Chapter 126: The Uninvited Truth

Kieran's POV

I checked my phone before I even opened my eyes. My last message to Aveline was still stuck on Sending... No double checkmark. No read receipt. Just a blank, frozen line. I couldn't tell if her phone was off, if she had no signal in her neighbourhood, or if she had blocked me entirely. The uncertainty hurt so much worse.

I walked down the staircase, only to see Workers were everywhere, rushing around to hang green garlands and silver lights. My mother stood near the massive pine tree in the foyer, directing the staff as she waved her hand. She turned her head and frowned the second she saw me.

"Kieran, why didn't you sleep well?" Amelia asked, walking over and touching my shoulder. Her eyes narrowed as she looked closely at my face. "And why is your face bruised? What happened to your lip?"

"It's nothing, Mom," I muttered, looking away. "Just mistakenly got injured during the fundraiser."

She sighed but didn't push it further. I walked over to the kitchen island, pulling my phone from my pocket again and angrily tossing it onto the counter. It skidded and hit a bowl of fruit. Kissing Katty in front of the crowd yesterday had solved absolutely nothing. It hadn't fixed my anger, and it hadn't made the suffocating pain in my chest go away. It had only driven Aveline further away.

The front door suddenly opened, and the holiday silence of the house vanished instantly.

"Move out of the way, guys! The real talent has arrived!" Milo Hayes barged into the kitchen like he owned the entire estate. He was wearing a bright blue winter jacket and a ridiculous holiday hat. He didn't even take off his boots before he marched straight to the counter, grabbed a fresh gingerbread cookie from a tray, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Landon walked in right behind him, shaking the fresh snow off his coat and looking completely exhausted.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Hampton. I tried to leave him out entirely, but he had other plans."

Amelia laughed loudly. "It's fine, Landon. It's always a circus when Milo is here."

Milo grabbed the Xbox controllers from the media cabinet, immediately picking the best team in NHL.

"I'm officially banning you from picking Toronto, Hayes," Landon grunted, throwing himself onto the sofa. "You literally cheat every time we play."

"It's not cheating, Brooks, it's called tactical genius," Milo yelled back, already stealing another cookie from the tray on his way to the couch. "Besides, your defence is so terrible even Coach Hale wouldn't allow you on the ice. He’d probably make us do sprints through the snow on Christmas morning."

"Milo is definitely not touching the holiday drinks tomorrow night," I muttered, finally feeling a tiny smile break across my face as I watched them bicker.

"Agreed," Landon laughed. "He'll just spill soda over the carpet and blame it on anything. Also, we are absolutely ordering pizza. I am not letting Milo anywhere near a barbecue grill."

We spent the next half hour arguing over game scores and complaining about how Coach Hale was going to ruin our winter break with mandatory morning skates the second January hit.

Milo casually leaned back, tossing an empty cookie wrapper toward the trash can. "Oh yeah... by the way, I ran into Carter at the convenience store near

last night. I invited him to the pàrty".

I kept my eyes fixed on my coffee mug, taking a slow sip, trying to keep my face completely blank.

Landon glanced from Milo straight over to me, waiting for my reaction. When I didn't say a word, Landon shook his head. "You are an absolute fool, Milo. I seriously wonder why we are even friends with you."

"Did he say he's coming?" I asked quickly, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Silence hit the room instantly.

Milo’s head whipped around, his eyes narrowing as a massive grin spread across his face. He pointed a finger at me. "See? Look at him! I knew you'd care, Captain! Your jaw literally clenched so hard I heard the bone click."

"I mean... he's pissed about the fundraiser fight," I quickly added, my face hardening as I tried to cover the mistake. "Why the hell would you drag him out to this crazy party? It's Christmas. He should be celebrating at home with family. "

"Because you guys are cool," Milo shrugged, completely carefree. "The team is totally fractured after that fundraiser brawl, and we need the core group to stick together. He said he wasn't sure he could make it, but I told him he had to show up."

