His Dangerous Love On Ice Chapter 181: Olive's Pov

The way he said it—with that particular emphasis on "closely" and "together"—made something uncomfortable settle in my stomach.

It wasn't overtly inappropriate, but there was an undertone there that I didn't quite like.

Before I could respond, Antonio stood and gave the room a charming smile.

"If we're done here, I have another meeting to attend. Nina, please send me the final timeline and production schedule once everything is confirmed."

He walked out, and the second the door closed behind him, Nina turned to face Sophia and me.

"I want to make something very clear," Nina said, her voice hard. "I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in my project teams. Miss Mercer, if I find out that you or any member of your team deliberately copied another team's work in order to sabotage them, there will be serious consequences. Do I make myself clear?"

Sophia's jaw was clenched her jaw. "Crystal clear."

"Good. Now, we still need to finalize the third candidate selection," Nina said, pulling up something on her tablet. "Miss Monroe, have you made your final choice?"

I nodded and pulled up my own tablet, showing her the profile I'd selected. "Yes, I've chosen Noah Stafford from the Western Conference. He has an excellent track record, strong social media presence, and his playing style aligns well with the campaign's technological focus."

"Excellent choice," Nina said, making notes. "Miss Mercer, what's your recommendation?"

Sophia pulled up the large screen and I already knew what I was going to see before the image appeared.

Cole Maddox.

Of course.

Sophia launched into her reasons for choosing Cole—his skills and achievements, his growing popularity in the hockey world, how he'd been personally approved by William Mercer himself as having strong potential.

I rolled my eyes and had to physically bite my tongue to keep from countering every single point she was making.

I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of fighting over Cole with her, wouldn't waste my energy debating the merits of my ex-boyfriend who'd proven himself to be completely untrustworthy.

"Thank you both for your input," Nina said once Sophia finished. "I'll review both candidates and make the final decision by end of week. We need to move quickly since the photo shoot is scheduled for two weeks from now."

She gathered her materials and stood. "Miss Monroe, Miss Mercer—I expect you both to finalize your strategies with your chosen candidates and have everything ready for the production team by Friday. No more drama, no more accusations. Just professional work. Understood?"

We both nodded, though Sophia looked like she was swallowing glass.

The second Nina left the room, Sophia turned to me with pure venom in her eyes.

"You think you're so clever," she hissed quietly enough that Jessica couldn't hear from where she was gathering her materials. "You think you've won something here. But you have no idea what's coming for you."

"Is that a threat, Sophia?" I asked calmly.

"It's a promise," she said with a cold smile. "Enjoy your little victory while it lasts. Because everything you've built here? It's all going to come crashing down. And when it does, I'm going to be there to watch you fall."

She walked out with Stephanie trailing behind her, leaving Jessica and me alone in the conference room.

Jessica looked at me with wide eyes. "Did that really just happen? Did Antonio actually choose our strategy?"

"He did," I said, feeling exhausted from the entire confrontation. "You did amazing work, Jessica. You should be proud."

"I couldn't have done it without you believing in me," she said quietly. "Thank you for letting me present. That meant more to me than you probably realize."

I gave her a tired smile. "You earned it. Now let's get back to work and make sure this campaign is everything we promised it would be."

As we left the conference room, I couldn't shake the feeling that Sophia's threat wasn't just empty words.

Something was building, some storm that I could feel gathering on the horizon.

And I had no idea how to prepare for it.