Chapter 15 Birthday Banquet

• The next day, the Stone’s residence in North City began to bustle with activity early in the morning.
• Several expensive cars were seen making a beeline for the mansion, all of which were carrying the esteemed guests of Old Master Stone’s birthday banquet.
• Ethan Stone had established ties with several prominent families over the years; hence, the large number of guests. He stood at the door with his daughter, Yvonne, and his future son-in-law, Simon, to welcome the guests personally.
• Meanwhile, in the mansion...
• Old Master Stone sat in his room with a stormy expression, clad in a suit and carrying a walking stick.
• Noticing his father brooding by the side, Ethan asked, “What’s wrong, Dad? You’re turning seventy today! It won’t be very nice if the guests saw you like this.”
• Jonathan Stone glared at him. “Did you or did you not invite Kaitlyn?”
• Glancing at his surroundings, Ethan made sure that no one was looking their way before bending over and whispering, “She’s not my daughter, Dad! All our guests are prominent businessmen. Can’t you at least pretend to be happy until they’re gone?”
• After that, Ethan turned around and left without another word.
• “How is this heartless b*****d my son?” the old man snarled as his anger grew.
• There were people everywhere, yet no one noticed him losing his temper. In fact, his birthday banquet was nothing more than a business meeting for Ethan to further increase his outreach.
• After around ten minutes, a car screeched to a halt outside of the house.
• Kaitlyn alighted from it with her two kids in tow.
• They held on to her hands tightly as they stared at the house with wide eyes.
• Feeling that something was amiss, Alex whispered to his mother, “Mommy, does Great-grandpa live here?”
• “That’s right, love,” she answered. “Remember to greet him later, okay?”
• “Yes, Mommy!” the two little ones answered.
• By then, the three of them had attracted a lot of attention from the guests inside of the house.
• “Is that... Kaitlyn?”
• Ethan jumped when he heard those words.
• He weaved through the crowds with Phoebe and Yvonne to come face-to-face with Kaitlyn and her kids.
• Kaitlyn had long since noticed their presence, but she seemed completely unfazed.
• However, she could not help but glare at Phoebe for a second.
• “Who are you?” Phoebe asked, obviously annoyed. “I don’t think you’re invited for Old Master Stone’s birthday banquet, so please leave.”
• Kaitlyn pushed her kids behind her to protect them as she retorted, “Step aside. You can’t stop me from attending Grandpa’s birthday banquet.”
• “What Grandpa? You’re no longer part of the family ever since you ran off five years ago. Kaitlyn, don’t tell me you broke up some rich guy’s marriage just to have those two little rascals! Do they even know who their father is?” Phoebe shrieked, making the crowd gasp in disgust and shock.
• At that moment, Kaitlyn could feel her blood boiling with rage. However, she kept her hands behind her back to keep them from flying into Phoebe’s face.
• Suddenly, Alex looked up and said, “Auntie, did you forget to brush your teeth this morning? Your mouth stinks! So what if we don’t have a daddy? Don’t you know how many handsome uncles want to be with Mommy? I’m sure no one wants you since you’re so ugly!”
• Rachel piped up as well. “That’s right! We don’t have a daddy, but Bruce is like a daddy to us! And auntie... you’re really rude!”
• Yvonne clenched her fists every time the kids called her mother ‘Auntie’.
• After that, Kaitlyn took a deep breath and decided to excuse herself from the crowd.
• Her only goal that day was to visit her grandfather and wish him a happy birthday. Hence, there was no point arguing with the rest of them.
• “Let’s go, kids. They’re not worth our time,” she said, tugging at her kids’ hands as she pushed past Yvonne and Phoebe.
• Suddenly, Ethan yelled at her, “Kaitlyn Stone! You don’t belong to the Stones anymore! Leave now!”
• Kaitlyn froze in her tracks.
• She had thought that she could keep her emotions out of this, but her father’s words felt like a stab to her heart.
• All I ever wanted to was to wish Grandpa a happy birthday. How hard is that?
• As the tension in the air mounted, a Rolls-Royce pulled up beside the entrance to the house.