Page 100 of Love on Ice

He shakes his head. “The fact that that girl has held a grudge against me for over a decade means she’s loyal as hell.” He chuckles. “Is it serious? I know it’s fairly new.”

“I like her, but we agreed to just date for the summer,” I confess to him.

“Oh, why?” he asks. I tell him everything, I need my brother to guide me, and hopefully, my shit will help him deal with his shit.

Then my sister Joelle calls and informs us that she told Kitty that the wedding was off. This sent Kitty into a huge meltdown where she started to destroy the home by throwing things, she was hysterical.I guess I can understand, slightly humiliating.Jo said that she wouldn’t listen to her when she was trying to explain why without embarrassing Kitty, but then her parents and bridesmaids got involved and were saying pretty horrible things. So she told them that Pierre caught her in the garden earlier screwing someone else. She told us how they went on and on about the lies, except Kitty, who got awfully quiet as did her bridesmaids. Her parents wouldn’t stop abusing her and the rest of the family, so she showed them the video which shut them up quickly. They said they would deal with their daughter and cancel the wedding quietly. Not sure how you can cancel a wedding for two hundred and fifty people quietly, but that seems like a them problem. Harper arranged for her driver to go back once he had dropped us off and wait for my family until they were ready to leave, and then he was given instructions to take them back to Florence for the night. My mom and sisters havedecided they are going to stay in Italy and explore, which I think is a great idea. The three of them never get time together.

“Hey, do you mind if I join you guys?” Harper asks.

“Of course,” I tell her.

“This is going to sound random, but I’ve been sitting here running over a PR strategy for you because once the news breaks of your runaway groom expedition, things are going to explode media-wise, and it’s going to be hard to put that genie back in the bottle.”

“Fuck,” my brother curses as he rakes his hands through his hair. “I haven’t thought of anything other than getting the hell out of there. How the hell am I going to be able to play for my team after all this?”

Shit. I was lucky that my breakup happened when my contract was up so I could peace out of there. “Is there a clause in your contract? Something about the team doing something to you?” I ask him.

“I’m going to have to talk to my agent. Fuck. I don’t know if anything like this has ever happened before.”

“Look, I know it’s not the same situation, but Harper was able to help me win against Cynthia,” I explain to my brother, who looks at me confused. Yeah, I forgot to mention about that. “Cynthia tried to take our home in LA for her silence. Harper has a friend who did some digging and was able to find out that not only was Cynthia cheating on me with Stephen, but she’s cheating on Stephen with her best friend, her best friend’s husband, who is a teammate and another teammate all because they host sex parties. Anytime I thought she was going over there for girls’ night, which was once a month, she went over there to screw other athletes and celebrities instead.”

“Fuck,” my brother curses.

“Anyway, I don’t know how, but Harper’s friend was able to find out info. I mentioned what they had found to Cynthia’slawyer, and she pulled her request for the house. Harper also warned me about how Cynthia might try to blame me publicly for the breakup and say I was abusive or anything like that to make her look good in the public eye, and she isn’t as huge as Kitty is in the influencer world,” I explain to him.

“You think she would do that to me?” Pierre asks, looking panicked.

“She might, but I think you should get a lawyer to approach Bill’s and tell him you know what he has been doing with Kitty behind your back. That you would like to be let go of your contract, but you need the contract paid in full in exchange for your silence. Do you have long on your contract?”

“Two years. You think he would take that?” my brother asks.

“A couple of million to a man who is worth billions,” Harper states.

“Would be closer to twenty million.” Pierre grins.

“Shit, well, that is a lot of money. Good on you. I still think it’s cheaper than a divorce from his wife of forty years who is probably entitled to half of his billions.” She’s right there. “Do you think you would be okay with staying silent over the situation?” Harper asks him.

“If it means I never have to play for his team ever again, hell yeah,” my brother answers.

“I know it seems easy now, but depending on what kind of contract Bill’s lawyers draw up, it could be ironclad. I’ve seen some and they are horrible. You would have to watch every single word that comes out of your mouth forever,” she explains.

“That sounds horrible,” I add.

“What choice do I have?” Pierre asks.

“You don’t have to worry about that now until something is presented by the lawyers. He may decide to be an asshole and not let you out of your contract.”

“Why the fuck would he not let me out of it?” Pierre asks.

“I know nothing about hockey, but I’m assuming you’re a good team?” Harper states. Pierre and I both nod. “Then it’s got to do with money, sponsors, all that stuff, and I’m guessing you’re the draw card.”

“He is,” I add.

“Bill is going to way that up, too. Unless Bill and his wife have an understanding, I doubt he wants her to find out he’s been messing with Kitty. I still believe that is going to be your biggest leverage, but please make sure when a deal is given that you way up all options,” Harper warns him.

“Maybe I should be hiring you to help with this nightmare.” My brother chuckles.

“If you need my services of course I’ll help,” Harper states. Pierre stares at her in shock. “You didn’t deserve this, but I will say it’s kind of epic karma.”

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