The Ice Professor’s Star
Lena’s POV
“How dare you?!”
My voice echoed through the grand suite as I snatched the contract from Victor Kane’s desk and shredded it with my hands shaking.
“Did you honestly think I’d just stand here and agree to this?”
Victor Kane—commissioner of the Hockey Federation and the ruthless Kingmaker whose name dominated the headlines as the glories of players are rumored to rest on his shoulders—stood across from me.
Tonight, I stood before the so-called kingmaker—or should I say predator?—because my boyfriend fed me to him with a sugarcoated lie I bought too easily.
“Control yourself little one,” Victor drawled, brushing imaginary lint from his cuff, smiling as if I were a child throwing a tantrum. “This outage of yours is unnecessary.”
“I’m not part of this little arrangement of yours,” I shot back, my chest heaving. “Whatever Adam had promised you, I didn’t sign up for it. I would never.”
Adam Steele, captain of Northbrook Hockey Academy—the elite school where dreams were sharpened into NHL contracts—was my boyfriend and the golden boy of the campus. He’d already scored his hundredth career goal and been scouted by two NHL teams before eighteen, a feat most players only dreamed of much later.
People, myself included, believed Adam was walking the same path as Cole Mathew—the NHL breakout star who made his first debut nine years ago at age sixteen—that I once scribbled about in my dairy, dreaming of meeting him one day.
Despite Adam's reckless habits off the rink, everyone believed he was Northbrook’s version of Cole, living the same dream and walking the same path in a younger body. But for me…Cole Mathew was different. He was untouchable and far out of my league but I was able to make Adam mine or so I thought.
Tonight was Adam’s eighteen birthday celebration, instead of celebrating with him, Adam sent me over to see Victor Kane with the promise of getting the Helmsworth Scholarship game—a rare chance to escape my penniless life and care for my terminally ill mother and then get into the highest level of the game without depending on Adam anymore—after the meeting.
It was indeed a life-time opportunity and ever since he told me he had submitted a proposal to Victor Kane for me to meet with him, I have daydreamed of a better life.
Now, standing here in this suffocating suite, I realized the gut wrenching truth about how Adam hadn’t set this up to give me a shot of all that I had ever hoped for, but had thrown me into the fire to save himself.
Victor adjusted his suit that framed his broad shoulder in an intimidating manner and stepped closer, his shoes clicking on the marble. “You seemed shocked Lena, why? Adam made it crystal clear. He owes me, and you…” His smirk curved sharply like a blade, “…were the currency he offered.
‘Currency? I was just a mere note?
“You’re lying,” I spat defensively, my stomach churning. “Adam would never do such. He wouldn’t. He loves me.”
Victor laughed in a low, humorless manner. “You really think your school’s star, your legend, is some kind of saint? He’s drowning in debts that cracks in his recklessness on his family business had made, and he made bad decisions that have offended powerful people that only I can save him from their claws. He came crawling to me, and you were his bargaining chip.”
“That’s not true. I know Adam might be reckless, but not reckless enough to offend the high ups when he knows what he has to lose by doing so,” I shot.
Victor gave off a croaked laugh once again, “You were probably too dumb and naive to notice his games, lies, and the fact that he cares about no other person but himself.”
I stared at him, stunned, as memories of how Adam sent me to clubs where men pawed at me, let their fingers brush my skin, laughing at the disgusting look on my face and how he silenced my protest when I came back with a casual kiss-slammed back at me.
“No…” My voice cracked, shaking my head, “Not my Adam.”
Victor’s humorless chuckle crawled under my skin. “Your golden boy is no saint, Lena. He sold you to me to seal the deal, and he did it willingly,” his gaze pinned to me like a hawk stalking its prey.
A wave of nausea rushed through me, with anger and betrayal crashing all at once. My chest tightened until I could barely breathe, but I didn’t want him to see me break so I kept my shoulders up.
