If Ryan Del Cardoso was like fire, Regina Del Cardoso was the tip of the flame.
Nobody could ever make Ryan move aside from what he had determined to do if not for Regina.
She was the only one to glare back at him, eye to eye and face to face.
And oftentimes time to not let the feud get out of the family, it would be for him to step down because she was not going to even if the world was going to end.
Tonight was a similar case. He had to surrender the property papers of the Heartlands to his sister who threatened to cut all her ties with him otherwise.
Being the only blood family related to him, he could never let her go. Regina could have him all her life, but deep down they both knew that it was them against the world.
So as she stood there in the center of the hall, wearing all black, her attire reeked of dominance and authority, her brother made his way towards her with Alister by his side.
Regina spotted them right away. A victorious smile graced her face as she saw her brother.
Ryan's hold on Alister tightened and it made her know that the discomfort he felt seeing someone stomp over him.
At last, he could not hold it any longer. After months and months of cat and dog fights, he had to give in.
And his dear sister did not waste a single moment and got into action right away.
She had declared for the auction of the property within an hour of getting ahold of the property papers and that was something Ryan had known all those times and never let her get to the papers for the same very reason.
"And finally my brother is here."
She smiled as they stood in front of him. Ryan returned the gesture to his sister.
"The last one to show up."
She mocked, eyeing back at Alister. Ryan glanced at her and so did she. He knew that they were the late ones and he willingly did it for he was never late anywhere else.
"Well now that he is here, how about we start?"
It was Semina Inna and they all looked at her, with her daughter and Blake behind her, almost resembled a family get-together.
"This woman..."
Regina began pointing at Semina Inna, " keeps forgetting that her opinions never mattered."
Alister had never encountered such a moment. Regina distasted her from the core and if Ryan could bear it, his sister would never hold herself back from spitting out her thoughts.
And when it came to Regina, even Semina Inna could not say anything anymore. It always bothered her daughter and son but there was nothing they could do about it when the brother and sister duo held all the fortune to their names.
"Regi!"
Ryan sushed her. And she only turned a blind eye to her brother's call.
"Let's go sit mama."
Blake tried to get his mother out of there and Semina Inna obliged without a protest, not wanting to make a scene out here in front of everyone.
They left to take their seats, not before Blake gave an eye to Alister and she looked back at him, which however did not go unnoticed by Ryan.
Standing next to him, she and Blake had a brief eye contact before he left with his mother and sister.
Something within Ryan flipped as he saw that. Had not he made clear to his stepbrother to stay away from something that was his?
And more so he could not contain within himself to not just drag the woman in his arms to someplace secluded and teach her a very important lesson that her eyes must always be stuck to his and not on another man.
"Did not realize it would only take a woman to make my brother agree to things so easily?"
Regina's remark got them both to look back at her again.
"I know you are very happy today."
"Indeed I am."
Regina agreed to her brother, almost grinning at the couple.
"But I need a favor."
It made Regina raise her eyebrows, not understanding what kind of favor her shrewd of a brother might request.
"And what kind?"
"Before you start the auction and this property is sold forever, I need to do something and I cannot do it anywhere else, Regi."
It made Regina and Alister wonder what could it be that he could not do anywhere else but here.
Even though by then, Alister had come to know that this land held a special place in Ryan's heart and memories and his sister was hell-bent on getting rid of it, still she was clueless too as to what he wanted to do here before the auction.
With the papers in her hold, Regina knew that there was nothing anymore her brother could do to alter her plans so she let it happen.
She stepped aside, giving him the center stage, willingly, smiling.
"Go ahead. Remember one wrong move and she is dead."
Alister could not believe what she just heard. Regina smirked at her brother.
"You think I care?"
Ryan chuckled.
She almost felt like leaving the crazy siblings and running away but she could not.
As Regina moved away Semina Inna and Blake, along with others wondered what might be the reason.
Ryan did not let go of Alister and even though being the center of attention was not her thing, with him in her life, she had to get used to it and it was the hardest of all the tasks.
"Let's not waste any more time. I'm not here to kickstart the auction. I will not do that to my sister. "
That's not how any occasion was started but did he ever care about what people thought? He looked at Regina, who rolled her eyes at him.
"But I'm here for another reason. I had to do it here right now before this property gets out of the Cardoso hold."
He tilted his head to look at her. She stared back at him, not knowing what was next, and so did everyone else.
He joined their hands together and raised them in the air.
"I asked her and she said yes!"
Everyone stood up, applauding for the couple on the stage. His announcement would make it to the front page tomorrow, and be the talk of the state for the next week to come.
His family was rendered speechless. If Semina Inna had suspected this but not so sooner and Blake could not contain the shock but a sense of contentment that at least the question of his girlfriend ending with his brother was out of the question by then.
And if Regina knew any better, then it was a very clever comeback her brother did tonight.
With this engagement and the supposed wedding in the near future, the will was going to change forever.
"I asked her before coming here and she said yes."
He repeated. A lie!
Alister could not part her eyes from his. How gracefully one could lie publicly?
"What better place to let know everyone than where your parents met and fell in love right?"
And everyone for sure could not help but agree with the Cardoso heir when all he had been doing was spit lies on their faces.
"My soon-to-be Mrs. Del Cardoso."
He eyed her with so much admiration that if she could not see right through him, she would have believed him.
The truth was that he did not even ask her if he could put the ring and he just did it anyway.
Supposedly could be too much to ask her?
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