Katarina wakes in Saint Louis University Hospital in severe pain, immediately aware of Heath holding her hand and of the medical equipment attached to her. Seeing Heath still dressed in his free-dance costume and noticing blood on his shirt and her ruined white dress makes the extent of her injury unmistakable.

As Katarina tries to piece together what happened, she remembers that Heath warned her not to skate after the warm-up crash. Katarina recalls taking the ice anyway, but everything after that is fragmented into sensations of falling, bright lights, and being lifted from the rink.

Katarina’s first urgent concern is not her health but Nationals and the Olympic team announcement. Heath tells her only that she fell and was hurt, then admits he does not know what happened with the team because he does not care about the competition anymore.

A half-memory of Bella pleading with Heath surfaces, and it makes Katarina suspect that something important happened after her collapse. When Katarina directly asks Heath what he did, Heath refuses to explain and insists that the only thing that matters is that Katarina survived, ending the chapter on the suggestion that her injury triggered a major, still-hidden decision.