“I’m not for sale,” I retorted through gritted teeth, my voice trembling despite my effort to keep it steady. “And I’m done with this conversation.”
Victor’s eyes flickered lazily from my face to the door behind, a sly smile curling on his lips. “Sweetheart, Adam owes me more than you can imagine, and walking out will cost you both your careers,” he voice dropped as his hand snaked around my waist. “It’s better to accept the plan, play the role of a sexy whore for night and save yourself the trouble.”
Something inside me snapped from the way he objectified me and without thinking twice, I shoved his hand off me and slapped him across the face, the sound tearing through the room.
A red mark bloomed on his face that tilted to the side, and I froze, my hand still trembling in the air.
Victor’s jaw flexed as he slowly turned his face back to me, his eyes narrowing with a lethal gleam. “That,” he sucked his tongue, rubbing his jaw slowly, “was a very big mistake.”
“I don’t care. I’ll never sell myself to save Adam or anyone, no matter what's at stake,” I growled in a shaky voice.
His smirk widened as he took another step closer to me with every inch of him radiating control and danger while I moved back. “You don’t get it, do you, Lena? You’re already in this. Adam dragged you straight into the fire, and whether you like it or not, you’re going to burn with him.”
I didn’t wait for him to release any other poisonous words from that trap of his, I grabbed my purse with trembling fingers and bolted for the door with my vision blurring with unshed tears.
“Run if you want, but you’ll be back. This world doesn’t let girls like you survive without men like me,” Victor called after me, his voice stiff.
I slammed the door behind me, my heart pounding hard, but I refused to be broken without a fight so I made my way straight to Adam’s to hear what the horse had to say.
The party was in full swing when I arrived, music thundering and laughter spilling into the night.
“Adam!” I screamed, shoving the front door open, the music cut as every eye turned to me. My gaze swept through the crowd in search of him, but he wasn’t there so made my way up the stairs to his room, murmurs breaking out like wildfire as I stormed past them.
I threw the door open as well without bothering to knock, and I saw Casey Hart-the president of the student council known for her perfect figure-on all fours naked, Adam behind her, pants shoved half way down, grunting like a wounded lion as he pounded her like a rabid animal.
“You bastard!” I cried out. “So selling me off tonight to cover up your debt wasn’t enough? You had to fuck her also?”
Adam’s head whipped towards me as he pulled his pants up, his face twisted not in guilt like I thought, but in fury. “How dare you show your face here after what you did?!” He roared, “You had one job to do, one damn job and you chose to ruin everything.”
“You’re disgusting!” I retorted as the tears that blurred my vision now fell freely. “After setting me up in such a messy situation, you have the guts to be screwing someone else?”
“Don’t you dare lecture me,” He snarled, leaving her side to me with his hand clamping around my throat. In one swift motion, he slammed my back against the wall and pulled me up, my toes barely scraping the ground.
“Adam,” I wheezed, my fingers wrapping his wrist as his grip tightened.
“You think you’d even be breathing right now without me? He roared, spit flying with every word onto my face that was just inches from his. “I kept your pathetic mother alive, paid for Northbrook, put you on the ice. I made you, Lena. So you belong to me-your body, everything!”
“Adam please. You…you are choking me,” I gasped, with more tears rolling down my face.
“You owe me everything,” he scoffed, ignoring my plea. “And if you know what is good for you, you will march your ungrateful ass back there, seal the damn deal, and save what little career you’ve got or get ready to kiss it all a fat goodbye,” with that, he shoved me aside.
I collapsed coughing as my chest burned.
“F…Fuck you Adam,” I rasped between the dry that tore through my throat. “To hell with you, your bloody fame and scholarship. I’m done.”
“No you aren’t, it is not over till I say it is. So get your ungrateful self up and go get that deal signed if you know what is good for you.”
I dragged myself to my feet and staggered out of the room. When I got to the stairs, the entire party had gathered and the music had also stopped completely. They stared up at me with wide eyes, their whispers humiliating.
