stay on my feet.

Going home was only a brief escape. After buying the emergency contraceptive, I still forced myself to go to Stallions headquarters. I couldn't let what happened in my personal life affect my work. This internship was too important for me to lose.

Somewhere far below, I could hear the faint scrape of skate blades and the crack of a puck against the boards—morning practice. The sound that usually calmed me only made my stomach churn today.

I sat at my intern desk in the executive suite, sorting files, trying to look normal. The turtleneck felt like it was choking me, a constant reminder of what it was hiding.

Beckett's office was at the end of the hall, its heavy oak door shut.

We hadn't spoken since I left the hotel. He was a time bomb, and I had no idea when he would go off.

I snuck a look at my banking app. The hundred thousand dollars was still there. I had to find a way to give it back.

Just as my headache reached its breaking point, the sharp click of high heels echoed down the hallway. The sound was confident and deliberate, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

I looked up and saw the last person I wanted to see. Babette was dressed in a brand-new Chanel suit, wearing oversized sunglasses like she was on a runway.

She walked straight toward Beckett's office, ignoring me completely.

"Ma'am, do you have an appointment?" I stood up, my voice shaking slightly, trying to follow protocol.

Babette took off her sunglasses. Her perfectly made-up face twisted in surprise, then disgust, when she saw it was me.

"Chloe? What are you doing here? Working as a receptionist?" She laughed, a high, sharp sound. "Oh, right. I forgot your family went broke. I guess you have to earn a living somehow."

The words were a direct hit, but I kept my face blank. "This is the executive floor. You can't go in without an appointment."

"An appointment?" Babette laughed again, as if it were the funniest joke she'd ever heard. "I'm here to see Beckett. Who the hell do you think you are to stop me?"

She tried to push past me.

Other employees were starting to notice, whispering to each other.

I couldn't let her in. Not just because of the rules, but because I couldn't let her see Beckett. I didn't know what kind of relationship they had, but every instinct told me that letting her through that door would only lead to trouble.

I took a deep breath and blocked her path again, my voice firm. "I'm sorry, it's my job."

My persistence infuriated her. Her pretty face contorted with rage.

"You're just a pathetic intern, don't act like you're somebody!" She raised her hand, her palm flying toward my face.

I flinched, closing my eyes, bracing for the impact. The pain in my stomach and head peaked in that single moment.

But the slap never came.

There was a dead silence, then a sharp crack of bone and a pained cry from Babette.

I opened my eyes. Beckett was standing in front of me, his tall frame a solid wall, completely shielding me.

He had one hand clamped around Babette's wrist, his grip so tight her skin was already turning red and purple.

His face was a mask of cold fury, but his ice-blue eyes were a raging storm.

"Who gave you the right," he said, his voice low and deadly, "to touch anyone in here?"

Babette's face went white with fear. "Beckett... I... she wouldn't let me see you..."