Hands Off The Ice King novel Chapter 120

Chapter 120

Levi’s POV

Live a good life?

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I wasn’t going to live a good life without her. If Hope thought this would deter me, then she must not know me that well.

I was going to show her. Now that I knew I loved her, I wasn’t going to let her go, especially when she had sounded like she was on the verge of tears, especially when she hadn’t denied that she still loved me.

She didn’t know that I was different from Connor. If Connor cheated on her and didn’t fight for her, then let me be different. Let me be everything he never was.

I began walking toward the office, every step making the resentment in my chest grow heavier, until it felt like it had multiplied a thousandfold.

I didn’t bother knocking. I just opened the door and walked inside without a single care in the world.

Margaret lifted her head from the papers on her desk and sighed the moment she saw me.

“Finally, you came here. Have you learned your lesson now?”

“It’s because of you, isn’t it?”

She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Now you know the importance of my influence. Because of your stubbornness, your reputation is plummeting. That article about you punching Connor was released because I wasn’t there to stop it.”

“And Levi, you already know that I’ve stopped plenty of articles from tarnishing your name.”

She leaned back in her chair as though she had already won.

“Anyway,” she said with a deep breath, “you must have been emotional the other day because your girlfriend resigned. What can we do? She wants a different path in life. Move on and continue playing. You have a game tomorrow.”

“I’ll have the press release another article clearing everything up. Let’s make it look like Connor was the one to blame.”

“I don’t care about what the media posts or how you manipulate them.”

“Is that so?”

She gave a humorless smile.

“That’s the reason why you can still play until now. I said go. I have plenty of other things to do.”

I pursed my lips and stayed rooted to my spot.

“It’s because of you that Hope left.”

For the first time since I entered, she stopped what she was doing and looked up at me.

I quickly recognized the annoyed look in her eyes.

“Did she tell you that?” she asked.

“No. I just know you well enough to know you’d do something like this.”

276 Thu, Jul 16

Chapter 120

She sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose.

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“When you signed with the team four years ago, you signed away everything, Levi. That is the price you pay for playing hockey on my team.”

“Then, I’ll leave.”

The silence that followed was deafening. It seemed that with every word that came out of my mouth, the disbelief on her face only grew larger.

“Leave?” she repeated. “You’ll leave the only team that accepted you?”

“That’s not the case anymore, Margaret. Other teams have been trying to recruit me since my first championship.”

“That’s because I’ve been keeping you safe!”

I looked at her icy face and couldn’t help but wonder.

It was true that she had acted more like a mother to me than my own mother back then.

She had covered for me. But somewhere along the way, that protection had turned into ownership.

She must think I was nothing without her.

Nothing without hockey.

“You don’t need to do that anymore.”

“If you terminate your contract in the middle of the season, you’ll pay a very big penalty.”

I raised a brow.

She knew that was the least of my worries. I could pay the penalty just fine.

“And everything that I’ve been keeping safe will be poured out into the media.”

I sighed and raked my fingers through my hair.

I could admit it now.

Back then, it was true that a part of me had been terrified that everything I’d done would keep me from playing hockey again.

Hockey had been my entire life.

It was all I knew.

But it wasn’t all I wanted anymore.

I could still play.

There was also something inside me that knew everything was going to be okay if I had Hope by my side.

No matter what will happen and what people will say, I wouldn’t resent the choice I was about to make.

The only thing I knew I would regret was not choosing her.

Margaret stared at me like I had completely lost my mind.

Chapter 120

She probably didn’t expect me to go this far.

Honestly, neither did I.

But after talking to Forest that day, I finally realized something.

I had always chosen hockey in one way or another.

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This time… I was choosing what I wanted beyond the ice. I was choosing the life waiting for me outside the arena.

I turned around to leave.

Behind me, I heard her chair scrape loudly against the floor, followed by the frantic clicking of her heels/

She was actually chasing after me. But I kept walking.

“Levi,” she called. “I’m giving you one last chance. I will not terminate your contract just yet, but I’ll stop protecting you. See if you can handle it, Levi. You’ll come running right back.”

I stopped just before the door.

“And if I don’t?”

A scoff escaped her lips, but it sounded forced.

“Then, we’ll have to make do without you.”

Even I could hear the slight shakiness in her voice.

“No matter how good a player is, they’re still replaceable. Even without you this season, Connor will replace you just fine. And we’ll still win the championship without you.

I slowly looked back over my shoulder.

“And if you don’t?” I asked, continuing to egg her on, knowing she became reckless whenever she was cornered.

Her jaw tightened.

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