His Devious Rule

A new day, another exam for Zane, another day for Anya. As Anya was on holiday, she was free but wasn\'t bored due to Elder Collins at home.

Missing Alvin was inevitable when getting on the cold bed, nobody teasing her in the bedroom or telling her that he will drop Zane. Even if he was talking or not, his presence was enough to fill the silence with comfort.

Anya watched her darling son\'s eyes often wandering in her bedroom and another side of the bed to confirm Alvin wasn\'t there. But he wouldn\'t ask or say it.

Son was like his father. Alvin was also trying to be part of Zane\'s life and was doing the things he had expected from his father or parents. Unfortunately, he wasn\'t saying it and was pretending like he didn\'t care.

"Baby, do you wanna talk to Alvin?" Anya asked while driving the car towards school and Alvin was on the call.

"Momma, I am revising." He was indeed studying but wasn\'t busy enough to avoid a call.

[I am too busy to let that little brat have my time.] Alvin scoffed at the other end.

Both said at the time making Anya smile to herself. She wasn\'t sure if this father and son relationship was truly good but it was fun. Sometimes she felt like letting them be and sometimes she considered talking to them.

If she convinced them to behave like other people, it felt like forcing them to be what they weren\'t. She was fine unless they didn\'t hate each other.

She was happy if they accepted each other even if they didn\'t voice it. Alvin worries about Zane and the latter does respect Alvin even if they behave totally out of normal sometimes.

Getting down from the car, Zane returned the hug to his mother as he asked, "Momma, what happened? Why are you so silent?" He was worried if she got sad for not talking with Alvin.

Anya gave it a long thought that could make the little one answer to her without brushing it away, "I was thinking what to do if my baby dislikes Alvin. Will my baby get angry at me if I try to convince him?"

Zane let out a sigh like an old man. "Momma…" His voice trailed as he shook his head in resignation. "Stop overthinking."

Anya:

He kissed her cheek, waved his hand, and entered the school.

Officer Anya, who meticulously breaks the mystery, digs up the evidence, failed to discern if her son brushed off her question or tried to relax her by saying she was just thinking too much.

\'I need to keep myself busy.\' Or else she will start thinking more than required.

Getting in the car, she checked the time, she had three hours. More than enough to handle Gabriel Sallow.

….

Driving straight to the Sallow mansion which didn\'t have maids, servants, or anybody to guard. The glory of the Sallow family crumbling could be seen from the moment Anya drove the car inside the gates.

Neglected garden, vehicles covered in dust, a broken flower pot, dried leaves of trees everywhere. Anya got out of the car and looked at the mansion built with the fortune of Matthews.

The Sallows were a wealthy reputed family but the success came after the marriage of Sallows and Matthews. And the arrogance arrived when Casper brought a \'bastard\' home. They assumed Casper would fear them and play on their terms. After all, they knew hot secret others couldn\'t know.

Stepping inside the mansion through the open door, Anya\'s heels made rhythmic tones grabbing the attention of the residents. Finally, Anya noticed a maid who was exhausted to the bones and ignored her.

How could a lady alone take care of the mansion?

"Who are you?" An old man corrected his glass on his nose bridge, looking at Anya.

Anya had read the information about the Sallow family so he was Gianna\'s father. He looked haggard with more wrinkles on his face. Anya passed right by him as she responded, "Gabriel Sallow\'s old acquaintance."

A man in his early forties exited the dining hall. He was in a business suit, the frown seemed to be fixed on his forehead from the time Alvin started slowly crumbling their business. This is good, they had tortured Alvin for more than two decades.

"Excuse me..?" His tone was authoritative but didn\'t hold the power over Anya.

Anya removed her sunglasses and turned to Gianna\'s first brother, Nathaniel Sallow, the elder son of the Sallow family, and looked after the business. She wasn\'t sure how much he had his hand in troubling Alvin other than knowing none of them treated Alvin well.

"Yes, may I know where I can find Gabriel Sallow?" She pretended to be ignorant of their questioning gaze.

