The news fell upon Jake with the weight of a poor technical score in an Olympic final. Seeing Taishi cross the complex doors without the duffel bag, the certainty of disaster hit him head-on. He slammed his blades into the ice with a sharp turn, kicking up a dense spray of frost that sprayed against the base of the rink. He skated at full speed, taking long, desperate strides toward the acrylic barrier where Venka was already waiting for him, brows furrowed and arms crossed.
"He wouldn't let me take it," Taishi said bluntly the moment he reached the edge of the rink, stopping in front of them with stiff shoulders and a voice heavy with restrained frustration. "Zinov was there, pushing. He used the hospital policies to his advantage. But that wasn't the worst of it, Jake... It was Aibek. He asked me himself to leave the equipment with the Russian. Looking me straight in the eye."
