His Devious Rule



The uproar in the business was high when Matthews Industries didn't have a CEO, and the vice president was behind bars for plotting against his nephew. 

On top of that, suddenly the news started circulating that Alvin sold all his Matthews shares to a foreign company. Numerous speculations regarding the Matthews company and the family began circulating. 

Most of them were certain that Alvin's return was to destroy the Matthews family and their company. But none were daring to directly write about it or publicly comment on it. Because Skylark was rising during the fall of the Matthews Industries.

Casper was running around alone with everything: meetings, work, clients, and shareholders. There was no one to support him. He was exhausting himself day and night, but nothing seemed to be under control.

No one could believe that the company that had been unshakable for decades was in chaos. Whereas Casper knew where he slipped. 

His effort to send Alvin away from the country, followed by his act of grave illness in the hospital. He knew one illegal action could be lethal but ended up being an instigator for it.

The company shareholders were disordered. He didn't have a way to confirm who Alvin sold the shares to and which shareholders were giving up on the company. At the same time, he didn't get the chance to meet Alvin or Anya. 

He was ready to retire and agree to every condition if he could save the company from falling into the depths. But he was finding no way to deal with anything when Alvin was his opposition.

He wasn't able to appoint anybody as the CEO. Liam didn't spare him a glance when they met in the hospital. Then he has no idea where Liam and Lilian were staying with their baby. It was as if they disappeared into thin air after the kidnap incident.

Dropping his pride, Casper even contacted Harrison, but the latter refused to answer the calls or respond to the emails.

On the other end, Gianna was refusing to open her lips. Benjamin was struggling to get out while their cases got stronger against them under the same lawyer.

Casper felt all alone while the business rivals were trying to take advantage of his situation. Just like Ricardo who used his butler. Now, he didn't have a butler to take care of his mansion where he lived all his life.

What is the use of money when he could trust nobody to give him a hand at the company and look after the mansion?

His ego and pride continued to be crushed when his new lady secretary occasionally and subtly taunted him about how important a family is. 

Strangely, he wasn't even getting angry at his secretary. Because if Gianna wasn't in prison, she could have handled the mansion, half of his trouble with PR, and forced Liam onto their side. 

With Liam beside Casper, the latter wouldn't have worried about the company crisis and felt helpless. Lilian could have taken care of the mansion. 

Casper looked down and sneered at the very same people in his life. He was blinded by money and assumed they needed him to survive. Alvin taught Casper the hard way that he was standing in power because he needed them and they supported him.

Trust and loyalty are truly priceless. And he lost the most trusted people who were loyal to him.

…

At half past seven in the evening,

After exhausting all his efforts for a week, he reached the Oasis mansion. Getting out of the car, he looked at the tall black gates. Despite knowing his son was heartless, he wouldn't be allowed inside; he didn't know why he went there.

Perhaps he knew it was his last chance. The next week will bring new changes that he might be unable to influence or modify.

The security guards at the gates knew who the man in the suit was. Casper had lost weight and vigor. He looked haggard and unkempt after running his fingers through his hair repeatedly. 

The guards felt like Casper would faint, seeing him lost in thought, standing in the snowfall without asking or demanding to enter the estate.

They wanted to inform the butler but wondered if Casper was just there to just look at the gates when Casper put no effort.

A car came to a halt behind Casper. The latter turned around, with his arm shielding his eyes due to the headlights of the car. Blinded by the bright light, a part of him wished to meet Anya because he didn't have any hopes for his son.

The guards saw it was a taxi. They weren't notified of anybody's arrival. Thus a man stepped towards the taxi to check who was there.

A middle-aged man alighted from the taxi first, followed by a middle-aged woman on the other side. 

There were lines of worry on Dennis and Catalina's faces when they identified the man in front of the taxi as Casper. They were aware of the news about the Matthews Industries, but they couldn't bring themselves to ignore Casper who was standing at the gates.

The guards identified their young madam's parents. One informed the garage to send a car to the gates, another one fetched the bags from the taxi, and another one greeted the couple with a bow, saying, "Mr. & Mrs. Owen, let us escort you inside." He pointed at the gates.

Casper dropped his hand down when the taxi departed. If he had taken care of Alvin, he would have received the same royal treatment. But he could only sigh for the past.

However, Catalina and Dennis looked at each other. Since they never had a good conversation with Casper, they couldn't bring themselves to greet him cordially or ask how he was doing. 

A part of them indeed wanted to ignore Casper, but their hearts refused to leave the man at the gates. Dennis pointed at the small opening of the gate and said, "Mr. Matthews, this way..."

Casper: "..."

Casper expected the couple to gloat, insult him, and leave from there. Thus he was surprised to see them worry and try to take him inside. 

Alvin allowed only a few people in the mansion. Casper isn't on the list. A guard immediately interjected, "Mr. Owen, President…" 

Catalina cut in, "We will speak with Alvin." Her voice was stern and unyielding.

Yes, she was infuriated when the Matthews family looked down on Anya and when she got to know how Alvin suffered under them. But she wasn't the one who would hit a man when he was down.

That didn't mean they were going to ask Alvin to forgive the man or help him. It was their hospitality and humanity to respect the person.