Harper walked into Seraphina’s office exactly on time. Seraphina liked how punctual Harper was, how she could count on the blogger to do exactly what was asked of her without question. She wore a simple black v-neck shirt and light blue skinny jeans. Her bangs were pinned back from her face so she could give Seraphina and Brandon her full attention.

“Oh,” she said when she saw Brandon, standing next to Seraphina behind her desk. It was almost as though he were some kind of bodyguard. Seraphina hoped she wasn’t intimidated. Brandon insisted on being here, and since this involved him, she thought he had a right to be here. Plus, she would be lying if she said she didn’t want him here. His presence always seemed to soothe her and she felt as though she could do anything when he was by her side. “I didn’t realize… Do you want me to come back? I can come back.”

Seraphina smiled. “You aren’t interrupting anything, Harper,” Seraphina insisted. “Brandon and I wanted to talk to you about your next article.”

“Oh?” Harper looked between the two, interest written on her face.

“Your last one was so good on the hypocrisies of gender expectation in the business of hockey,” Seraphina said. “I wanted you to do a follow-up with specific examples.”

Harper’s brows shot straight up in the sky. “Okay,” she said with a small grin. “Sounds good.”

“You aren’t going to be making any friends with this article,” Brandon pointed out. Seraphina pressed her lips together to keep an amused smile from breaking out onto her face. He always sounded so serious about everything, so stoic and morose.

“I didn’t with my last one,” Harper said. “Although that one hit Yahoo and Puck Daddy asked me to be a correspondent, which I turned down. I’m very happy where I am.”

Seraphina’s brows pressed up. “I didn’t know that,” she said.

Harper shrugged. “It’s not a big deal,” she said.

“Yes, it is,” Seraphina said, reaching for the phone. “Hang on one second.” She typed in a four-digit extension. Finance picked up on first ring. “Hi Lyla, this is Sera. Can you add a five thousand dollar increase to Harper’s salary, please? I’ll send the formal request over the intranet now but I wanted you to get it on the books for next check. Thanks.”

Harper’s eyes were wide when Seraphina hung up the phone and gave her a friendly smile. “Now that that’s taken care of,” she said, “Brandon called a team meeting in an hour and I want you to be there. I’m going to go into detail about what happened. Everything that’s happening. I’m tired of hiding. I’m tired of doing what I think is best for my grandfather’s team and start doing what’s best for mine. We’re going to be honest but that doesn’t mean we’re going to reveal everything. My relationship with Brandon is still private but I want to address Phil Bambridge and what he’s doing.”

There was a slow smile that crawled onto Harper’s face and her forest green eyes lit up with delight. “Okay,” she said with a nod. “I’m totally down.”

“Are you sure?” Seraphina asked, her face serious. “I’m glad you’re enthusiastic, Harper, but I want you to know that you’re going to be a target, too. Bambridge has already talked shit about you to the press and even though he’s a new GM trying to find his way, he has a lot of friends in high places.”

Harper shrugged. “I don’t care about that, Sera,” she said. “What he’s doing isn’t right and it’s totally sexist. I never even thought about owning a team one day or even managing an actual NHL club. But you’re doing it. You give other little girls who might actually want to do the same thing hope. And that’s important. And girls shouldn’t be afraid to come to positions of power with fear because some man is threatened by her and wants to take her down using gender-associated scare tactics. I’m behind you one hundred percent, Sera. No matter what happens, I’ve got your back.”

Seraphina felt her eyes tear up. She had been crying a lot lately, and quite frankly, she was annoyed with herself.

“Now, you might want to talk to Zach about this before you agree to anything,” Seraphina told Harper, trying to keep the shakiness out of her voice. “You’re going to put yourself out on the line by doing this and I want you to realize that other players may target Zachary Ryan by using you to try and goad him into a fight. I have an idea of how Zach might react but some players want their women to act a certain way so they can’t be used against the players.”

Harper snorted. “Zach definitely doesn’t care how I act,” she said. “Granted, maybe I should try a little harder when I show up at his games in yoga pants and his jersey but he seems to think I’m beautiful no matter what. He won’t be ashamed of me, he’d be proud. But I’ll talk to him even though I know he’s going to tell me to do what I think is right. And writing this article is what’s right.”

Seraphina felt her lips curl up. “Okay,” she said. “The meeting with the team is in an hour. I’m going to call a press conference for tomorrow, which just so happens to be my deadline, and let everyone know what I’ve decided. I’ll see you in the locker room?”

Harper nodded. “Absolutely,” she said with a grin.

Seraphina nodded. Once Harper was gone, she glanced at Brandon. “We’re doing the right thing, right?” she asked.

