บททั้งหมดของ Ex-Hockey Star Regret: บทที่ 51 - บทที่ 60

Rowan’s POVMy phone buzzed sometime past eight. I was halfway through a cup of coffee that had already gone cold when Tony’s name flashed on the screen. I knew what that meant before I even picked up.I swiped the screen and placed it on my left ear, “Talk to me.”His voice came low and sharp, like someone who’d been awake all day chasing something he finally caught. “I got it.”That pulled my attention right up. “You’re serious?”“Yeah,” he said. “Took me half the night, but I managed to get what I needed … the access key and the sub-login. The Jasper kid must’ve used the same pattern across accounts. Rookie mistake.”A grin pulled at the corner of my mouth. I leaned back on the chair, letting that sink in. That was way faster than I had envisaged and he must be really good at what he does that he was able to get it this fast. “You’re saying you’re in?”“Not fully though,” he said, voice quick. “But close enough to make it happen as I had got the setup. We just need to run it throug

Brad’s POVThen after, I didn't feel like sleeping.Aside from the fact that it was already 5am that morning, not after seeing that damn “hostel-12.local” string blinking on my screen. My mind just couldn’t switch off. Even after Nicole dozed back off, curled on the bed with her arm across my chest, I kept staring at the ceiling as I was replaying the whole thing, the breach, the trace, and the partial connection. Whoever was behind that tag wasn’t just smart but they were bold enough to do it right under our nose.I lay there until dawn started creeping in through the blinds of the window. The logs on the laptop were still looping, and the terminal cursor blinking. The trace had run cold. The trail died the moment the firewall cut in and the rest was blank space.I ran the logs again but yet nothing new happened. Whoever had done this had vanished cleanly and I think that was why after stopping them from hacking the account, I can't even track them precisely. As there were no more pi

Sophia’s POVI stood there on the curb, watching Brad sit back in his car like a man forcing himself not to explode. The way his jaw tightened and the way his fingers gripped the steering wheel already told me enough. He was fighting himself, trying hard to keep calm.So much for plan A.I hadn’t expected him to be that restrained. Most guys would’ve given in by now, not when a woman practically hands them what they crave on a platter. But I think and I am convinced that it didn't work for Brad that way. He’d pushed me away like I was some kind of disease, you know the thoughts of that stung badly. Knowing fully well, he must be so much into the once homeless girl, Nicole.I crossed my arms, forcing a little smirk even though my pride had just taken a hit. ‘Well played, Mr. Hockey Star.’Maybe he thought that made him a saint. But everyone had a weak point. I just had to find his’ and exploit it.When he turned off the car engine again and faced me, I knew I still had him. Not in the

Brad’s POVThe noise from the door slam was what yanked me out of what felt like a long, heavy sleep. For a moment, I didn’t even know where I was. Everything around me was spinning slightly, and the light that slipped through the half-open curtains wasn't really helping matters either. I blinked hard, trying to adjust.My head felt strange—foggy and heavy, like I’d been out for hours, though deep down I knew it couldn’t have been that long. Maybe forty minutes or maybe an hour.Then, as my eyes focused, everything started to make sense or maybe it didn’t right away.Right there, Nicole was standing a few steps from the door.Her eyes were red and wide, trembling with something between shock and pain—were fixed right on me.For a second, I thought I was still dreaming. I followed her gaze downward and realized I was lying on a bed, my shirt gone as I was on my bare chest, and right beside me… was Sophia.She was half-leaning on one elbow, having a twisted little smirk on her lips, as

Brad’s POVThe second I screeched into the hospital compound and jumped out of the car, it felt like the world narrowed to a single line I needed to follow. My legs moved before my mind did, carrying me straight toward the glass doors like something behind me was hunting me down or let's say a man whose wife was in labour. But I could bet that this was worse than the feeling.As I got inside the hospital, I didn’t wait for anyone to attend to me and so I headed straight to the receptionist’s desk.“Where is the emergency ward?” I asked, my voice breaking in the middle without my permission. “Please, I need to get there now.”The woman behind the desk looked up with that calm, trained softness hospital staff always wear when they’ve seen too much panic for one lifetime.“Sir, calm down,” she said gently. “How may we help you? Who exactly are you looking for?”“My girlfriend,” I breathed out, forcing the words through a throat that felt too tight. “Her name is Nicole. You guys just call