Chapter 310: Why is she here?
Rhys
I didn’t waste another second responding to him, turning my full attention back to Kayden. "Go ahead and take a seat, darling. I’ll dish everything out and bring it over," I told him, pressing a quick, sweet kiss to his lips.
"Alright," he murmured, giving my arm a gentle squeeze before walking over to sit opposite Raymond.
As I neatly plated the food, I watched them instantly slide into an easy conversation, laughing quietly together. I brought over the steaming plates, setting them down before pouring three tall glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice. Finally, I settled into my own seat at the head of the table.
For a few minutes, the only sound in the room was the scraping of silverware against porcelain as we ate. The food was perfect, but my eyes kept drifting to Kayden.
"Are you feeling alright?" I broke the silence, my brows knitting with slight concern. "Any morning sickness or nausea?"
Kayden swallowed his food and shook his head, offering me a reassuring smile. "Not at all. I feel completely fine."
"Great. Do you like the breakfast?"
He nodded enthusiastically, capping it off by giving me a solid thumbs-up. "It’s amazing, Rhys. Seriously."
"Honestly, you should consider a career change and become a chef," Raymond chimed in around a mouthful of eggs, chewing loudly. "This is easily one of the best meals I’ve had in weeks."
I rolled my eyes at his lack of manners. "You’re exceptionally lucky that I’m a benevolent older brother, otherwise you would have been starving on the streets today."
Raymond scoffed, pointing his fork back and forth between Kayden and me. "Hey, I’m just incredibly grateful to have both of you as my brothers. A win is a win," he chuckled.
While I gave him another classic eyeroll, Kayden burst into a bright, genuine laugh.
At that moment, a small, silver-gray blur suddenly scampered into the dining room. Starlight, our tiny Maine Coon kitten, trotted over with her oversized paws, letting out a faint, demanding mewl.
She immediately began weaving herself around Kayden’s ankles, purring like a tiny engine. Kayden looked down, his face completely melting as he reached down to scoop her up, setting the fluffy kitten gently onto his lap where she immediately curled up against his stomach.
"So, how did the disguise hold up yesterday?" Raymond asked, taking a massive gulp of his juice. "Did my styling choices work out, or did Randall ruin it?"
"It was absolutely perfect," Kayden beamed, gently scratching Starlight behind her large ears. "We actually took a ton of pictures."
Before I could even think to physically stop him, Kayden reached across the table, grabbed my personal phone which was lying face-up beside my plate, swiped it open, and began scrolling through the gallery. He turned the screen around, proudly displaying the photos to Raymond.
Here we go, I thought, mentally bracing myself as Raymond’s eyes locked onto the screen.
Raymond froze, blinked twice at the photo of me wearing a ridiculous fake mustache and a oversized coat, and then completely lost his mind. He burst into a loud, roaring laughter that practically shook the light fixtures.
"Oh, brother!" he gasped, clutching his stomach as he pointed at the screen. "Look at you! You literally look like you’re his hired bodyguard or his butler!"
I glared at him with an icy, unblinking stare, slowly raising my fist over the table and mimicking a hard, technical punch to his jaw to warn him to shut his mouth.
"Hey. No threatening my baby’s father," Kayden warned playfully, swatting at Raymond’s hand to make him put the phone down.
Raymond nodded, still wiping a tear of laughter from his eye. "Alright, alright. But seriously, you looked incredibly beautiful, Kayden. So stunning. And you..." He turned his smug face back to me.
"You had better not utter another single word, you idiot," I warned, entirely stripping any hint of playfulness from my voice. "You sure have a lot of mouth for someone who is still entirely lacking in their passing accuracy on the ice. ’’
The blunt, professional shade hit Raymond right where it hurt. The smug grin instantly vanished from his face. He dropped the phone back onto the table, his shoulders slumping as he began to visibly sulk into his orange juice.
Kayden burst into a loud, delighted laugh, pointing a finger at both of us as we bickered.
Suddenly, the sharp, echoing ring of the penthouse doorbell cut through our laughter.
"I’ll go get it," I said, sliding my chair back and stepping away from the table. I walked down the long hallway toward the front foyer, a lingering smile still tugging at the corners of my lips as I wondered who could possibly be dropping by this early.
Probably the building’s front desk security delivering a package, I reasoned, or maybe Coach Reddick stopping by with the updated playoff schedule, though he usually has the decency to call my cell first.
I reached the massive double doors, turning the lock and pulling the heavy wood wide open.
The building’s security guard was standing there, exactly as I expected. But as my eyes drifted past his shoulder, the breath entirely caught in my throat.
Standing right behind him at the doorway was Linda, her expression completely unreadable, flanked tightly by our family’s head bodyguard, Alex.
"sir," Alex announced, his voice tight and entirely formal. "Mrs. Calder has arrived for a visit."
The lingering warmth from the kitchen instantly disappeared. The smile vanished from my face as a freezing, dangerous dread settled deep into my bones.
My jaw clenched into a hard, rigid line, and my hands tightly rolled into white-knuckled fists at my sides as I stared directly at the woman who had caused so much wreckage in our lives.
Why the hell was she doing here standing at my front door with a smile on her face? A smile that I hated.
’’Hello Rhys, how are you doing?’’she asked, still smiling.