His Dangerous Love On Ice (Olivia and Zane) novel Chapter 118

Cole’s POV

A memory flashed through my mind. Unbidden. Unwanted.

Two years ago. Before Olive. Before any of this.

I’d been nobody. Just another decent hockey player trying to make it in the NHL.. Talented, sure. But not exceptional. Not special.

And then I’d heard about Grayson Sinclair.

Former NHL executive. Current CEO of Hopkins Enterprise. Connected. Influential. The kind of man who could open doors that were closed to people like me.

He’d taken a few players under his wing over the years. Mentored them. Helped them navigate the politics of professional hockey.

I wanted that. Needed that.

But Grayson was notoriously selective about who he helped. You couldn’t just approach him. You needed an in. A connection.

That’s when I found out about Olive.

His stepdaughter. Working at his company. Close to him in a way that mattered.

I’d seen her around before. Pretty. Sweet. A bit naive. The kind of girl who believed in love and loyalty and all that fairy-tale bullshit.

Perfect.

It had been so easy.

I’d engineered a meeting. Spilled coffee on her at a charity event. Apologized profusely. Asked her to dinner to make up for it.

She’d said yes.

And from there, it was simple. Be charming. Be attentive. Be everything she wanted.

She’d introduced me to Grayson within a month.

He’d liked me. Thought I was good for her. Stable. Ambitious in he right ways.

He’d made calls. Opened doors. Helped me get meetings I never would have gotten on my own.

And all I’d had to do was keep dating his stepdaughter.

It should have been temporary. A means to an end.

But then something shifted.

Olive was… different. She wasn’t like the other women I’d dated. She didn’t play games. Didn’t have an agenda. She just genuinely cared about people.

About me.

And for the first time in my life, I’d felt something real. Something that wasn’t calculated or strategic.

I’d fallen for her.

Actually fallen for her.

Which made it so much worse when she left.

When she chose Zane over me.

When she looked at me like I was nothing and walked away.

I’d told myself I was over it. That I’d moved on. That Sophia was better anyway-more sophisticated, more connected, more useful.

But I was lying.

Because the truth was, I couldn’t let Olive go.

She was the only woman who’d ever made me feel like I was more than just my ambitions. The only one who’d seen something in me worth loving. Stood under the rains.

And now she was with him.

With Zane fucking Mercer.

The man who had everything I wanted and didn’t even appreciate it.

Sophia’s phone rang, cutting through my thoughts.

She grabbed it, her expression shifting to confusion as she looked at the caller ID.

“It’s my assistant,” she said, answering. “Hello?”

I watched as her face went from confused to shocked to horrified in the span

The attack on Hopkins. The rescue. The destruction of his own father.

All of it.

And we’d walked right into his trap.

“This isn’t the end,” Sophia said suddenly, her voice hard. “Once my father takes control of Hopkins-once he buys out Grayson-you’ll get that contract back. Whatever strings Zane pulled will unravel. We’ll—”

My phone rang.

We both looked at it.

Jacob. My new assistant.

I grabbed it, my hands shaking. “What?”

“Mr. Maddox.” His voice was tight. Professional. “I think you need to turn on the news. Right now.”

My heart was already sinking before I even reached for the remote.

What else could there possibly be?

But I turned on the TV anyway.

And that’s when I saw it.

My face. On the screen.

And a headline that made my blood run cold:

BREAKING: Cole Maddox Under Investigation for Contract Fraud and Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest

I couldn’t breathe.

Couldn’t think.

This wasn’t retaliation.

This was annihilation.

And Zane Mercer had only just begun.