(Kane)
The championship arena had gone quiet hours ago, but the weight of the game still pressed on my chest.
I sat alone on the visitors’ bench, stick across my knees, staring at the ice. My father’s voice from our earlier call still echoed — sharp, commanding, unyielding. Target her. This is for Lila. Don’t go soft now. The same script we had followed since her injury. The same iron expectations that had shaped me into the captain who ruled with force.
But tonight, those words felt like chains I no longer wanted to wear.
I rebelled in the smallest ways. I stayed on the ice longer than necessary. I replayed every moment with Danica — the way she held the flowers I gave her, the brief softness in her eyes when I mentioned Lila, the way she kept fighting no matter what I threw at her. S
