I had no idea what she’d been planning to do with those ones, but they scared the hell out of me.

She wasn’t granted bail and was put in a psychiatric treatment facility while she awaited trial for attempted murder. I hated that Nova would have to go through that. Hated that she’d have to relive those moments again.

And through all this, we were expected to play as normal. Nova had promised she was okay, and Devan was working from home, putting his VP in charge of anything that didn’t need his direct input. That made it partially better, but I hated that I couldn’t be there for her, and I knew Rigby felt the same.

We had a meeting with Monderra, and honestly, if I didn’t like what was said in the meeting, I was this close to telling him to fuck right off. I had no patience for his money-making bullshit when my girlfriend had almost died at the hands of a fucking sports reporter.

Turns out ASPN had received multiple complaints from cameramen and photographers assigned to her, about her obsessiveness about the IceCaps and me in particular. They’d ignored the complaints because she was pretty and the viewers liked her.

Ted, her cameraman, had personally come and apologized to me. The guy looked rough, his face etched with guilt. “I’m sorry, man. I knew she was off, and I reported her to HR, but I should have warned you specifically. I didn’t think she’d do that shit, you know?”

Yeah, I got it. Destroy my career in the media, sure, but no one expected her to be a gun-wielding maniac. I didn’t blame Ted, but I sure as shit blamed ASPN. Devan was having his lawyer sue the company on Nova’s behalf. It wouldn’t make up for the mental damage, but it would give those fuckers a bit of accountability.

I met Rigby in front of the elevators. We’d both been summoned, apparently.

“You think he’s gonna trade us?”

I shrugged. “He’d be a fool to do it now that we’re in with a chance at the playoffs. He’d wait and spring it on us after the season was done.” He wouldn’t want us to put in a half-assed effort, like we ever would. I loved my team too much to punish them for Monderra’s bureaucratic bullshit.

We were led into the conference room by the receptionist, and Monderra was already there with the team lawyers, as well as Monderra’s daughter. I’d heard he was training her to take over, but she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here. The lawyers all looked stony-faced.

Ah shit. This wasn’t good. My agent, Tony, was there too, and I raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged, like he didn’t know what was going on either.