CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Why now?" Was the definition of the expression that was written all over their faces.

It would have been easy to deal with Xander and Lina together but with the patron around, that was going to be close to impossible.

With glares left in their faces, there was nothing left to be done apart from them to welcome him off course.

Staying away from their deadly stares as though none of them existed, Mr. Anderson walked over to his favorite with a great smile on his face, and without being told, Lina walked up to him.

He was beaming with comfort that he didn't feel when he was with the rest of them and they got into a tight hug.

They were like two lovers who just got together after being separated for just a short time, even though it had been just for a few hours.

"I am so glad to see you, Grandpa." Her smile was enough to clear the whole room from the tense aura that he had encountered when he had walked in the first instance.

"Too bad that I am not as happy to see you as you are to see me. His words were rather ironic as he was grinning from ear to ear.

Lina was unbothered since she already knew that was his regular behavior. "I know you must have been longing for me all through your check-up." She added with a really deep smile.

Mr. Anderson walked towards the center of the large room, cracking his hands on the table until he created a steady beat.

He knew that they were not happy to see him from the looks on their faces. He knew that he had ruined a massive fun but not like it mattered to him either way.

With an unbothered look on his face, he walked closer towards Vincent, and getting over to him, he hit a walking stick into Vincent's legs and he reciprocated by blotting out in obvious pain.

"How dare you try to chase away the one that saved my grandchild?" He fired as he continued to hit the stick on the legs.

Lina could not help but let out a slight chuckle no matter how hard she tried not to.

Meanwhile, Vincent gritted his teeth with so much anger but there was absolutely nothing that he could do apart from plead.

Even though the aching of his feet was solely out of this world, he still had to push forward a smile as it was an unwritten tradition of the family.

No matter what the Patron did to you, the only thing that you could do was fake a smile and move all ahead.

When the old man was done with him, he paused before turning around towards Mr. James and his wife and said.

"You are supposed to be the most respected person in the family. I can't believe that you are going to stoop this low not to fulfill your promise.

Even if you would try not to look at yourself, what about the rest of the family? Do you also intend to pull down our name alongside yours?" Everyone in the room was stunned as to how the old man would know the context of almost everything that had happened there.

The smile on Lina's face had broadened him more. While her uncle was prone to taking things out the violent way, she always had a means of meeting her end without resorting to violence.

Vincent caught a glimpse of her smile before it broke off from her face and could easily tell that she was the one that was behind it...

"You little prick. You think it's going to end here right?" Were the thoughts that clotted his lungs that he could hardly breathe properly.

Fuming with every tint of anger but the odd thing was he didn't care to let it out like a man dying of silence.

And it turned out that her plan worked out completely well. When she heard that her grandfather was doing perfectly fine, she sent the recorded messages of everything that was going on since her uncle was the trust me at your risk type.

And it turned out that her plans worked. Even without telling her grandfather what exactly she wanted him to do, he came down to her rescue without a second thought.

Vincent frowned.

He was already planning on her to take his revenge but on a pitiful Xander who had a part of absolutely nothing that was going on.

He felt his heart beating hard against his chest as though it was going to burst through. Wishing already that he could rip every single one of them apart with his hands.

"But how did you know about that?" Mr. James just came back from his sudden shock.

"Is that what you should be thinking about now?" He thundered back at him.

"Is that really what you are concerned about?" Mr. Anderson threw his walking stick into the joints of his knees aiming perfectly as always

"I don't care about what you are more concerned with but first, you are going to do as you have said and also, and also, Xander is going anywhere." It was obvious that he already got the name from the message that was sent to him.

Recently, most of the companies that were allocated to him were already running out of stock and the one that Lina had chosen was the best.

Now, he regretted that he had gotten into the bet in the first place, if not, he wouldn't have gotten himself into this kind of mess in the first place.

Mr. Anderson pulled away from them and Walked over to Xander with a smile on his face.

"I am sorry for what happened. Thanks for saving my Granddaughter, he said." A slight cough escaped from his mouth.

One that had a foul odor but it seemed as though only Xander could perceive it but everyone in the room was already alert.

"Are you okay sir?" Xander quickly inquired with a worried look on his face.

Vincent frowned immediately, using every means possible to pull Xander down.

"See what your proclaimed boyfriend is trying to do? He got Grandpa coughing just by getting closer to him."

"What are you trying to say?" Lina's snare was enough to take anyone aback but in the real sense, it was more.

"It had nothing to do with Xander." Mr. Anderson smiled, pulling off straight and coughing into his handkerchief.

"The drugs that were given to me by my doctor. He said that they were going to make me cough for a while and reduce my pain. And I must say that I am feeling the effects." He smiled, straightening himself up.

But Xander could tell that he was wrong. He had an underlying health issue and if not treated soon, he was not going to outlive that day.

But that was what the disjunct Knowledge that kept sidelining into his head told him. What if he was wrong eventually?

This wasn't a game of some herbs. This was Anderson Hopkin's, the Patron of the third most powerful family in the city. He couldn't go about spewing ideologies of things that Haven't been confirmed when there was every possibility that he could be wrong.

With a deep breath, he swallowed this fact down into his stomach. He was going to wait. And if the needs called for it, he was going to act.

"I am so glad to meet you." He said once again but didn't seem as though he was done with his long speech yet.

"We are having a family dinner tonight, I would love it if you joined us."

"That would be great," Lina quickly chimed in before Xander could say anything because the looks on his face said otherwise.

"What?" Vincent and the rest of the gang exclaimed in so much shock.