My Champagne Problems

28: Paul Bara

"Are we sure it's them we hold responsible for this?" Ryan questions while simultaneously tapping away on his phone at a fast pace.

"Are you seriously asking that?" Kayden scoffs in disbelief. "Of course, it's those bastards. Fucking assholes think they own the families," Kayden rants.

"We will need her to identify her attackers before we make any accusation," Ryan remarks in a tone of reprimand.

"Not happening," Kayden snaps immediately.

"Listen here boy," Ryan puts down his phone, now directing a menacing glare toward Kayden. "First, fix your tone with me," he grits out.

"And second, if we do anything without a positive identification from her, we have a war on our hands. Do you understand?" He narrows his eyes at the boy.

"So what?" Kayden scoffs. "The Ashford Clan is afraid of a couple of gangs now?" He rolls his eyes.

"Enrique, control your brother," Ryan sighs, rubbing his forehead and getting back to his phone seeing no hope of getting through to the boy.

Kayden is a hothead, and fiercely protective. There is no reasoning with him right now. "We shouldn't be discussing this here," Enrique remarks motioning toward the sleeping teen.

"No, what we need to do is get ahold of those sons of bitches and show them the consequences of messing with the Clan," Kayden snaps, shrugging Enrique's hand off his shoulder, thoughtlessly only realizing his mistake when he catches warning glint in older brother's eyes.

Kayden lets out an angry breath, rubbing his face aggressively. "We need to call off the wedding," he tells them in a controlled tone.

"That's not an option," Ryan dismisses promptly.

"That's exactly what they want, Kay," Enrique reasons with his outraged brother.

"And with the alliance between the gangs going strong as they are, we're better with the Hart family being on our side rather than on the opposite," Ryan adds.

"And how do you plan on explaining all of this to her?" Kayden motions towards Olivia--who unbeknownst to them, is slowly slipping out of her slumber.

"We don't," Ryan shrugs nonchalantly, unbothered to glance up from his phone.

"You don't think we owe her that much after today?" Kayden directs his question to his brother.

"And what exactly do you plan on telling her?" Ryan scoffs at what he considers to be the boy's stupidity. "Tell her that her entire life is a lie? That the woman who raised her is the disinherited daughter of one of the top families?" He adds in ridicule.

"That's enough," Enrique asserts before Kayden can snap back at Ryan.

"We don't tell her anything," Enrique decides. "For now," he adds just as Kayden opens his mouth to object.

"Don't tell me what?" A soft voice rings through the room causing tension to flood the room. Everyone's eyes snap towards Olivia's wide-awake ones, imbued with intrigue.

"Hey, Alien, how're you feeling?" Kayden asks, moving toward her bed. His demeanor changing from angry to gentle in a heartbeat.

"Don't tell me what, Kayden?" She repeats.

"It's nothing you should be worried about right now," he dismisses.

"You were talking about mum," she points out, letting them know she has been awake for much longer than they reckoned.

Kayden sighs, Enrique and Ryan just stand there nonchalantly. Yet none of them give anything away.

"Forget about that," he shakes his head. "How are you feeling now?" Kayden inquires sincerely. She shrugs in response.