Sokolov exhaled quietly, and what hit me was that it wasn’t a sign of impatience, but disappointment.
“Luka,” he said, his voice low, his tone almost reasonable. “This is not only about what is true.”
Of course it was not.
“It is about perception.”
The word settled heavily into the room, joining the others I knew so well. Perception. Image. Narrative.
Always narrative, never reality. Never what people actually felt, only what they could be made to represent.
The media representative stepped closer, his posture relaxed in a way that felt calculated. “You understand what you represent here.”
Not a question. It wasnevera question.
I held his gaze. “Yes.”
“And you understand,” he continued, “that certain narratives—if they gain traction—can damage not only you, but your partner, your federation, and your country.”
Each word placed carefully, deliberately. I felt Mila’s name inside the sentence even without it being spoken aloud. That was intentional too.
Pressure worked best when shared.
My throat tightened, but not because they frightened me.
What filled my head was Dean. His laugh, his smile. The way he looked at me as though I was a person instead of a project.
They weren’t talking about a narrative.
They were talking about him.
One careless moment, one visible fracture, and suddenly Mila would carry consequences she had never asked for.
The representative sat next to Sokolov, his hands folded loosely in front of him.
“This ends.”
He spoke calmly without raising his voice or showing any sign of anger.
Neither was necessary.
When I didn’t react, he narrowed his eyes.
“This association with Foster ends.”
Silence filled the room.
I did not answer.
For one reckless second, I wanted to tell them no.
The impulse shocked me almost as much as the order itself.
This was the moment Mila had warned me about in quieter words. Marek too, only not so quiet. The one I had been moving toward since the first moment Dean Foster looked at me as if I mattered outside the ice.
“You are here to win medals,” Vasiliev said smoothly, “not invite unnecessary scrutiny.”
Another carefully sanitized word.
