Page 49 of Heart on Ice

“Did she not tell you?” Felix asks. I shake my head. “Maybe she didn’t want to get your hopes up. Harper’s father is on the board of The Mavericks, so he has some sway, but of course it would only be possible if there is space.”

“I’ll sit on the bench if I have to,” I tell him.

Felix claps me on the shoulder. “There is no way in hell they are benching you.” My phone starts ringing, and when I look down it’s from an unknown number. “Answer it, it could be The Mavericks,” he pushes.

“Hello,” I answer.

“You’re leaving the Devils?” Kitty shrieks into my ear. I’m stunned. This is the last person I thought I would hear from. Felix hears her and tells me to put it on speaker, then he pulls out his phone and starts recording. Good thinking, little bro.

“I’m guessing Bill called you.”

“He didn’t have to call me. I’m still in Italy at his place. You know where we were supposed to get married,” she answers. Of course she is. “I can’t believe you are doing this to him.” To him? What about me.

“I’m glad you are more worried about his feelings than mine.”

“Of course I’m worried about your feelings, I just think it’s a stupid move. You’re going to be a free agent at this age. Good luck with that,” she scoffs.

“What I do or don’t do is none of your business.”

“It damn well is my business. You are still my fiancé.”

I’m still. “No, I’m not.”

“To the public you still are,” she snaps.

“One post and I can sever that,” I tell her.

“What are you going to tell them? That you left me at the altar because you had cold feet. You promised Bill you wouldn’t say anything. The public are going to crucify you.”

“You seem to think I care what the public think.”

“Oh, you will when no one wants to hire you because of all the hate you are getting. You’ll be a PR liability.” She chuckles.

No screw her. “I’m willing to risk it.”

Kitty squeals. “Do you hate me that much?” she questions me.

“Come on, Kitty, this marriage was going to end in divorce before our first wedding anniversary. You know we weren’t working. I guess I thought it was me, but now I realize it was because of you,” I tell her.

“Not my fault I found a real man,” she snips.

“A real man,” I scoff. “Would a real man be cheating on his wife of forty years with someone young enough to be his daughter?”

“You know nothing about Billy and me. He's going to leave Michelle, he’s just organizing his assets so she can’t take them.”

“Who are you? The Kitty I used to know wasn’t this vindictive. Michelle was always lovely to us. As were their kids, you’re friends with them for fuck’s sake,” I remind her.

“They will get over it once they see how much Billy loves me.”

Is she delusional? “He called you a gold digger in the meeting today.”

“Billy would never. You’re just trying to hurt me.”

Yep, she’s delusional. “Look, now that my contract is sorted, I’m going to talk to my PR, and you should talk to yours and ask them to release a statement telling the world we have decided to break up.”

“Do you have any idea the embarrassment you have caused me? The amount of money we have to pay back for services that we never used that I was supposed to post about. The mental anguish of being left here to deal with the aftermath of you walking out on me.” She cries.

Usually, her tears would work on me, but they don’t anymore. “You seem to keep forgetting that you cheated on me, Kitty. You did this to yourself. So many times, I asked you to cancel this wedding, and you wouldn’t. You wanted this moment more than you ever wanted me.”

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