Jane sat beside Mrs. Sanchez. She then grabbed and held the latter's hands and gently squeezed them.
Mrs. Sanchez was so emotionally down at the moment.
A lot of thoughts were running in her head and Jane knew all of them. Mostly, she was blaming herself and her late husband for how they ended up now. They had failed their children as parents.
They had failed to provide them security.
Jane felt sorry and worried at the same time.
"Don't blame yourself from what had happened, Mama. And I will never blame you or Papa for this."
What Jane had said thankfully got Mrs. Sanchez's attention and the tears that she had been holding back started falling.
Jane immediately pulled her for a hug.
"Shh! It's okay. It's fine." Jane uttered comforting words to her mother.
Their situation had also greatly affected Jane. Even if she was not the original Jane, she had grown attached to them even in a short span of time.
So, she was very affected, too. Especially when the person that they were up against were asking them the impossible.
If only she could use magic at the moment, she would chant a spell that could help her produce gold bars from thin air.
This problem should have been over by now.
Unfortunately, she still can't.
Therefore, she had no other way but to do how the people in this world solve their problems especially when it involves money.
Now that they were facing a tough situation, someone should be strong for them. To bring the positivity despite this rough situation.
And she was hoping that she could at least motivate them.
"You see, he had showed up to us earlier to declare his superiority towards us. He wanted to crash our self-esteem and confidence to rock bottom. He wanted us to be hopeless and to voluntarily submit to him."
"But Mama we must not let the likes of him to crash us. I know this may sound impossible but I'm positive that we can turn the tables around."
However, she could read the doubts in Mrs. Sanchez's thoughts.
"Jane. You better pack up and leave this place. Bring your siblings with you." Mrs. Sanchez said as she had become desperate to save her children out of the situation.
"No! Mama, we won't leave you. We can make it. This is not over. We still have a fight. We have to fight!"
"We will make it. After thirty days, we will have our freedoms back."
Even though she could not see her siblings at the moment, she could tell that they were silently crying.
"So let us not lose hope! We should not let the likes of him to ruin us. As long as I'm here, I won't let them succeed." Jane vowed making Ann to sob even more.
Jane left her in the living room to grab a glass of water from the kitchen.
As she entered the kitchen, she saw Anton crying while cutting a bulb of red onion.
"Damn red onion! Stop making me cry!" Anton blamed the red onion for his tears.
"It's such a pity that the red onion cannot speak and defend itself from your blame." Jane commented making Anton to look up and accidentally cutting his fingers.
Anton hissed when the pain hit him.
But then, his face turned pale and he immediately passed out when he saw blood on his fingers.
Good thing Jane was quick to place her hand underneath his head and prevented his head from hitting the cemented floor.
But his fall had created a loud thud which made Mrs. Sanchez who was sitting in the living room to rush inside the kitchen.
"What happened?" She asked Jane who was trying to help the still unconscious Anton out of the kitchen.
"He accidentally cut his finger and passed out when he saw blood coming out of it."
Hearing what happened, Mrs. Sanchez left to get the medicine cabinet to clean the cut and put a clean band-aid around it before it got infected.
Jane had successfully managed to bring Anton to the living room. She had elevated his upper body and then pinched the tip of his toes to wake him up.
Her mom entered the living room with a medicine kit in her hand and she immediately disinfected and wiped the blood off Anton's finger.
The cut was quiet deep since the knife had been designed to be so sharp to make the cutting easier.
"Poor Anton. I thought he has already overcame this phobia?"
Anton was Hemophobic. He would pass out every time he saw even a small pinch of blood.
It all started when Naomi got bumped by a car on the street and the poor boy was able to witness his sister bathing on her own blood.
After that incident, Anton had developed that Hemophobia.
"No. He is still trying to overcame this phobia that he has." Mrs. Sanchez answered Jane while she was putting a bandage around Anton's left index finger.
Jane had decided to retire in her room to revise the plan she had made earlier.
Jane then went to the kitchen to get the glass of water which she had forgotten earlier.
"Here."
"Thanks Jane."
"You're welcome, Mama. How's he? Why is he not awake yet? Shouldn't we bring him to the hospital?"