Nathaniel and his father looked at each other. They had recently settled Gabriel\'s daughter, Angela\'s matter. Angela was sent to her mother who was in a different country, married to a rich man. They doubted if Anya was another girl dumped by Gabriel. There was no limit to their over-estimation.

"He isn\'t at home. You may leave." He lied, not ready for another drama.

Anya wore her sunglasses and flashed him a smile, "You can do better than that."

Why will she go there without confirming Gabriel\'s presence? She proceeded towards the stairs.

Nathaniel\'s frowns continued to thicken. This woman was like a book of mystery. He wanted to get angry and ask her to get out of their house. However, he stood there staring at her as if he was being controlled.

His eyes brushed down her body. Her hair was short and wavy. Her pink lips were in a thin line while the brown sunglasses covered her face. She was in a dusty orange chunky knitted crop top, paired with blue denim and brown ankle-length boots.

Honestly, she seemed like any girl passing by you on the road and you would barely notice her. Yet she was like a magnet that was controlling his attention and behavior. As simple as she looked, she was a complex maze, rendering them a pool of confusion.

Nathaniel pulled his eyes away and pinched between his brows. He was exhausted trying to save the company and lost his sleep and his peace of mind, he was fed up with Gabriel\'s actions. Gabriel neither helps Nathaniel to run the business nor helps himself.

His eyes unintentionally fell on the expensive car at the door. By the time he could fix the puzzle, Anya had disappeared from his sight. Or… returned to their sight.

Gabriel who was dragged out of the bed, cursed at Anya every time he opened his mouth, "What the f**k are you doing at my home?"

"Are you f**king crazy?"

"You sl*t, let me go?"

"You f**king wh… Ahh…"

Anya pushed him down the stairs when there were just a few steps left. He rolled down the floor.

Anya lifted her hand when  Nathaniel was about to interrupt. "CEO Sallow, it\'s between me and your little brother. I suggest you go and focus on saving your company." There was no tiredness in her monotone voice even after dragging the full-grown man.

Gabriel widened his eyes. His family was already angry at him. If she says all these, he doubted his brother might leave him. "Brother Nath, she is psycho. She is bickering nonsense. Don\'t believe her."

Nathaniel and their father looked at Gabriel and then Anya.  Nathaniel asked, seeing her snicker at Gabriel\'s words, "Why are you doing this?"

Anya pulled a hand band to wrap her knuckles. She took her time wrapping it while the ladies of the house came out and watched her while Gabriel ran around saying all the gibberish.

Anya asked, glancing at the ladies, "Tell me something, didn\'t none of you think of ripping his tongue?" Gabriel\'s language was nauseous.

Elder Sallow coughed hard before he was able to ask his son, "What did you do?"

Anya couldn\'t believe Gabriel failed to earn the love, respect, and concern of his family. Good for them, Or else she would have brought them on the road by evening.

Removing her wrist watch, and sunglasses, she kept them on the table, scaring the crap out of Gabriel. "Come on, how could you be afraid of a lady?"

Anya hissed shaking her head, "Correction, A sl*t, a wh*re. Right?" Her eyes contemptuously looked at his head to toe, "I see you are no man. Is that why you aren\'t married? Tsk, tsk…" Anya clicked her tongue, provoking him to reach her on his own. She wasn\'t there to play police and thief games in their mansion to chase after him.

"You freaking b*tch…" He ran towards her, intending to punch her unconscious.

Anya glanced at the Sallows who just stood and watched them. They didn\'t react how a family should. They also didn\'t behave like a human with humanity seeing a lady being attacked.

\'Tch…\' She doesn\'t have to hold back, does she?

She shifted and missed his strike. Giving no second to recovery, she punched him right in the cheek.

Gabriel groaned in pain. He fell to the floor with a look of disbelief. He couldn\'t believe a woman who was shorter and slender than him punched him to the ground in one strike.

Nathaniel looked at Anya in shock while the ladies gasped, unable to believe what just happened. They expected Gabriel to throw her out of the mansion. After all, he was a strong man and she was just a woman on her heels.