Dumped On Live TV, Claimed By The Hockey King のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 171 - チャプター 180

CHAPTER 172AVAI leaned over the hospital bed, wrapping my arms gently around Hannah and pressing a long, lingering kiss to her forehead. "I have to go, sweetie," I whispered softly against her hair, blinking back a fresh wave of tears. "I promise you, I will be back as soon as possible to bring you home."Hannah nodded weakly, too tired to argue further.Olivia stepped forward, introducing the professional beside her. "Hi Hannah, I'm Bella," the woman said with a warm, reassuring smile, stepping up to the bedside. "I'm going to make sure you're completely looked after while your family handles things.""Bella is going to be right here for you if you need anything at all," I told Hannah, offering her one last encouraging squeeze of her hand.With a heavy, breaking heart, I pulled away, standing up to join Liam and Olivia. Together, the three of us turned and left the hospital room.The moment the door slid shut behind us, I looked down the hallway and stopped dead in my tracks.Stand

CHAPTER 174LIAM"Not yet," I replied, my voice dropping into a hard, unyielding register. I reached into my jacket pocket, pulling out the small plastic container of prescription pills, holding it up so he could see it clearly. "Before I hand over the drive, you take this."The guard’s eyes narrowed dangerously, the barrel of his weapon twitching upward an inch. "That wasn't part of the instructions. Give me the drive.""Listen to me," I stepped forward, refusing to back down, letting the protective fury I felt for Ava fuel every word. "Her mother is sick. She needs these specific medications at strict intervals. If she goes into a crisis because you locked her in a damp, freezing room without her meds, your employers won't get a damn thing out of her, and the leverage is gone. Take the medicine, make sure she gets it on schedule, or the deal is off right here."The masked man stared at me for a long, tense beat. The silence stretched thin, the tension thick enough to cut with a kni

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SIX.AVA’s POV.The digital clock on the minimalist kitchen island glowed with a mocking, blood-red glare: 2:14 AM.Hours had bled into one another, turning the penthouse into a suffocating cage of shadows and ticking silence. I was losing my mind. My pacing had worn a literal path into the hardwood floor between the living room and the floor-to-ceiling windows, my sneakers squeaking softly with every frantic pivot."He's not answering, Olivia," I sobbed, my voice cracking raw as I stared down at my phone for the hundredth time. The screen remained stubbornly dark, devoid of notifications, calls, or texts. "It's been twelve hours. Twelve hours since he left for that damn rail yard! What if they caught him?”Across the room, the soft, ambient glow of multiple monitors illuminated Olivia’s face. She didn't look up from her keyboards, her fingers flying across the mechanical keys in a blinding, rhythmic blur. But despite her outward composure, the tight, r

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY EIGHT.OLIVIA’s POV.Leaving that warehouse felt like walking away from a ticking time bomb with no wire to cut. My chest burned with a suffocating mix of fury, dread, and a gnawing, agonizing uncertainty.I yanked open the passenger door of the lead SUV and threw myself inside, slamming it shut behind me. Marcus immediately threw the car into reverse, tires spitting gravel as we tore away from the Riverside Industrial Complex."Boss, you look like you just saw a ghost," Marcus said, glancing sideways at me while navigating the winding access road. "And where's Mr Hayes? Why'd you come out alone?"I didn't answer. I stared blankly out the bullet-resistant window, my mind spinning violently in a dozen different directions. The masked leader's words echoed on an endless loop inside my head: Hayes's boy handed it over, turned right back around, and left... we are not the ones holding him.If they didn't have Liam, where the hell was he?, How on earth was I

CHAPTER 180AVAOlivia and I packed our things and headed back to the penthouse while Marcus and his team finally left.The sprawling glass-and-steel apartment felt suffocatingly quiet. The heavy, ambient city lights outside offered no comfort, casting long, skeletal shadows across the hardwood floors where I had paced a hole into the rug just two nights ago.I collapsed onto the sofa, pulling my knees up to my chest. Once again, I pulled out my phone and dialed Liam's number.Beep. Beep. Beep."The subscriber you have dialed is currently unreachable..."I stared at the glowing screen, my thumb hovering over the call button again. I pressed it. Same dead air. Ten more times. Twenty. The hollow, metallic recording felt like a physical slap to the face. Frustration, exhaustion, and a sudden, sharp spike of rejection finally broke me. With a guttural sob of pure defeat, I hurled the phone across the room. It clattered uselessly against the baseboard, and I curled into a tight ball on the