Chapter 314
“I don’t want eggs!” he screamed. “I want Isolde’s pancakes! The ones with the smiley faces!”
He shoved the plate. It slid across the polished marble, tipped over the edge, and shattered on the tiled floor. Ceramic shards exploded outward, and scrambled eggs splattered against the expensive cabinetry.
Grayson walked into the kitchen at that exact moment.
He was buttoning the cuffs of his dress shirt. He stopped and looked down at the mess near his Italian leather shoes. A vein in his temple began to throb.
“Kaiden,” he said, his voice tight. “Stop screaming. It is seven in the morning.”
He stepped over the broken ceramic without picking it up and looked at Maria. “Clean this up.”
Kaiden didn’t stop. He grabbed his iPad from the counter, his face flushed with entitlement.
“I’m calling her,” he announced, stabbing at the screen with his finger. “She has to come make them. She knows I hate eggs.”
𝘙𝖾а𝗱 𝖿r𝗈𝘮 𝗒𝗈𝘂𝘳 р𝗵o𝗻𝘦 𝗼ո g𝖺𝗅n𝗈ve𝘭𝘀.𝘤о𝘮
Grayson poured himself a cup of black coffee and didn’t stop the boy. Part of him — the part he hated to admit existed — wanted Isolde to answer. He wanted to hear her voice, even if she was only apologizing to a tantrum-throwing child.
Kaiden pressed the FaceTime icon next to Mommy Isolde and held the screen up, waiting. She always answered. Even when she was in the shower, even when she was sick. She always answered.
Beep. Beep.
The screen flashed black.
Call Failed.
Kaiden frowned and tapped the button again, more aggressively this time.
Beep. Beep.
User Busy or Blocked.
Kaiden lowered the iPad. He looked at Grayson, genuine confusion clouding his face. For the first time in his life, his demand had met a wall.
“It’s broken,” he said. “She’s not picking up.”
Grayson set his coffee mug down. The liquid rippled.
“Let me see,” he said.
He took the iPad from Kaiden’s sticky hands and studied the contact list. Next to Isolde’s name, the video icon was grayed out. When he tapped it, a system message appeared on the screen.
This contact has blocked incoming calls.
A cold, sharp spike drove into the center of Grayson’s chest. It wasn’t anger. It was shock.
She had blocked the child.
Isolde had raised Kaiden for five years. She had nursed him through fevers, taught him to tie his shoes, read him bedtime stories on the nights Belle was working late. And now she had simply — deleted him.
“She changed her number, Kaiden,” Grayson said. His voice sounded hollow to his own ears. He handed the iPad back. “Eat the toast.”
“No!” Kaiden threw the iPad onto the counter. “I want her!”
Belle walked into the kitchen wearing a silk robe that cost more than Maria’s car. She looked sleepy and irritable.
“What is that noise?” she asked, pressing her fingers to her temple. “My head is splitting.”
Kaiden spun to face his biological mother. “Isolde blocked me! She hates me!”
Belle’s expression shifted instantly. She crossed the kitchen and wrapped her arms around him, shooting a dark look at Grayson over his head.
.