My lawyer, Malik, was young, and honestly a bit of a shark, but I liked him like that. “With all due respect, sir, I can only sue them for slander, or damage to the company’s reputation, if the statements made aren’t actually true.”

“She’s not a fucking whore!”

Malik raised a hand. “What you do in your relationships is none of our damn business. I really hate this tabloid shit. But if you’re all in a relationship with this woman, then we don’t have much of a leg to stand on.”

“She isn’t fucking Clint Vanmussen.”

Malik shook his head. “It very carefully didn’t suggest that she was. Only that she was seen leaving his house in the early hours.”

I slammed my hands on the table. “We were all fucking there that night. This is such a goddamn clusterfuck.” I looked around the table. “Fix this. I don’t care who you have to bribe or threaten, nothing like this gets printed again. Buy the company and fire the fuckers if you have to. I’ll be at home.”

I strode out of the conference room and back into my office, grabbing my shit. I needed to go home. We’d only just settled shit with Nova, and if this got to her before we did…

Giving Tom a barrage of instructions on the way out the door, I stared down the people who tried to get into the elevator with me. I needed a fucking moment, and the less people who saw me the better. I was so close to losing my cool, to becoming someone I hated. I had to get my shit under control before I saw Nova. The thought of her reading that vile poison and being hurt by it made me irrationally angry.

Walking to my parking spot, I climbed into the Porsche and slammed my palm on the steering wheel. “Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

I tried to call Nova, but it was just ringing out. I also tried the guys, but their phones just went to voicemail. Tom had tried to get the sponsor rep for the team to come to my emergency meeting, but apparently they’d declined, which was a fucking problem. This was going to blow up in all our faces.

I weaved through traffic, the radio on low. But when I heard the word IceCaps, I turned it up.

“And the big news coming out of the hockey world this morning is the little love nest the team is turning into. One girl for the whole team? We had a word for that back in high school, but I don’t think I can say it on air,” one radio presenter laughed.