All Chapters of Faking It With Hockey Alpha: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Aurora.The beep of the heart monitor anchored me to the plastic chair beside Lila’s bed. I rested my elbows on the edge of the mattress and watched my sister sleep under the thin hospital blankets, letting the steady hum of the machinery calm my racing pulse.My hands still shook from the adrenaline of my escape. The memory of the hallway shadows refused to fade. After I saw the dark figure pass by my apartment window and heard the floorboards creak outside my front door, panic had hijacked my brain.I did not wait to investigate the noise or call for help. I simply grabbed my coat and ran down the fire escape. I flagged the first taxi I saw on the avenue and told the driver to bring me straight to the oncology ward. Safety only made sense here, surrounded by nurses and security cameras.I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out my phone, pressing the power button over and over. The screen remained dead. I tossed the useless device onto the bedside table and let out a shaky breath

Aurora.I pulled Roland into the private holding room behind the player tunnel and slammed the door shut, ignoring the muffled shouts of reporters outside.“What was that out there?” I demanded, turning to face him, hands planted firmly on my hips. “A simple reporter asked you a simple question about a wedding and you stood there like a statue.”“I was thinking about how to frame the response,” Roland replied, resting his back against the closed door and unbuttoning his collar.“You did not frame anything, Roland,” I countered, throwing my hands up in the air. “You let a camera crew stare at us for ten seconds while you said absolutely nothing. A normal person pretending to date someone would laugh it off or say we are taking things one day at a time.”“I am not a normal person and this is not a normal arrangement,” Roland growled low in his throat and stepped away from the door. “I am not going to stand on live television and pretend that everything between us is a joke.”“It is a co

Aurora.My phone vibrated so hard against the glass table that it buzzed right off the edge and I caught it inches before it hit the rug.The screen displayed an official email notification from my managing editor, notifying me that I had been placed on immediate administrative leave pending an internal investigation into the leaked financial documents.“They suspended me,” I stated, showing the screen to Victoria as she paced across the penthouse living room.“That is standard protocol when a writer gets framed for leaking corporate secrets,” Victoria replied and dragged a hand through her curled hair. “We are currently spinning the story as a malicious hack to keep the arena sponsors from pulling their advertising funds before Friday.”“I do not care about the sponsors, Victoria,” I argued and stood up from the sofa, my legs stiff from sitting in one position for hours. “I care about my professional license and the fact that someone uploaded my father’s stolen notes under my credent

Aurora.I replayed the scene in the hospital parking lot on a continuous loop in my mind, tracing every detail of Malachi’s silent message while the city lights flickered past our car window.He had stood directly under the streetlamp, completely unbothered by the security guards circling the entrance, and mouthed those two words as if delivering an invitation to a private party. He wanted to be seen and that brazen confidence felt infinitely worse than a shadow hiding in an alleyway.“He said ‘See you,’” I blurted out, breaking the quiet cabin air as Roland navigated the vehicle onto the highway. “He stood there in his grey coat, looked me dead in the eye and mouthed those exact words before driving away.”“He is trying to rattle you, Aurora,” Roland replied and kept his eyes fixed on the dark road ahead, knuckles white against the steering wheel.“Well, it worked,” I countered and turned in my seat to face him properly. “He walked up to my sister’s floor, accessed her sealed medical

Aurora.Before I could even scream or process the deafening crack, Roland tackled me off the sofa and threw his entire body over mine. We hit the hardwood floor together and his arms locked around my head and back like a shield while sharp fragments bounced off his leather jacket.The speed of his reaction was impossible to comprehend, moving faster than any human reflex I had ever witnessed during his games on the ice. He didn’t just jump; he bridged the distance in a fraction of a second, shielding me from the flying debris before the sound of the blast even faded.“Stay down!” Roland roared, his voice rattling against my ribs as he kept me pinned beneath him.I pressed my face into his shoulder, coughing against the sudden cloud of dust and cold night air rushing into the room. My ears rang with a high-pitched whine, but through the jagged hole where the window used to be, I caught a glimpse of movement on the roof across the street.A tall figure stood silhouetted against the city