His Devious Rule

Truth be told, she could have managed to hang in there for a longer time if Alvin hadn\'t met her there. Being next to him was like nothing could go wrong in his presence. She could afford to drop her guard down.

She failed to cool him down. He wasn\'t buying her words when she told him her stomach got upset with airplane food. Hence she wasn\'t able to eat. However, he believed that she purposely skipped her food and ignored her health over the mission.

Unsurprisingly, his assumption had some truth too. Most of the time she doesn\'t prioritize her food while on the mission. Skipping a meal wasn\'t a big deal when she would be dealing with the lives of so many innocents.

But she doesn\'t ignore her health. Mainly because Zane would be worried. Now she has to take care of her body, not just for herself but also for the two beings who are extremely anxious.

Anya turned around and signaled her parents and darling son to join them. "Let\'s dine."

She smiled when Zane flashed her a sweet smile and a nod, but her expression muted when she saw her parents turn to the drawing room.

She had no idea what had happened with Liam\'s daughter, Alvin\'s move against Casper, as they knew Miles was behind the explosion and Ricardo Porter behind the murders.

Alvin was enraged when he learned about the murder of his guards in Country A and the sharpshooters. So she was also curious about Alvin\'s actions against Ricardo Porter or Porter Companies.

Feeling the faint tug from the cold palm, Alvin pulled Anya and placed his palm on her lower back. He gave a gentle push to make her walk. Nothing was important until he saw her well-fed and took the medicine.

He brushed off her curiosity. "You are resting tonight. Period." His bitterly frigid tone didn\'t warm up.

Anya pursed her lips to hide her amused smile. When they were in Country E and on the flight back to Narnia, she was prepared to get angry at her husband for deceiving her yet again and following her to Country E.

Who knew he was going to be the one in a foul mood, and she had to coax him?

The housekeeper and the butler smiled resignedly when they noticed Anya hiding her grin despite Alvin throwing a nasty tantrum. They were also worried when Alvin brought Anya, who was pale as a sheet, in his arms. They were relieved to see her recover from fatigue.

However, lines of worry stayed on their foreheads due to Casper in the mansion.

Alvin didn\'t bother to send them away as they knew him from childhood and were aware of the nasty Matthews family patriarch.

Instead, a muscle at his temple twitched looking at his wife glancing at the hallway for others. He grabbed her chin and fed her, ignoring her silly pout to appease him.

On the other side, Catalina and Dennis couldn\'t bring themselves to ignore Casper in the drawing room. They looked at the little man who didn\'t follow his parents. He was looking at Casper with his indecipherable expression.

Before them, Zane invited the man, "Mr. Matthews, please have dinner with us." It sounded like a request, but there was no space for negotiation or rejection in his firm baby voice.

Giving the glass to Catalina, Zane held Casper\'s fingers and went to the dining hall. To his eyes, Casper appeared like he hadn\'t eaten for days. Casper looked just like how his mother looked in the morning.

Casper: "..."

He followed the little man with a blank look. Unthinkingly, the past reeled in his mind.

He recalled little Alvin when he had learned what an illegitimate child meant. Little Alvin would stand at the side and stare at him, more like glare for the mistreatment he suffered under Gianna.

Casper had assumed Little Alvin was admiring him. Now that he thinks, initially Little Alvin hoped for him to help. Then Little Alvin was desperate, slowly losing hope. Later, Little Alvin ignored Gianna but despised him the most. To add fuel to the fire, Janet chased little Alvin away.

Little Alvin had long learned that he had only himself to depend on. Hence he was able to start everything from scratch and earned the life he wanted.

Casper had assumed the small-town girl, Anya Owen, had spoiled his grandson\'s life. But looking at Zane, Casper discerned Anya didn\'t fail, but he failed his sons.

Rob wasn\'t a tiny bit surprised by Zane\'s actions. However, he couldn\'t bring himself to leave Casper with the family. Controlling his itching hand to throw the man out, he followed them.

Alvin\'s jaws were clenching looking at Zane bringing Casper. He and Rob had similar thoughts. To kill Casper if he dared to do any evil tricks on Zane. Because they expected nothing good from Casper, who was self-centered to the bones.

Before Zane pulled a chair for Casper next to him, Rob interjected, "Young master, Mr. Matthews will sit here." He pulled the chair opposite the end of the table, in front of Alvin.

Zane didn\'t protest, especially when he saw his mother failing to flash her sweet smile at him. He guided Casper to the end of the table before he ran up to his mother, who lovingly kissed his forehead and flashed her dimples when she smiled.

Anyway, he ignored it when his father grabbed his mother\'s chin and fed her, with a look, \'Who are you pampering when I\'m the one feeding you?\' His father is childish even when he is angry.

Rob had to join the family dinner when Catalina insisted.

The dinner began oddly silent. Casper couldn\'t bring himself to eat and watched the family. Anya silently but in subtle actions and expressions fought with Alvin so that she could eat on her own, and Alvin could have his dinner.

It was hard to believe the young lady sitting in a bear onesie was a presidential awardee. And it was unimaginable to witness Alvin having his dinner and serving Anya while keeping an eye on Zane.

Casper never bothered about all that. Glancing at Dennis, Casper didn\'t need words to say Alvin was warm with the family he built and learned to take care of their little needs that Casper never knew.

The adults in the dining hall ignored Casper, but Zane couldn\'t. "Mr. Matthews, have food while it\'s hot." He uneasily probed Casper, without understanding why his grandparents and parents were ignoring Casper.

Casper was caught off guard. He looked at the little man who he liked at first sight in the Coasta hotel. He was brave and confident to voice his opinion despite the confusion due to the tense air.

He picked up the spoon and tried to eat, but his hands refused to move closer to his lips. He felt suffocated as if a noose was tightening around his neck.

Softly breathing out to release the weight from his chest, he swallowed hard to wet his bone-dry throat. His hand had just moved when an annoyed and sharp voice rang from the end of the hallway.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Casper\'s hand froze in the air. Zane frowned when he looked behind to where Liam was standing with a dark expression. Catalina and Dennis looked at each other, then at Liam.

Anya softly sighed at the intense air. It was the most disturbing dinner she had with her family, whereas Rob and Alvin minded their dinner.

Alvin even wiped the corner of Anya\'s lips and passed her a glass of water with her medicine, with the utmost attention.

Liam stood there and fumed. He was returning to the Oasis estate when he saw Casper\'s car at the gates. Sending Lilian and their baby to the outhouse, he was standing there to find out what Casper was up to.