Thin Ice

Nolan Mercer knows how to play hurt.

At thirty-four, the veteran St. Louis winger has spent more than a decade turning pain into championships - and keeping his mouth shut about everything else. But when a man connected to Nolan's former team dies trying to contact him, the Guardians are brought in quietly before the Stanley Cup Final begins.

Former Olympic hopeful Elias Ward is assigned to protect hockey's most stubborn client through the biggest series of his career. Stay close. Control the risk. Don't get emotionally involved.

Simple.

Except Nolan remembers things he shouldn't about the long-ago death of a rookie teammate. Things someone powerful thought had stayed buried. Things that may explain why Nolan's body has been slowly failing him for years.

Now the attacks around Nolan are escalating. The Stanley Cup Final is days away. And Elias is falling for a man who treats injuries like inconveniences, hides guilt behind playoff grit, and refuses to stop digging for the truth - even when that truth may get them both killed.

Because the body remembers what the record forgot.