Knot me on ice, Captain(BL) Chapter 259: What does Rami Calder wants?

Kayden

"Kayden Vale will remain in Northern Avalanche as a defender but will remain benched for this season."Elton officially concluded the eting with those final words.

The tension that had been suffocating the room for nearly an hour slowly began to dissolve afterward as docunts were passed around the table for signatures. Andrew Park, Jeremy Young, and Thomas Brown all signed the finalized agreents while the board mbers quietly discussed the outco among themselves.

I sat there silently beside Rhys, still trying to process everything that had just happened.

I was staying in Northern Avalanche.

The oga ban had been lifted.

Ogas could finally play professional sports openly now.

Even after everything, part of still could not fully believe it.

But strangely enough, that was not the thing occupying most of my thoughts right now. The thing that truly disturbed was Rami Calder.

Rhys’s grandfather had voted for .

What the hell was he thinking?

The last thing I rembered clearly was the hatred in his eyes whenever he looked at . That man had wanted gone from Rhys’s life from the very beginning, so why had he suddenly voted in my favor?

What exactly did he want from now?

The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I beca.

Rhys must have sensed my distress through the bond because he suddenly reached for my hand beneath the table before gently pulling closer toward him.

"Calm down," he whispered softly near my ear. "Do not stress yourself out over this right now. We already survived the hardest battle for today."

I slowly nodded even though the uneasiness inside my chest refused to disappear completely.

A few seconds later, Leo suddenly appeared beside us.

"Co with ," he said quietly before motioning for both of us to follow him.

Rhys and I exchanged a glance before imdiately standing up and following after him as he led us toward the opposite side of the eting room where Andrew and Jeremy were standing together.

The closer we got, the more I noticed how relaxed both n looked compared to everyone else inside the room.

Andrew especially looked completely unbothered by the chaos that had unfolded earlier. He casually adjusted the sleeve of his expensive coat before smiling once he noticed us approaching.

"There they are," he said warmly. "The stars of the day."

Rhys let out a quiet laugh beside while I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck.

"I still cannot believe all of this happened today," I admitted honestly.

Andrew’s smile softened slightly. "Believe it. You made history whether people like it or not."

There was no mockery in his tone. Only sincerity.

Then the question that had been bothering ever since he introduced himself earlier slipped out before I could stop myself.

"Are you really related to Nico Park?" I asked carefully.

Andrew blinked once before laughing quietly.

"So you noticed the surna."

Rhys crossed his arms beside . "It was difficult not to."

Andrew smiled before nodding. "Nico is my nephew."

Both Rhys and I stared at him imdiately in shock.

"Nephew?" Rhys repeated.

"Yes," Andrew answered casually. "My older brother is Nico’s Father."

That sohow made the entire situation even crazier to process.

Nico Park was practically one of the biggest nas in Formula One, and sohow his uncle had ended up becoming the new owner of Northern Avalanche.

I should have connected the dot since he was Leo’s uncle but I didn’t know that it was the side of Rhoda, my thoughts was towards Gabriella.

"I genuinely do not know how to thank you properly," I admitted quietly after a mont. "If you had voted against earlier..."

"You should not thank ," Andrew interrupted gently before pointing directly toward Leo. "If you truly want to thank soone, thank him."

My eyes imdiately shifted toward Leo.

Andrew smiled knowingly. "Leo practically forced all of us into paying attention to your case properly. He would not stop talking about how talented you were and how unfair the oga restrictions had always been."

Leo imdiately rolled his eyes. "That is a dramatic exaggeration."

"No," Jeremy said calmly beside him. "It really is not and since you are practically Rhoda’s child, we will do everything to help our own.’’

That made Rhys laugh softly beside .

Then Andrew’s expression unexpectedly changed slightly the mont his eyes landed on again. There was sothing strange in the way he was looking at now. Almost calculating.

His gaze slowly lowered toward my stomach before returning back to my face again.

A small crease appeared between his brows.

Then he cleared his throat quietly before stepping closer to us.

"Protect the little one," he whispered softly enough that only Rhys and I could hear him.

The mont those words left his mouth, both Rhys and I froze completely.

My eyes widened instantly.

Rhys’s grip around my hand tightened so hard it almost hurt. Neither of us had told anyone. Not a single person outside Leo, Miller knew about the pregnancy.

So how the hell did Andrew know?

Andrew simply smiled calmly afterward like he had not just dropped a bomb directly into our laps.

Then he stepped away casually and returned to Jeremy’s side as if nothing unusual had happened.

The second he walked away, both Rhys and I imdiately turned toward Leo at the sa ti.

Leo sighed dramatically before leaning closer toward us.

"My uncle is an Enigma," he explained quietly. "And not just any Enigma. His scent perception is ridiculously advanced."

My heartbeat imdiately sped up again.

"So he can sll it?" Rhys asked in disbelief.

Leo nodded once. "Probably not the pregnancy specifically, but he can definitely detect the hormonal changes beneath the pheromone camouflage. Just like I can.’’

"That is insane," I muttered weakly.

Leo shrugged casually. "Welco to the terrifying world of Enigmas."

Before either Rhys or I could say anything else, Coach Reddick suddenly approached us with a wide smile on his face.

"Well," he said proudly, "congratulations to both of you."

Rhys imdiately straightened slightly beside . "Thank you, Coach."

Coach Reddick looked directly at afterward, and for the first ti since entering the eting room earlier, his expression softened completely.

"You handled yourself well today, Kayden," he said sincerely. "A lot better than most professionals twice your age would have."

Sothing about hearing that almost made my chest ache unexpectedly.

"Thank you," I replied quietly.

He nodded before continuing. "The dia backlash is still going to be difficult moving forward, but eventually this entire situation will settle down. Right now what matters most is protecting your health and keeping unnecessary pressure away from you. I recomnd you do your best since you are benched this season because it’s not the end of the world.’’

My hand instinctively moved slightly toward my stomach before I quickly stopped myself.

Thankfully, nobody seed to notice.

"I understand," I said softly.

Coach Reddick gave one final reassuring nod before eventually walking away to speak with another group of executives.

For a brief mont, things finally felt calm.

Then suddenly the atmosphere shifted again.

I felt it before I even saw him approaching.

Rami Calder.

The older alpha slowly walked toward us with Richard following a step behind him. His silver cane tapped lightly against the polished floor as every conversation around us seed to quieten instinctively.

Rhys imdiately stiffened beside .

"Grandfather," he greeted coldly.

Rami ignored him completely at first. His eyes settled directly on instead.

"Congratulations," he said calmly. "You fought well today."

I genuinely did not know how to respond to that. "Thank you," I answered cautiously after a few seconds.

Then sothing unexpected happened.

Rami’s expression softened slightly. Not fully. Not enough to make him look kind. But enough to make him look... thoughtful.

"There is sothing I would like to discuss with you privately, Kayden," he said quietly.

The mont those words left his mouth, Rhys imdiately moved closer to protectively.

"No," he said instantly. "Whatever you want to say can be said in front of ."

Rami finally turned toward his grandson slowly.

"This discussion concerns him directly," he replied calmly. "Not you."

"I do not care." Rhys’s voice hardened instantly. "Kayden is not going anywhere alone with you."