Just My Hockey Roommate’s Filthy Desires by Esther Pen novel Chapter 292

Chapter 292

LEONIE’S POV

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The cold rain soaked right through my expensive trench coat, but I didn’t care.

I stood deep in the thick, wet bushes behind Aria’s massive family estate, my designer boots sinking into the dark, squelching mud. The air smelled heavy with wet dirt, old pine needles, and rotting leaves.

Next to me, Julian was shivering like a wet stray dog in his cheap caterer’s uniform, his hands tucked tight under his armpits to keep warm.

I held the small black device in my gloved hand. The little red light on the top was blinking slowly, rhythmically waiting for my command.

“Are you going to press it or not?” Julian whispered, his teeth chattering loudly enough to drive me insane. “We’ve been standing in the freezing rain for ten minutes, Leonie. If one of Brandon’s guards walks the perimeter and sees us, it’s over. We’re dead.”

“Shut up and stop whining,” I snapped quietly, not taking my eyes off the high stone wall fifty yards away. “Timing is everything, Julian. If I press it too early, Brandon will figure out it’s a fake. We have to wait until the party is fully distracted and everyone is settled on the lawn.”

I reached into my inner pocket with my free hand and pulled out a cheap, disposable burner phone. I pressed a single speed–dial button, calling the number of the greedy inside contact I had paid off two weeks ago.

He answered on the very first ring.

“Is the security team moving?” I asked, keeping my voice low, flat, and sharp.

“Yes,” the man whispered through the crackling speaker. “The boss just got a bunch of kids and ponies onto the main lawn. Everyone is focused on the front gate and the guest arrivals.”

“Good,” I said, a slow, cold smile spreading across my red lips. “Trigger the thermal alarms on the north fence.

Now.”

I hung up the phone without waiting for an answer and tossed the cheap burner straight into a deep puddle of muddy water near my feet. Then, I pressed my thumb down hard on the red button of the signal jammer in my hand.

The blinking red light turned a solid, glowing green.

For a few agonizing seconds, nothing happened. The forest was completely silent except for the heavy rain hitting the tree leaves overhead. Julian wiped his wet, trembling face, looking around nervously as if expecting an army to jump out of the shadows.

“It didn’t work,” Julian panicked, stepping backward into the brush. “Leonie, it didn’t work! We have to go back to the car before-”

“Look,” I commanded, pointing a single manicured finger toward the top of the estate wall.

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12:10 Fri, Aug 21

My Hockey Roommate’s Filthy Desires

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Suddenly, a loud, sharp siren echoed across the far side of the property. Even through the thick, wet trees, I could see the bright flash of heavy security floodlights turning on all at once, pointing their blinding beams directly toward the north woods, the exact opposite side of the estate from where we were standing.

A moment later, I heard the faint, chaotic sound of men shouting over the rain. Heavy boots crunched violently along the gravel paths inside the estate walls.

“North side. We have a perimeter breach on the north side!” a deep, rough voice yelled over a crackling radio, “All units move to the north fence line immediately. Go, go, go!”

I watched through the trees as three large men in dark suits ran past the iron gates, sprinting away from the main house and heading straight for the fake alarm. One of them was the big, muscular guard who had been personally inspecting every caterer van at the gate just a few minutes ago.

“They bought it,” I whispered, letting out a soft, mocking laugh. “Brandon thinks he is so brilliant, but his men run like obedient little dogs the second a bell rings.”

Julian stared at the empty section of the wall in front of us. His mouth hung open slightly in disbelief. “The guards are gone… The whole path is clear.”

“Of course it’s clear,” I said, sliding the jammer back into my coat pocket. I turned to Julian, my voice turning hard and sharp as broken glass. “Now it is your turn, Julian. Open the hatch.”

I pointed to a large, suspicious pile of dead, wet branches covering the ground near the old stone wall. Julian hurried over, his wet shoes slipping in the mud, and kicked the branches away. Beneath them was a heavy, rusted iron grate set deep into the concrete ground. It was the old utility tunnel access point.

Julian bent down, grabbing the cold iron bars with his bare hands. He pulled upward, his face turning bright red with effort, but the heavy grate didn’t budge an inch.

“It’s… it’s stuck,” Julian grunted, pulling harder until his knuckles turned white. “The rust is too thick, Leonie.”

“Use your back, Julian,” I hissed, stepping closer and glaring down at him like a disappointed parent. “You were a professional hockey player and you exercise. You spent eight years lifting heavy equipment on the ice. Are you telling me you can’t lift one old metal door to get your own daughter back?”

That sparked the exact humiliation and anger I needed. Julian growled low in his throat, his dark eyes snapping open as he planted his feet firmly in the mud. He gripped the iron bars tighter and yanked upward with every single ounce of strength left in his body.

With a loud, screeching scrape of grinding metal, the rusty grate pulled free.

A dark, narrow concrete tunnel was revealed beneath the mud, leading straight down under the foundation of the estate wall. A faint, dusty, metallic smell drifted up from the damp hole.

“There,” Julian panted, wiping the rain and sweat from his eyes with his sleeve. “It’s open.”

“Perfect,” I said, patting his wet shoulder like a good boy. “Go down the ladder. The tunnel goes straight for about fifty yards. You will come up to a wooden door. That door opens directly into the mansion’s lower service kitchen. From there, you take the back stairs up to the private wing.”

Julian nodded slowly, staring down into the pitch–black hole. His hands were shaking again. “What if… what if

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12:10 Fri, Aug 21

My Hockey Roommate’s Filthy Desires

Aria isn’t in her room? What if Brandon is standing right there with her?”

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“Brandon won’t be with her,” I said smoothly, feeding him every single lie he needed to hear to stay brave. “Brandon is the boss. Right now, he is outside running around trying to find out who breached his north fence. Aria will be hiding inside with the girl. She will be terrified, confused, and completely unprepared.”

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