Knot me on ice, Captain(BL) Chapter 153: At his Mercy

Kayden

I shouldn’t be here, I thought as I looked up at the towering building in front of .

It stood out in the middle of nowhere. I was only here because Julius had sent a ssage so threatening I couldn’t ignore it.

You still care about hockey? Then co to this address and co alone.

That was all it took.

Now, I was standing at the foot of the structure, staring up into a void of nothing but oppressive darkness.

At first, there was no sign of life. But then, a sharp beam of a flashlight was pointed directly at from an upper floor.

I raised a hand to cover my eyes, shielding them from the blinding glare. As I did, I felt the familiar vibration of my phone in my pocket.

Rhys had made sure Leo returned it to after I’d left it behind during Ga 1 with the Westbridge Falcons.

Now, an unknown number was flashing on the screen. Or rather, a number I recognized imdiately.

Julius.

Ever since I got my phone back, he had been relentless, sending threatening ssages about exposing . I didn’t even know how he’d gotten my number, but he had been harassing with calls, claiming he was going to destroy tonight.

I just wanted it all to end. I wanted the looking over my shoulder to stop. So, I ca.

I swiped my thumb across the screen, answering the call and pressing the device to my ear.

"Turn on your own flashlight and climb the stairs," Julius ordered, his voice thin and cold. "Take a right on the fourth floor."

I clenched my free hand into a white-knuckled fist, wondering why I was going along with this madness. I could have called sobody.

I should have called Rhys, especially since I’d seen the news on my way here that the ga had been canceled.

I knew deep down it wasn’t a coincidence. This was happening because Julius always got what he wanted, and right now, he wanted here, isolated in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night.

"What kind of sick gas are you playing?!" I demanded, yelling into the phone. "If you wanted sothing from , you could have approached during the first ga! Why are you acting like a coward and hiding in the dark?!"

The flashlight beam from the building swung mockingly from the right to the left.

"Guess what? I’m right here, and I’m telling you to co up. I truly hope you didn’t inform anyone about coming here, because I have another video of you—one I’ll release online that will destroy you completely. It’ll wipe out everything you’ve built."

At the ntion of another video, my heart gave a violent jump. My pulse began to race, thoughts swirling through my head like a storm.

What other video could he possibly have? I wondered frantically. Did he figure out I was an Oga? Even if that were the case, I realized with a sudden jolt that I wasn’t afraid of the secret itself anymore.

What I cared about was control. If I was going to co out, it would be on my own terms, in my own way, and no one else’s.

"I’m heading up right now," I muttered lowly, stepping toward the entrance.

The climb took a few minutes. The stairs were treacherous, littered with rocks and debris that blocked the path.

As I took the final step onto the fourth floor, I inhaled a shaky, deep breath. I knew I was walking into the lion’s den, so I did the only thing I could think of to survive even though Julius had warned not to.

I dialed Rhys’s number.

When he picked up, I couldn’t manage a full explanation. I just whispered his na.

"Rhys..."

Imdiately, he started yelling, his voice frantic on the other end. "Hey, Kayden! Where the hell are you? What’s—"

"Call the cops," I began, but the words were cut short.

Sothing heavy and blunt slamd into the back of my head. The force was incredible; it made my vision spin instantly. I felt the warm trail of blood begin to slide down my face. The phone slipped from my nerveless fingers and was kicked away into a dark corner by a heavy boot.

Before I could even attempt to recover from the blow, a kick landed squarely in my back, followed by another to my leg. I collapsed to the cold, dusty ground.

A flashlight was clicked on, followed by a much brighter floodlight that illuminated the entire floor.

I squinted against the glare, seeing three figures standing over , looking down with cold indifference. My vision was blurry, but as it started to clear, Julius’s face was the first I recognized.

His brown eyes were full of contempt. He pointed a shaking finger at .

"Finally, I have you here, Kayden Vale," he muttered. Then, he burst into a fit of jagged laughter. "How does it feel to be here at my rcy?"

I didn’t give him the satisfaction of a response. I was still trying to orient myself. He wasn’t alone; Mark, the defender who had attacked on the ice, was there, along with another forr teammate I recognized from our Westbridge days. Idris, that was his na or not.

"How!" Julius shouted suddenly, and he lunged forward, kicking hard in the stomach. "How does it feel to be at my rcy? Answer !"

I doubled over, clutching my stomach as I coughed out a spray of blood.

"You little bitch!" Julius scread. He raised a heavy baseball bat, aiming for my shoulder, but Mark reached out and caught his arm.

"Easy, Julius. Easy. If you keep hitting him like that, you’ll knock him out cold, and we won’t get what we’re after."

Julius let out an enraged groan and swung the bat against the nearby wall instead.

Debris sprayed across the room.

"Piece of shit," he cursed. He crouched down to my level, grabbing the collar of my shirt and hauling up until we were nose-to-nose. "Tell , how does it feel to know the world that used to love you suddenly hates your guts?" He shook violently. "I saw all the praises they heaped on you every week. How you suddenly took over the Northern Avalanche!" He scoffed, his breath hot against my face.

"You were supposed to be a nobody. That’s why you were kicked off the Falcons. I hoped that would be the end of your career, because ants like you don’t deserve to be on the sa level as soone like ! But then, suddenly, here you are—a ’rising star.’ Hell, you might even get Player of the Year because of your goal stats!"