Cole nods. His hand lingers on my arm before dropping.
He lets it go.
At 3 PM, I sit in Addison's office for me.
Adrian's voice sits in my head:Talk to Addison. About your thing.
Addison's office is the same as it's always been. Team photos on the walls. The desk that's more paper than surface. The coffee that's always too strong.
"Adrian said you needed to talk," Addison says. Direct. No preamble.
"My father was in town last week."
"I know. Talia mentioned a dinner."
"The dinner was a recruitment pitch. My family wants me back. The NHL career, they see it as a front. Something they can use." I pause because the rest of it sits under my tongue like a confession with teeth. "I've been handling it alone. For years."
Addison leans back and studies me. Same eyes as Talia. Dark, steady, missing nothing.
"I know what it means to build something clean over dirty money," he says.
He picks up his coffee, then sets it down without drinking.
"I grew up around it. My father's business wasn't the kind you talk about at career day." His eyes stay on mine. "That's all I'll say about that. But I hear you."
"How do you keep the two things separate?" I ask. "The clean and the rest of it."
"You build the clean things bigger," he says. "The program. The team. The life. Big enough that the dirty money doesn't get to own all of it."
He looks down at his coffee. "My father still calls me," Addison says. "Twice a year. Christmas and my birthday. He's eighty-three. We talk about hockey for ten minutes and hang up."
"Managed."
He picks up the coffee and takes a sip. "The people in your house are worth more than anything your father is offering."
"I know that."
"Then act like it."
I leave his office at 4 PM with my jaw tight and Wednesday closer than it was when I walked in.
Friday, 6 AM.
My phone buzzes.
Only data waits in the encrypted message.
David Ashford.
Current address: 47 Prospect Street, Unit 3B, Briarcliff.
Driving a silver 2019 Honda Accord, plate confirmed.
Daily routine: leaves the apartment at 8 AM. Coffee at Dunkin' on Main.
Walks the campus perimeter between 9 and 11 AM via the arboretum path, no security checkpoint on the eastern access, which is how he avoids the flagged entrances.
Returns to the apartment.
