All Chapters of THE ICE WE BREAK :Fake dating the ice king : Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

Leo POVThe deeper I dug into the leak, the less I trusted my own conclusions, because every time I convinced myself I had finally identified the person responsible, some new detail emerged that complicated the picture and forced me to reconsider everything again, creating a frustrating cycle where certainty remained just out of reach while suspicion continued poisoning relationships that were already strained by pressure and controversy and the relentless attention surrounding Northridge hockey.The situation with Jax had bothered me more than I wanted to admit.Not simply because the evidence appeared to point toward him.Because part of me wanted the evidence to be wrong.For all our disagreements and frustrations and months of unresolved tension, there was still a history between us that couldn’t be erased by one bad season or a handful of arguments, and despite the growing distance that had developed over time, I struggled to be

Leo POVFor most of my life, questions about my mother had existed like distant shadows lingering at the edge of every memory, because although I had learned to function without answers and built an entire identity around moving forward rather than looking backward, there had always been a small part of me that wondered whether the official story was incomplete, whether important pieces had been hidden from me, and whether the people I trusted most knew far more than they had ever admitted.Now I had a photograph.A single photograph.And somehow it felt more dangerous than every unanswered question that came before it.The image had barely left my possession since the meeting with the former Northridge employee, because no matter how many times I looked at it, I could not shake the feeling that it represented the beginning of something much larger than I understood, something capable of changing the foundation of my entire life if I

Leo POVThe warning Maya received should have frightened me into backing away from the investigation, because any reasonable person would have looked at the anonymous message and recognized it for what it was, a clear indication that someone was paying attention to our movements and monitoring our progress and becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the questions we were asking, yet the effect on me was exactly the opposite, because fear had slowly been replaced by frustration and frustration had evolved into determination, creating a point where every attempt to push me away only convinced me that we were getting closer to something important.I couldn’t stop thinking about the message.Not the first part.The second part.The reference to my mother.The implication hidden inside those few words.Because whoever sent it clearly knew something.Not rumors.Not speculation.Something real.

Leo POVI had imagined losing hockey before, because every athlete eventually considers the possibility of injury or failure or some unexpected event capable of ending a dream that has shaped their entire life, yet I had never truly imagined losing Maya, not in any serious way and not in a way that felt permanent, because despite every argument and misunderstanding and challenge we had faced together, there had always been a part of me that believed we would find our way back to each other eventually.That belief died the moment she ended the relationship.Not dramatically.Not all at once.It simply stopped breathing.The silence that followed our conversation stayed with me long after the call ended, filling every corner of my apartment and every empty space inside my thoughts until even ordinary sounds felt distant and muted, as though the world itself had stepped back and left me alone with a reality I wasn’t ready to fa

Leo POVThe strange thing about leadership was that people often imagined it as a position of certainty and strength and authority, when in reality it frequently required admitting weakness in front of the very people who expected confidence from you, because the responsibilities that came with wearing a captain’s letter extended far beyond performance on the ice and included accepting accountability for mistakes that damaged the people around you, even when those mistakes were difficult to acknowledge.That lesson had never felt more relevant than it did after learning the truth about Jax.For weeks I had allowed suspicion to influence my judgment.Not completely.Not consciously.Yet enough.Enough to create distance.Enough to damage trust.Enough to make someone who had already been carrying his own frustrations feel even more isolated.The realization sat heavily in my chest long afte