Chapter 222 · My Hockey Roommate’s Filthy Desires

Chapter 222

LEONIE'S POVI stood by the window of the large, quiet living room, tapping my foot against the floor. I was furious.Ever since that disaster at the state arena hockey game, Julian had been spiraling completely out of control. He was wasting away his days, and more importantly, he was putting his fortune at risk.If he lost his mind, my comfortable lifestyle and my financial security would disappear right along with it. Julian was my meal ticket, and I was not going to let him ruin that.Suddenly, the heavy front door clicked open.I turned around sharply and saw Julian’s best friend, Blake, walking into the house. He was practically carrying Julian, whose arm was thrown clumsily over Blake's shoulders.Julian looked completely broken, his eyes bloodshot and his clothes messy. He could barely keep his feet straight on the ground."Thank goodness you are here," Blake said, letting out a tired sigh as he helped Julian slide down onto the large sofa. Blake looked at me with a worried expression."Someone called me from the bar and told me to come carry him home. He was making a total mess of himself out there. He had gone there to drink with his teammates and then ended up like this.”Julian let out a loud, sloppy groan, waving his hand in the air. "I am... I am fine," he slurred, his words thick and hard to understand. "Get off me, Blake. I am totally fine."Blake looked at Julian, then looked back at me, shaking his head. "I did what I could, Leonie. I'm sorry but I have to go now. I have an important business meeting to attend to. Can you take care of him?""Thank you, Blake. I will handle him," I said softly, pretending to be a caring wife. The moment Blake walked out and the front door closed, Julian’s fake strength completely vanished.He stumbled up from the sofa, his body shaking. He walked straight to the kitchen counter, grabbed a fresh, unopened bottle of liquor, and twisted the cap off."Julian, stop it," I yelled, rushing over to him. I reached out to grab the neck of the bottle. "You have had way too much to drink already. Look at yourself. At this rate, you'll die from intoxication. Is that what you want?”"Get away from me!" Julian roared. With a sudden burst of anger, he pushed me away hard.I gasped, stumbling backward against the kitchen table as he held the bottle tightly against his chest. He looked at me with wild, unhinged eyes. He took a huge gulp straight from the bottle, liquor dripping down his chin, before slamming his fist onto the counter."Brandon is a pain in my ass!" Julian yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice shaking the quiet house. "He thinks he owns everything. He thinks he can just take Aria and show her off to the whole world! He acts like he is a king, and he has the nerve to look down on me in front of my entire team."He laughed bitterly, a dark and crazy sound, before taking another long drink. "He thinks he won. He thinks he can just crush me and take away my family."I stood back, watching him closely. My initial anger started to turn into something else, something cold and calculating. I realized I could use his crazy anger to get exactly what I wanted.I changed my face, hiding my smirk, and walked back over to him with a soft, fake smile. I put a hand on his trembling shoulder. "You are completely right, Julian," I said, my voice sweet like poison."Brandon is trying to ruin you. And Aria is letting him. She is going to use her father's company to make Brandon look even bigger. Are you just going to sit here and let them win? Don't you want to fight back?"Julian blinked his blurry, bloodshot eyes at me, his chest heaving. "I want to destroy him. I want to show Aria that she made a mistake. But how? He has all the money. He has all the power.""You have power too, Julian," I whispered, leaning closer to his ear. "You still have the secure internal data from Aria’s father's company, right? From your old business together. If you give me access to those files, I can use them. I can make sure Aria and Brandon look like fools in front of the whole world right before her big press conference. We can crush her father's legacy, and she will have to come running back to you."Julian looked unsure for a brief moment. “But…but what if it makes her hate me more?”I shook my head, putting on the most convincing face I could. “She won't hate you. She'll understand that you're in love with her and she'll come back to you. This is our best shot, Julian.”Julian's face twisted with a dark, bitter look. The liquor and the jealousy completely blinded his judgment. "Yes," he growled, stumbling over to his desk. "Let's ruin them."He opened his laptop with shaking fingers. He typed in his private passwords and pulled up the secure data folders, completely giving me full access to everything."Take it," he slurred, waving his hand at the screen. "Show her what happens when she makes me her enemy." As soon as the files were open, Julian's strength gave out.He stumbled over to the living room chair, dropping heavily into it. Within a few seconds, his eyes closed, and he was completely passed out, snoring loudly. A wicked smile slowly touched my lips.Julian was too weak and too drunk to do this himself, but I was not. I grabbed a USB drive from the desk drawer and plugged it into the laptop. As I watched the progress bar fill up, downloading the stolen financial records and private documents, my smile grew wider.I was going to hand this data over to the right media contacts and launch a massive public relations smear campaign that would tear Aria apart.By the time she walked into her big press conference, her father's legacy would be completely ruined, and she would finally realize that crossing us was the biggest mistake she ever made."Don't worry, Julian," I murmured, rubbing his arm softly. "I will handle everything for us."Before he could even answer, his legs completely gave out. He slumped straight to the ground, hitting the floor heavily with a dull thud. The bottle of liquor was still clutched tightly in his limp hands, spilling a small puddle onto the rug.I looked down at him and sighed, leaning closer to pull the bottle away. That was when I heard him mumbling. His lips were moving, whispering words into the empty room."Aria... Aria, please..."My whole body went completely still. A sharp pain stabbed right through my chest. I was in love with Julian. That much was true. I had stayed with him through all his anger and his drinking.But how could I be with him when all he ever thought about was Aria? No matter what I did, her name was always on his lips. I bit my lip hard, forcing my tears back.I grabbed his arms and slowly helped him up from the cold floor. He was heavy and entirely dead weight, but I managed to drag him down the hallway and lead him into the bedroom.As soon as we reached the side of the mattress, Julian stumbled forward. But instead of just falling onto the sheets alone, his hand gripped my wrist tightly. He pulled me down onto the bed right along with him."Julian—" I started to say."Aria," he breathed out, his eyes half-closed and blurry. "You came back." Before I could even push him away, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, pressing his lips against mine in a desperate, sloppy kiss.That hurt more than anything he had ever done to me. It felt like a physical slap to my face. He wasn't kissing me. He was kissing a ghost. A wave of pure rage and humiliation washed over me.I pushed him aside with all my strength, breaking the kiss and scrambling off the bed. Julian rolled over onto his side, completely unaware of the damage he had just caused, and went fast asleep within seconds.I stood in the dark bedroom, my chest heaving and my lips burning with a kiss meant for another woman. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, my sorrow turning into pure, icy hatred.Aria had ruined my husband, and now she was ruining my life. I was going to make her pay for every single bit of this pain.I turned around, left the bedroom, and walked back into the living room. I pulled out my phone with shaking fingers. My eyes were fixed on the files downloading on the laptop screen.I did not hesitate. I called various major news channels and gossip media outlets, one after the other."Hello," I said, my voice completely cold and steady when they answered. "I have some very important internal data regarding the late CEO's company. I have something massive to share with you tomorrow. Be prepared to publish it."Aria was scheduled to have her first-ever big press conference the next day. She wanted to stand in front of the cameras and look like a powerful queen next to Brandon.A wicked, dangerous smile spread across my face as I hung up the final call. What better way to destroy her than in front of the whole world?

Chapter 222