Just My Hockey Roommate’s Filthy Desires by Esther Pen novel Chapter 314

Chapter 314

ANTONIO’S POV

The late afternoon rain hit the heavy windshield of the dark sedan in long, steady streams, blurring the yellow streetlights into wet, glowing streaks against the dark asphalt.

I sat alone in the driver’s seat, parked directly across the street from the high–rise building that housed Miss Aria’s father’s company. The air inside the car was cold, smelling faintly of leather and damp woolen coats.

My radio was set to a low, quiet volume, buzzing with soft static every few minutes as Marcus and Dominic checked in from their positions across the city. The rain kept coming, drumming a heavy, steady rhythm against the metal roof of the vehicle.

Most of our security team focused on big, visible threats. Marcus watched the main highways for heavy armored trucks, and Dominic spent his days watching high–tech military maps, tracking satellite feeds, and checking dark web chat rooms.

But my job was different. I looked at the small things that most people missed. I looked at the trash cans, the street sweepers, the delivery vans, and the regular people walking by with their heads held down against the cold wind.

A silver delivery van pulled up to the side entrance of the corporate building, turning its hazard lights on with a slow, rhythmic click.

I sat up straighter, watching the vehicle through the blurred glass. It was painted with the logo of a regional parcel company, but the tires were brand new and clean, showing no sign of mud from the outer highway roads.

I picked up my small black tablet from the passenger seat and logged the license plate number into our private database. As soon as the numbers registered, my screen flashed bright red to show a mismatch.

“That is wrong,” I murmured to myself, leaning forward to look through the wet glass.

I had memorized every single license plate that came near this building over the last forty–eight hours. That same silver van had been parked near little Miss Amelia’s school yesterday morning during recess.

But yesterday, the plate had ended in four numbers, not three. Someone was changing the tags on the exact same vehicle to scout our daily routines without drawing attention to themselves.

I picked up my radio, holding the side button down firmly.

“Dominic, this is Antonio,” I said, keeping my voice calm, flat, and steady. “I have eyes on a silver commercial van near the south delivery bay. The license plate was swapped within the last twenty–four hours.”

Dominic’s voice came back through the earpiece, sharp, dry, and crackling with static. “Is the driver stepping out of the vehicle?”

“No,” I replied, watching the heavily tinted driver side window through my compact binoculars. “The engine is still running. The driver has both hands on the wheel. He is not here to drop off packages, Dominic. He is timing our guard rotations.”

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9:48 Tue, Sep 8

My Hockey Roommate’s Filthy Desires

“Do you want me to send two men down to push him off the curb?” Dominic asked.

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“No,” I said quickly. “If we show our hand now, they will just swap to another car tomorrow. Let him sit there. Let him think we are completely blind to what he is doing.”

I set the radio down on the console and looked up toward the top floor of the building. The bright lights in Miss Aria’s corner office were still burning bright. She was working so hard, trying to keep her father’s dream alive while a dangerous war built up around her.

Boss was so blinded by his past guilt over Gabriel that he was missing these small, quiet ground–level movements. Boss was looking for an army, but Gabriel was using small, subtle tools to cut away at our edges.

My phone chimed on the console. It was a direct text message from Miss Aria’s private line regarding the strange activity she had found earlier on her computers.

Antonio, this was found on Server 04, her message read. Is it connected to Brandon’s past?

I typed back a quick response, careful with my words so I did not cause unnecessary panic or worry.

It is connected to the Vance network, I wrote back. Julian is working with someone. Please stay inside your suite until I come up to escort you down.

A minute later, my passenger side door opened, and one of my junior tactical guards, Leo, slid into the seat, shaking heavy rain off his thick black coat.

“The parking garage is clear,” Leo reported, checking his wristwatch in the dim light. “Miss Aria’s motorcade is lined up near the private elevator shaft, fully prepped and ready for departure.”

“Good,” I said, pointing through the wet glass toward the silver van sitting across the street. “Look at that van over there, Leo. Do you see the small black box mounted near the rear bumper?”

Leo squinted through the windshield, his brows knitting together in deep concentration. “Is that a signal jammer?”

“It is a frequency scanner,” I corrected him softly. “Whoever is sitting inside that van is recording the radio frequencies our team uses when Miss Aria walks from the elevator to her car. They are gathering our codes and listening to our private channels.”

Leo reached for his sidearm under his heavy jacket, his entire body tensing up. “We should take him in right now before he drives away.”

“We do not move until I say so,” I told him, placing a firm, heavy hand on his arm to keep him still. “Boss thinks he can solve this problem by putting more armed guards on the doors. But adding more guards just gives the enemy more targets to shoot at. We need a secondary line, Leo.”

“What kind of secondary line?” Leo asked, turning to look at me in the dim interior light.

“A team that does not answer to Boss or Dominic,” I said quietly, watching the silver van slowly pull away into the rain–slicked traffic.

“A team that only watches Miss Aria and little Miss Amelia. If the Boss lets his guilt get the better of him and

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