On his way to realizing his Olympic dream, Tom Alan Baranowski finds himself in the midst of a dilemma. His traditional Japanese coach is insisting upon an arranged marriage between his biological daughter Erika and adopted son Tom Alan, who are partners on the ice. Tom Alan loves Erika, and his coach literally saved his life, rescuing him from an abusive home. How can he say no?<br><br>Somewhat resigned to his “not so bad” fate, everything changes when Tom Alan meets British ice dancer Milo Fisher. The spark between them is almost hot enough to melt the ice beneath their blades, and the two fall into an affair.<br><br>What about Erika? What about loyalty? What about gold? For Tom Alan, the impossible throw quadruple jump is suddenly the least difficult thing in his life.

Quadruple Flip

“Mother,” she said, both eyes already brimming with tears—not at the force of the slap, it wasn’t that hard. More probably it was that she was sorry for whatever had caused it. “I didn’t mean to…”


“You will not disrespect your father, Erika”


The comment had not come off as facetious or sarcastic to Tom Alan. It had more of a sad tone, one of…reservation was a word he would eventually come to. Then he’d change it to resignation. He felt like a jerk sitting there, picking his thumb and thinking of vocabulary words instead of saying something, or hugging Kiki like he wanted so badly to do, but that’s what he did.


“Your father’s wishes remain the same whether or not he is here to see them through.”


“What are you saying?” Erika asked. “You just said we don’t need the money.”


“Money is not a good reason to wed. Nor is it a good reason to die. Your father brought the stress upon himself and I am angry at him for letting it take the toll that it did.”


Chapter 102