Chapter 1

"Are you out of your mind?"

"The scouts are coming tomorrow, and you want to ditch the regional finals just to take care of her after a botched cosmetic procedure?"

I tipped off the school board to stop him from ruining his life.

Because of me, he won the championship and secured his draft pick. But because he stood her up, his girlfriend dumped him.

Years later, he sat at the top of a billion-dollar sports enterprise, while I was a researcher working for him.

Out of nowhere, he brought a carbon-fiber hockey stick down on my hands, crushing my finger bones to splintered dust

"Maeve, you cold, calculating machine," he spat. "This is your karma."

When I opened my eyes again, the agonizing pain was gone.

I had just been given a second chance.

——

"Jaxon’s slapshot is insane! Did you see his abs when his jersey rode up?"

"His jawline could cut glass... I bet kissing him would ruin my life in the best way."

Perched in the top bleachers, Aspen Monroe was broadcasting the hockey practice on TikTok Live. Her illegally hemmed cheer skirt exposed a long stretch of pale legs.

"Don't just talk about it, Aspen! Work that TikTok magic and claim him," her sycophants giggled around her.

"Oh, trust me. By this weekend's winter blowout, he is absolutely going to be my exclusive plus-one."

Aspen purred into her iPhone, blowing a kiss at her livestream before ending the broadcast.

"Wow! The queen bee Aspen is personally taking down the untouchable ice king!"

A wave of excited squeals echoed through the freezing arena.

"Maeve, you're his little ‘exclusive data pet,’ aren't you? What do you think? Will he reject me?"

Aspen suddenly strutted over to my desk.

She playfully twirled a bleached blonde extension around her acrylic nail.

Looking into her teasing eyes, I was violently yanked from the void.

I clutched my chest, gasping for air.

I was back.

Just yesterday, she had peeked at my laptop screen and seen the hundreds of biomechanical models and velocity charts I had built, all labeled with Jaxon’s name.

She had mocked me, loudly branding me a "obsessive stalker" who didn't even have the guts to confess.

Now, she was making a grand, public spectacle of her plan to conquer him.

In my past life, Aspen had asked me this exact same question.

Under the staring eyes of the popular clique, my labor was stripped of its dignity and paraded around as a high school crush.

Everyone believed I was desperately in love with Jaxon Pierce.

Because of that, when I later stopped him from throwing his hockey finals and reported their reckless behavior, everyone assumed I did it out of unrequited jealousy.

My biggest mistake in my past life was standing in the way of their toxic romance.

Jaxon and I practically grew up together.

His family had funded mine when we hit rock bottom, and I used my intellect to pay off that invisible debt.

I had watched him endure agonizing all-nighters, pushing his body to the breaking point on the ice.

And he knew exactly the price I paid in return—staying awake until dawn to analyze his every stride and glide trajectory.

We both knew the brutal machinery behind his "effortless" star status.

"Keep my draft stock high, Maeve," he had promised me under the summer sun. "We’ll go to Boston together. I’ll make sure you're the top sports mechanic in the country."

Like a fool, I ran my brain into the ground trying to keep his crown intact.

Until Aspen arrived.

She was a walking dress-code violation and a TikTok sensation.

With her borderline-softcore dance trends and brainless hedonism, she offered a fatal attraction to Jaxon’s high-pressure life.

Jaxon skipped practice to get into fights for her. He started drinking at her parties.

Finally, he wanted to abandon the regional finals just to comfort her because her lip fillers got botched and she was crying.

Because I reported them to the school board, Aspen was expelled and sent away. Jaxon was forced back onto the ice, secured his NHL draft pick, and I safely escaped to MIT.

After retiring from sports, Jaxon inherited his family's wealth and became a billionaire entrepreneur.

Aspen, however, married an older Wall Street executive right out of high school and was eventually beaten to death in a domestic dispute.

The day Aspen died, Jaxon lured me into his lab.

He cornered me, his eyes unhinged as he roared, "Maeve, if you hadn't driven her away, she wouldn't be dead!"

"Why do you get to sit up here on your high horse?"

Then, he brought a hockey stick down on my hands, shattering my ten fingers and destroying my career forever.

I sued him, but his elite legal team claimed "temporary psychological distress." He was acquitted.

At the thought, I couldn't suppress a cold scoff.

"Hello? Earth to the freak?" Aspen’s shrill voice snapped me back to the present.

She was waving a hand in front of my face.

"Answer me. Is Jaxon going to invite me to be his exclusive plus-one for this weekend's winter blowout?"

I looked at Aspen's triumphant face, and then down at the ice, where Jaxon was currently fumbling a pass because he was distracted by her legs in the stands.

"I hope you two have a fantastic time at the party."

I calmly reached out and closed my laptop, severing the data stream that had kept his career afloat.