เข้าสู่ระบบChapter 46: Road Trip Trap
The Detroit road trip felt like walking into a cage with the door already locked behind us.The team bus had barely pulled up to the hotel when the new orders pinged through on both our phones. The syndicate wasn’t subtle anymore.Unknown Number:Suite 1428. Top floor. Fully monitored. Live feed active the moment you enter. Overnight “couple” session required. Convincing intimacy. Emotional vulnerability. Make it look like the power coupleChapter 46: Road Trip TrapThe Detroit road trip felt like walking into a cage with the door already locked behind us.The team bus had barely pulled up to the hotel when the new orders pinged through on both our phones. The syndicate wasn’t subtle anymore.Unknown Number:Suite 1428. Top floor. Fully monitored. Live feed active the moment you enter. Overnight “couple” session required. Convincing intimacy. Emotional vulnerability. Make it look like the power couple is deepening. Cameras in every room except the bathroom. Fail to deliver, and the next dose will be… educational.Callan read the message beside me in the elevator, his jaw locked so tight I could see the muscle ticking. His hand rested heavy on the small of my back possessive, grounding but through the link I felt the storm raging underneath: cold fury, protective instinct, and the growing exhaustion of constantly performing.Tate had done his best to create cover. He’d staged
Chapter 45: Watched EverywhereThe discovery of the hidden cameras changed everything.Beck’s warning still echoed in my head as Callan and I stood in the middle of the suite, tension crackling between us like static before a storm. The small black lens Beck had pried from the hallway fixture sat on the coffee table like a poisonous spider. It was sleek, professional-grade, the kind of tech that didn’t come cheap. The syndicate wasn’t playing anymore.Callan paced slowly, shoulders tight, jaw locked in that familiar captain expression. But through the link I felt the truth underneath: a cold, simmering fury mixed with genuine fear. Not fear for himself but fear for me. For us. For how exposed we’d become.“Watched everywhere,” he muttered, voice low and rough. “Hotel hallways, maybe even inside the rooms by now. They’re not satisfied with the app footage anymore. They want real-time access.”I rubbed the back of my neck, anxiety spiking s
Chapter 44: Shared Release The room was still thick with the scent of sweat and sex when the full weight of what had just happened settled over us. Callan lay on his back, chest heaving, one arm thrown over his eyes as if he could block out the world. I was sprawled half across him, my head on his shoulder, legs tangled with his. Neither of us had moved to clean up yet. The link was quieter now, but it thrummed with a new depth steady, constant, almost alive. Every heartbeat, every breath, every flicker of emotion passed between us like water flowing through an open channel. I could feel his exhaustion. Not just physical. The kind that came from years of holding everything together with sheer willpower finally giving way. And beneath that exhaustion was a strange, fragile peace. He had broken tonight. The proud, emotionally guarded captain who had stormed into my hotel room with blackmail and icy commands had
Chapter 43: The Captain BreaksThe silence after my father’s video call was deafening.Callan’s heavy breathing filled the room, his chest rising and falling against my back. The dent in the wall where he’d slammed his fist still stared back at us like an accusation. His knuckles were already bruising, but he didn’t seem to notice. The link between us was a live wire his rage, my anxiety, and something much deeper twisting together until it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.I turned in his arms, searching his face. The man looking back at me wasn’t the cold, disciplined captain who had once blackmailed me in a hotel room. This was Callan stripped raw eyes stormy, jaw clenched so tight the muscle jumped, shoulders rigid with barely contained violence.“Callan,” I said softly, reaching up to touch his cheek.He caught my wrist, grip bordering on painful. “Don’t.”But he didn’t let go. Instead, he backed me
Chapter 42: Father’s AssessmentThe video call request came through at exactly 9:00 PM.My phone lit up with the unknown number, the screen flashing like a warning siren. Callan and I were still tangled in the sheets, skin cooling from the intense round we’d just finished. The link hummed between us, warm and sated, but the moment I saw the notification, tension snapped back into both our bodies like a rubber band.“It’s him,” I said quietly, sitting up against the headboard. My voice sounded steadier than I felt.Callan’s jaw tightened. He moved behind me, chest pressing to my back, one strong arm wrapping around my waist in a possessive hold. The contact helped, but the link carried his cold fury straight into my veins.“Answer it,” he ordered, voice low and rough. “We face this together. No secrets.”I hit accept.Harlan Rhys’s face filled the screen. My father looked every bit the powerful Hall of Famer silver hair p
Chapter 41: HeadlinesThe leaked photos were everywhere.By the time we dragged ourselves out of bed the next morning, my phone was blowing up with notifications. Twitter, sports blogs, NHL gossip accounts everywhere I looked, there were grainy but damning shots from the charity gala. Callan’s hand low on my back. The way we leaned into each other while talking to sponsors. That charged moment when he’d told the reporter we were “exploring something.”The headlines were ruthless:“Thunder’s Captain Lachlan and Rookie Star Rhys Spark Romance Rumors”“First Openly Gay Power Couple in NHL History? Sources Say Yes” “From Ice to Fire: Brooks Rhys and Callan Lachlan Heating Up Off the Rink”I scrolled through them in silence, stomach in knots. The link pulsed with shared tension my anxiety feeding into Callan’s controlled fury and back again in an endless loop.Callan stood behind me, shirtless, reading over my







