Rhys

A cold grin spread across my face as I watched him completely lose his cool. This was the loudest I had ever heard him scream. He hadn’t even lost his temper to this extent back when I had shattered his prized medals.

"Grandfather, why are you so damn fixated on some ancient family legacy? You let that obsession consume you until it made you a total villain in your own family. You had a child—a son—and you molded him into a broken copy of yourself. I saw the way you always hit father when I was younger. I saw the way you constantly talked down to him, making him feel completely unwanted, and how you even forced him to be a hockey player when that wasn’t even what he wanted for his life."

"I was trying to build and protect the hockey legacy my ancestors left behind! It is not my fault that Richard failed to uphold it!"

I scoffed, my voice dripping with disdain. "No, grandfather. It was you who failed entirely as a father. Because instead of spending real time with your son, you were entirely obsessed with your ridiculous heritage and titles, and that toxic cycle infected the rest of this family. Because of your abusive methods, father started projecting his own failures onto me, and both of you made my life a living hell because you were so desperate to hold onto that stupid title. You were just desperate to be recognized."

My grandfather stood up abruptly, his chair screeching back as he struck his cane violently against the wall. "I made you! Without me, you never would have become the man you are today! If I had known you would turn out this way, I wouldn’t have wasted a single second of my time on you!"

I slammed my hand angrily onto the wooden table with a resounding crash, hard enough that the desk shook and a stack of books slid off, hitting the floor. "I made myself! You made living a total hell for me! And even Raymond, whom you overpampered and spoiled, didn’t get spared from your sickness, because you forced him to become someone he isn’t. You affected him so much that he didn’t make the season, all because you kept constantly comparing us! But grandfather, that ends right now. I came here for Raymond because I found a way to get him back on the team. And he was sensible enough to come to my house in the first place, because if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have bothered."

"What does this mean?" My grandfather’s eyes suddenly brightened, shifting instantly with eager anticipation and surprise. "Do you mean that Raymond will join the Northern Avalanche? The family heritage continues..." he said, his voice lifting excitedly.

I slammed my hand down onto the table yet again, cutting his delusions short. "There you go again, talking about the family’s damn heritage! No one cares about that anymore! Look around you—except for my father, who still hasn’t found the guts to speak up against you, absolutely no one is left around you. We are breaking free from your shackles once and for all. I know you never expected this, grandfather, but we are no longer going to let you control our lives. This will be the absolute last time you ever see me in this house. And as for my child, trust me, grandfather, I will have the wedding before the child is born. But I highly hope that you drop dead by then, because if you are still alive and haven’t realized your mistakes, you will not be attending."

"Rhys Calder! Are you wishing death upon your own grandfather?! How could you! That Omega boy has completely destroyed you! He has ruined this family, and this is all because of that foolish Linda!"

"There you go again, blaming everyone else for your own miserable frustrations. Oh, grandfather, I truly hope you learn your lesson before you finally kick the bucket," I told him coldly. I turned on my heel and began walking toward the door, ignoring the way his voice shrieked and screamed my name behind me. "Oh," I paused at the threshold, glancing back one last time. "I also realized something just now. I won, and you lost, grandfather, because things didn’t go your way. No matter how hard you tried to sabotage Kayden, we will always have the last laugh because we have each other. And you? You are just a miserable, bitter old man who will never be truly happy. Goodbye for real this time, Rami Calder. I hope you enjoy your precious legacy all alone in your loneliness!"

With that final blow, I stepped out into the hallway and slammed the heavy door shut behind me.

I immediately ran into Linda right by the door, and the second her eyes met mine, she jumped back in sheer fright. I stared at her for a long, heavy moment, trying my absolute hardest to keep my mouth shut and just walk away, but she stepped forward and stopped me.

"How is Kayden? Is he doing okay? I... I wanted to see him, but our meeting last time didn’t go as planned."

I slowly turned fully toward her, letting out a bitter, mocking chuckle that quickly twisted into pure rage. "You mean the meeting where you heartlessly told him to stop playing hockey?!" I demanded, my voice rising into a sharp scream that echoed down the hallway. "Have you ever once thought about his feelings?! Have you ever considered how he survived all those miserable years while you lived your comfortable life with your precious son?! Your precious son, who is currently sitting in my home, bonding with the very son that you threw away like trash!"

Linda burst into violent tears, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably as she struggled to speak through her sobs. "I had no other option back then! I saw absolutely no future with Kelvin... he was an abusive man, and I had an Omega child... I... I had no hope!"

"Then you should have left with your son!" I screamed so fiercely that I could feel the hot veins in my neck bulging, about to pop from the sheer force of my emotion. "You knew exactly how violently abusive Kelvin was, yet you willingly left a helpless baby behind with him! You made Kayden the sole subject of Kelvin’s horrific abuse! If he had died under that man’s hands, it would have been like he never even existed to you! If you hadn’t run into him by pure chance, if my grandfather hadn’t revealed the truth to you, you would have never once sought out the son you threw away! You are the worst, most pathetic excuse for a mother in existence, and now you have successfully lost both of your sons. What a beautifully tragic fate, Linda—the son whom you cherished and protected so well is now bonding with the son you abandoned to the wolves. How does that feel, Linda?! Tell me, how does that feel?!"

I paused for a brief moment, chest heaving rapidly as I tried to catch my breath. By now, Linda had completely broken down, sinking all the way onto her knees on the floor, weeping hysterically into her hands.

"I am sorry... I am so sorry... I thought I was doing the right thing..." she wailed.

"It is not me who you should be crying in front of or begging for forgiveness," I said, heaving a deep, exhausted sigh as I turned my back on her crumpled form. "Go cry to the son you left behind. The son who suffered from broken, fractured bones all throughout his childhood while growing up. The son who yearned and cried for his mother but never once saw her face. The son who had absolutely no one in the world to support him. But I am happy, because Kayden found the right people in his life despite you, and because of them, I was finally able to meet him."

I left her there on the floor and walked away, my footsteps echoing firmly down the grand corridor.

The moment I stepped outside the massive mansion into the fresh air, I let out a long, heavy breath. It was so close to being completely over.

A small part of me felt a twinge of disappointment that my father hadn’t been around, because he absolutely deserved to be yelled at just as badly, but at least for now, the heavy weight of the Calder estate was finally off my shoulders.

Everything was over.