Amelia walked back into the kitchen, a warm smile on her face. "Obviously, Asher is invited! He's such a polite, quiet boy. Unlike you three loud musketeers. He helped us so much. Invite him over, Kieran. He deserves a nice holiday."

"Oh, are we talking about Asher again?"

Katty walked into the kitchen from the formal dining room. She had been staying at the estate since yesterday afternoon because my mother believed our fake relationship was real and wanted her to join the family holiday dinner preparations. Katty walked over and handed a neatly wrapped apple pie to Amelia.

"I brought this for the dinner tonight, Mrs Hampton," Katty smiled sweetly.

"Thank you, dear. You are so thoughtful," Amelia said, carrying the dessert into the pantry.

Katty turned around and joined our circle at the counter, her eyes moving between Landon, Milo, and me. She laughed at one of Milo's stupid jokes about the pizza, trying hard to blend into the conversation.

She stepped closer to me, reaching her hand out to touch my arm gently. "We should definitely invite a few more people tomorrow night, Kieran. It’s our first holiday back together. We should make it a real party."

I didn't move a muscle. I barely reacted to her touch, my body staying completely cold and distant. I kept my eyes fixed on the TV screen across the room, completely ignoring her.

Katty looked at me for a second longer than usual before forcing another smile.

An hour later, the house finally started to quiet down. Milo left first, still making terrible jokes about stealing my mother's expensive holiday napkins. Katty walked upstairs with Amelia to help her arrange some guest towels in the hall closet.

The kitchen was empty, except for Landon and me. Landon stood by the door, pulling his winter jacket on. He stopped, looking at my bruised knuckles, then reached deep into his side pocket.

"Almost forgot," Landon said quietly.

He pulled out a small, wrinkled brown paper bag and set it flat on the counter.

"Asher asked me to give you this at the end of the fundraiser shift yesterday," Landon said, his voice completely serious. He looked at my face, noticing how my breath instantly hitched, but he didn't ask any questions. "He told me to make sure you got it on Christmas. See you tomorrow, man."

Landon turned on his heel and walked out the front door, closing it quietly behind him.

I was completely alone. The house went dead silent. I walked over to the counter, my fingers shaking slightly as I reached out and turned the small paper bag over. I recognised the handwriting instantly. It was Aveline’s.

I hesitated, my chest tightening as I carefully opened the top. I reached inside and pulled out a small box. Beside it was a folded piece of paper. I opened the yellowed note first, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm as I read. My mind raced. I opened the box, and my breathing completely stopped

Resting inside was a simple, dark braided leather bracelet with a small silver anchor clasp.

I stared at it, remembering the exact look in her eyes at the moment I told her I was violently in love with her

She had bought this while she was ignoring my text messages; sometimes it is clearly hard to understand what she is feeling. I slid the bracelet onto my wrist, locking the silver anchor against my skin. For the first time all day, a genuine smile broke across my face. I needed to find her tomorrow. I needed to fix this.

I left the empty paper bag and the box resting flat on my mattress while I went into the bathroom to wash my face. I needed a second to breathe.

The bathroom door clicked open a few minutes later, and I walked back out into my bedroom. I froze completely.

Katty was standing right by my bed. Seems My mother had asked her to call me downstairs for food, but she had stopped dead centre in the room. Her eyes were completely locked onto the mattress. She was physically holding the wrinkled brown paper bag in her hand, turning it over as her face slowly drained of all colour.

"What the fuck are you doing, Katty?" I growled, my voice dropping to absolute zero as I took a fast step toward her. "Put that down. Get the hell out of my room."

Katty didn't drop the bag. She looked up from the paper in her hand, her eyes shifting straight to my wrist. She stared at the dark leather anchor bracelet locked against my skin.

"That bracelet..." Katty whispered, her breathing suddenly becoming uneven and shallow. She looked back down at the brown paper, her jaw clenching tightly. "Asher bought this."

I didn't answer.

Her eyes slowly widened as she looked at the boutique bag and then back at my face.

"Kieran..." Katty breathed, her voice shaking with an intense, furious. "Why?"