He clutched her shoulder with his hand and gave it a squeeze as he kissed the top of her head. “Absolutely,” he told her in a gentle voice.

* * *

The team meeting was called in a conference room rather than the locker room. Katella had picked up some sandwiches from a nearby deli, with fruit and a variety of soft drinks. Besides the two assistant coaches, the goalie coach, and Cherney, the only other people allowed in the conference room were the players. Katella and Harper also took seats in the back.

Once everyone had some food, Seraphina walked up to the front, feeling more nervous than she had since taking control of the team. Even her first meeting with them where Alec called her out on her ignorance did not make her feel like this. Her hands were clammy, her heart raced in her chest and pounded against her ribs, her mouth was suddenly dry despite the entire water bottle she drank before walking in here.

When she caught eyes with Brandon, who sat in front, he gave her a look that said, Relax. You’ve got this.

Seraphina took a deep breath and glanced out at her team as a whole. Her heart continued to jackhammer against her chest, and she was struck with the feeling that she had somehow let these players down, like she had made a selfish decision that put her own needs before the team’s. And then her eyes found Brandon’s once more and those thoughts completely vanished from her head. Yes, she made a selfish choice. She chose to give into temptation after holding back for a year and a half. But that didn’t make her a bad person. And, she had enough faith in her team that they would understand.

“Thank you guys so much for coming to this impromptu meeting,” she began, interlacing her fingers together and pacing around the room. She wished there was a podium to hold onto because she never knew what to do with her hands. “I know it was relatively last minute.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “As I know you know, Phil Bambridge is a dick.” The team laughed. “But now, he’s reached out proposing a trade. In exchange for Brandon Thorpe, he’s willing to give us Avery, Duke, and Thompson.”

The team got silent. Seraphina held her breath. She was aware what a tempting trade that was. Yes, she knew Thorpe was the best goalie in the league but games couldn’t be won without goals.

“I, of course, said no,” she continued. “There’s no way I’m letting Bambridge take the best goalie in the league. I also have confidence that we’ll get our scoring from all of you. I expect secondary scoring from our defense to our third and fourth lines. We’re going to have to work our asses off but it’ll be worth it, I promise you.” Seraphina crossed her arms over her chest and turned around, pacing in the opposite direction.

“Tomorrow, I will be holding a press conference, coming out with the fact that Bambridge is blackmailing me. I don’t plan to go into detail but I got some great advice from Drew Stefano and when I spoke with my lawyer, she agreed that the best way to combat blackmail is to tell the world the truth. Acknowledging what is happening takes power away. I’m telling you all of this because I want you to know that it’s going to be a lot harder from here on out. Not that playing the sport and kicking ass isn’t hard in the first place. But your manager and owner is a female who gets emotional and has feelings and a period and a vagina, and men don’t know how to react to things they don’t understand. And let me tell you, Phil Bambridge does not know how to talk to someone with a vagina.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t let them get in your heads. We’re so close, I’m sure you can almost taste it. So let’s keep going. Listen to Cherney and Anderson and Fasth. Listen to your coaches. When you go home, forget about hockey and hang out with your kids or your significant others or your friends. Don’t fight for me or for Kat or for anyone else except for yourself and your teammates.” She stopped pacing and perked her brows. “Do you have any questions?”

When no one raised their hands, she nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I have the press conference set for tomorrow. Like I said, it’s not mandatory to attend. Thank you guys so much for coming. If you have any questions at all, my door is always open.”

The players filed out, leaving Seraphina, Katella, and Brandon by themselves. Negan threw Katella a look over his shoulder, almost as if to say, I’ll catch you later and she winked in return.

Seraphina felt her insides warm at the exchange. Her sister was finally happy. She was making it work with a Gulls player, and she had a lot worse history than Seraphina did when it came to being with players. Maybe the media perceived Seraphina as inept, but they thought Katella was nothing short of a puck slut. And somehow, she got through it. She was happy. And if anyone called her that, she was certain Negan would defend Katella – if she needed the defending in the first place. Katella was apt at taking care of herself.

“You’re awesome, Sera,” Katella said, turning to her sister. “I’m so proud of you.” Her gaze flickered over to Brandon before looking back at Seraphina. “I’m so happy for you as well. I’m glad you finally took that step.”

Seraphina laughed but didn’t say anything.

Katella glanced at Brandon. “You don’t know it, but I’ve been telling her to get with you since she took over the team,” Katella pointed out. “So, you know, you’re welcome.”

Brandon laughed and Seraphina blushed.

“Where would we be without you, Kat?” she asked.