Chapter 357: The silent treatment.
In the morning, Sienna did not rush to work as she didn’t have any meetings scheduled until 11 a.m. She sat alone at the table, having breakfast. Her muscles were screaming after the two hour work out session she has put them through.
The silence around her was deliberate because everyone in the household seemed to think it was best to avoid her today. Grandma Byra and her mother had even taken all the younger children out to play, including Ali and Eli. They would not be returning all day.
A shadow appeared in the doorway. It was Gene-Haven, who had to bend in order to protect her head, and Sienna’s house from being damaged. The giant woman slid a paper on the table and scurried away like a mouse.
Sienna didn’t even get the chance to say a word to her. The paper was her signed physical contract. After glancing at it, she focused on the meeting that she was silently participating in. Before her was a holo-screen, and from it, voices drifted through the room. They were voices of florists and decorators that were finalizing details for Elias’s upcoming birthday.
Sienna slowly ate, each bite measured, each sip of tea deliberate. She listened without looking at the screen, but her ears caught every detail: a debate over real flowers or fake ones, lilies versus crimson roses, the argument about fox fire lanterns replacing flowers on the strings to be strung along balcony, and the nervous laughter when someone suggested a flower fountain. She didn’t interrupt, didn’t comment, just let them come to conclusions on their own. Not because she didn’t have an opinion, but they were the experts.
The meeting ended just as footsteps echoed down the staircase. Elias appeared, stretching his arms like a man returning from a long journey. His tails twitched slightly behind him, as if eager to catch the attention of everyone. His timing was truly uncanny--as he arrived just as the meeting was ending.
He crossed to the table quickly, his eyes bright, his expression eager. "Sienna," he began, sliding into the chair beside her, "you should have seen the game from the stadium yesterday. The way the crowd roared, the way the players moved--it was magnificent. That kid Kamden Swift is going places. There is talk of single beast man teams being abolished next year in favor of mixed beast man teams. If it happens, the kid is going to earn big bucks. Every team will be making offers for him." His voice carried the excitement of a boy reliving a triumph, his hands gesturing animatedly. "I used to play the game when I was in school. I wanted to be a professional player, but alas! my fate was sealed as a boy."
Sienna remained silent. She cut into her pancake, chewed slowly, and kept her gaze fixed on the plate.
He leaned closer, lowering his voice as if intimacy could coax her into responding. "Why aren’t you talking to me?" He sighed. "My bad. I should have started with apologizing for telling the children to lie to you about Ali getting into a fight. I was worried that you would not think I am not a good father. First time I take my cubs out for a meal and my daughter is bullied! But, she defended herself properly. Gave that beast woman a nose bleed." He started laughing but noticed she was not laughing.
She was not angry either, but she was not responding. He smacked his forehead. "This can’t be about those absurd rumors on BeastNet, is it?" His tone sharpened, frustration creeping in. "They’re lies, Sienna. Lies spread by people with nothing to do."
Still, she said nothing.
Elias pressed on, his words tumbling over themselves. "They are saying I back the vixens financially! Ridiculous. They are signed to an entertainment company I have no involvement in. I have met them a time or two, yes, but only because they performed at occasions I attended. That’s all. Nothing more." He paused, searching her face for a flicker of reaction.
Sienna’s silence was heavier than any accusation.
"I have only picked interest in them because my great uncle’s granddaughter just signed with the vixens...Grace Twindell. You know him." He added quickly, as if the connection would absolve him. "When I went down to the field, she was the only one I hugged. I don’t know why the leader of the group posted something so ambiguous. Don’t believe her. Don’t believe what you read on BeastNet. No matter what they say, it’s baseless. I wanted to make a personal statement but Timothy advised against it as the Vixens are a fox tribe cheer group. An official statement will be issued by my office at mid-day today."
Her fork scraped lightly against the plate. Sienna dabbed her lips with a napkin, rose from her chair and without a glance at him, walked away.
The sound of her footsteps echoed through the room, each step deliberate, each step final. He remained seated, his hands clenched on the table, staring at the empty doorway. The silence she had maintained spoke louder than any words she could have spoken.
Elias bellowed into the air, "Does anyone want to tell me why my wife is not speaking to me?"
Six guards appeared before him. Some came from the shadows, and some leaped inside through the window. Each of them had a phone or comm bracelet ready to go...to show him where he had messed up.
"Leave us," Liman ordered them. "I will take it from here."
Five guards vanished back to their positions, while Liman walked over to Elias and played the footage. He frowned, as he did not understand what he was looking at immediately. It was him, looking at his watch, and then going back to chanting along to the Vixen’s performance.
"What am I supposed to be seeing?" He asked.
Liman rolled her eyes. "My lord, no offense, but sometimes you are slow on the uptake. Think of what was on the watch. Who called you? Whose call did you ignore to watch a group of nearly half naked fox vixens?"