Chapter 226: All On Livestream

The room went completely breathless. My vision blurred as warm tears spilled over my lashes, running down my cheeks. I didn’t need a single second to think about it. My heart had belonged to this crazy, devoted rookie from long into the past where we shared his bed.

I took a slow breath, letting the moment hang in the air.

"Yes, Reid, I will marry you," I whispered, my voice thick with emotion, echoing clearly in the quiet room. "Because I love you too, Reid. I can see a whole future with you... and besides..." Slowly, I slid my hand down from his grip, fingers pressed gently against my belly, a soft, radiant smile breaking across my tear-stained face. "...you’re already the father of my child."

For two full seconds, the lodge was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Then, absolute chaos erupted.

"A BABY?!" Russo screamed, dropping his bottle straight onto the rug.

"HOLY SHIT! CAPTAIN IS PREGNANT?!" Gerald yelled, tackling Jake into the sofa as the entire team exploded into deafening, guttural cheers, throwing hands in the air and stomping on the hardwood floors.

My parents were stunned beyond words, my sisters were screaming in excitement, my brothers were shouting, and Marina was standing by the fireplace with a triumphant grin.

Reid stayed frozen on his knee for a second longer, his jaw dropped in sheer, stunned disbelief as my words sank in. He already knew about the pregnancy, of course, but he definitely hadn’t expected me to reveal our biggest secret right here, in front of the entire team and a live audience. But I did.

Then, a brilliant, blinding smile broke across his face—unfiltered, breathless, and radiating pure joy.

His hand trembled slightly as he reached into the velvet box, carefully lifting out the ring. He took my left hand, his grey eyes lifting to meet mine, gleaming with a mix of awe and possessive warmth. With slow, deliberate reverence, he slid the simple band onto my finger, the fit absolute and seamless.

He didn’t let go. He raised my hand to his lips, pressing a long, fervent kiss against the metal and my skin, looking at me like he was, without a doubt, the luckiest man in the world.

"You really don’t know how to do anything quietly, do you, Cap?" Reid rasped against my knuckles, his voice thick and uneven, a breathless chuckle spilling out of him.

"Learned from the best, rookie," I whispered, tears spilling over my lashes as a radiant smile broke across my face.

Reid stood up, carefully leaning down to gather me into a tight, fierce embrace. Mindful of my heavy leg cast, his arm locked around my back, drawing me flush against his chest as he buried his face deep into the crook of my neck.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, holding him just as tight, feeling the rapid, thunderous pounding of his heart against my ribs.

Meanwhile, off to the side, Marcus stood completely frozen near the entrance.

He had set up a live stream on his phone an hour ago, originally thinking he was just sharing a wholesome farewell party and speech session with the Serpents’ massive fanbase. But this was not what he expected at all.

Slowly, Marcus lowered his arm, his eyes wide with utter terror as he looked down at the phone screen in his palm.

The comment section was moving so fast it was a solid, unreadable blur. Millions of viewers were exploding, the chat turning into pure wildfire as the sports world officially broke in half.

Marcus stood frozen by the grand entrance of the lodge, his knuckles white as his fingers gripped the edges of his phone. The screen was practically glowing from the sheer volume of data crashing through the server, the stream chat accelerating into a dizzying streak of text that no human eye could track in real time.

#KAINEVANS #REIDMCCOY #CAPTAINISPREGNANT #STANLEYCUPBABY #OMECAPTAIN was already trending globally across every social platform, shattering every viewership record the League had ever posted.

On screen, the comment box was a war zone of shock, caps lock, and pure frenzy:

—@puck_head_99: WAIT WHAT DID CAPTAIN JUST SAY?!?!?! PREGNANT????? WHAT DID I MISS???

—@serpents_stan: REID PROPOSED??? OMEGA KAIN??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW????

—@nhl_coverage: DID HE JUST REVEAL A BABY ON LIVE STREAM?! IS THIS REAL?!

—@scone_queen22: I AM LITERALLY CRYING IN MY LIVING ROOM. THEY’RE ENGAGED AND HAVING A BABY OMG >~<

—@benchwarmer_ochiwa: THE NUMBER 14 JERSEY MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW HOLY SHIT

Marcus swallowed hard, a cold sweat breaking out across his forehead as he realized the sheer scale of the bomb that had just detonated.

The League PR department was going to lose its mind within thirty seconds. Fidora McCoy’s legal team was probably already scrambling to lock down statement rights. But looking across the room, none of that mattered.

Reid finally pulled back from our embrace, though his uninjured arm stayed firmly anchored around my waist. His thumb smoothed over the high plane of my cheekbone, wiping away a stray tear, his grey eyes blown wide with an emotion so thick it made my breath hitch.

"We were on live stream, Kain," he murmured against my lips, a raspy, disbelieving laugh shaking his chest. "You really just dropped our entire life on the internet. You can literally see Marcus’s soul leaving his body."

I leaned my forehead against his, a soft, breathless laugh spilling out of me as I looked past his shoulder at Marcus, who was staring at his phone screen in absolute, wide-eyed panic.

"Consider it my final statement to the public, rookie," I whispered, my fingers lacing tightly into the fabric of his sweater. "Give them something to talk about so they don’t forget us too quickly just cause we’re no longer on the ice."

The room around us was still a chaotic, beautiful mess of cheers and laughter.

My brothers were practically tackling Russo near the bar, my mother was drying her eyes with a napkin while my father held on to her, while Brad offered her a gentle, congratulatory smile. They were going to be grandparents.

Marina was leaning against the mantel, casually taking a sip of her drink like she had orchestrated the entire revelation herself.

Reid looked down at my hand, tracing the cool, elegant metal of the ring sitting on my finger, then shifted his gaze down to my lower stomach, his palm pressing flat over mine with a quiet, fierce tenderness.

"You’re sly, honey," Reid whispered softly, leaning down to press a warm, lingering kiss right to the corner of my mouth. "But I guess it’ll do the trick."