"He's fine. He'll wake up after he has recovered from the scare."
"I see. Well, I think I should continue what he was doing in the kitchen then?"
"Thank you Jane. I don't think it's a good idea to let him hold a knife again for today." Mrs. Sanchez said and Jane had agreed to what her mom said.
So Jane went back to the kitchen to cook for everyone's dinner.
Anton came into the kitchen to help her in cooking. However, Jane pushed him out and told him to not enter the kitchen unless she allowed him.
For now he was off-limits.
"Go and be with Mama for me. I'll call you all when dinner's ready."
"Ate, can we really make it?" Even Anton was losing his hope.
"Of course, we can if we really wanted to. And as long as I am here, you don't have to pressure yourself about this. Your help will be gladly appreciated though."
"Okay! Then I'll pray to God that he'll guide you and our family and help us in overcoming this together." Anton said.
"Thank you." Jane expressed after knowing that Anton had not completely given up.
She'll need any forms of help be it spiritually or emotionally.
It's tough but as long as they're united, they can make it.
After she finished preparing the dishes that she cooked on the dinning table, she then called everyone for dinner.
Thanks to Anton, Mrs. Sanchez was smiling a little.
They had seated around the table and Anton had decided to lead the prayer before they started eating.
Their dinner was silent. Probably because of what had happened.
There's a significant drop of energy in the household. Thankfully, it had not reached to an alarming point.
While Jane and her family were having the biggest trial as a family, over the past few days, Edric was busy doing something.
Edric had flown to Country F just to meet an important person which was related to Jane.
The man was not unfamiliar to Edric. He had met him once or twice in a business banquet which they had attended both.
Since Edric had decided to be low-key to protect himself (more like his secret), not so many had recognized him.
He had stopped flaunting his identity for everyone to recognize him.
Edric had decided to observe the man for a few days from a distance before he had decided to meet him face to face.
Since he had been walking on the face of the Earth for such a long time, Edric had met a lot of people all around the world through out his immortal life.
Because of this, he had touched countless of lives and had helped those deserving people and made their families to be successful.
Out of their gratefulness, they had pledged that their family would be his forever servant and loyal followers.
And they made sure that whoever would become the next family head should recognize and knew about who he was just in case he would come to them and seek for some assistance or help. And his identity should be highly confidential.
His needs should be prioritized above everything.
However, Edric rarely asked for favor or help from them. So for these families, it was a great honor to serve him.
Therefore, he had a strong network of connections that he had built for many generations.
To these people, he was their benefactor.
But of course, he had also accumulated a number of enemies from both normal and abnormal people.
The man that he would be meeting now had a very important appointment with one of his loyal subordinate in Country F. So he decided to come and be there as an observer.
It's up to him if he would get involved in the conversation or not.
Edric was silently sitting beside his man as they waited for the other party to arrive.
They had decided to meet at the most expensive five-star restaurant of the country which was actually owned by Edric himself.
They were sitting at one of the exclusive private rooms that he had personally chosen to use for himself. And no one could ever dare to book this room unless he allowed it.
"Young Master, thank you for allowing us to use your private room in this restaurant." The man named Benedict Castillon said.
Benedict Castillon was a fifty-year old businessman and their family had become the most influential family of their country, all thanks to Edric's help on their ancestor back then.
However, Edric didn't respond to his enthusiasm and instead, he sternly warned him to do his job.
He wanted to know what kind of man would abandon his wife and daughter alone. Calling him shameless was even such an understatement, right?
The door opened and a man and woman wearing their elegant suits and gowns entered the room.
They were being escorted by a team of security. A scene that Edric didn't like to see.
However, it was part of the protocol since these people were very important people for the whole Country F.
At first glance, Edric immediately didn't like the woman who was accompanying the fifty-year old man who looked dignified because of how he had presented himself, the way how he dressed and carried himself.
Mr. Castillon then got up from his seat to greet the new arrival.
Seeing that the man sitting beside Mr. Castillon (Edric) didn't stand up, his female companion frowned in displeasure.
Who were these people?
"President and First Lady Moulin." Mr. Castillon greeted the most powerful couple as they're the face of the national government of Country F.
"Benedict!" President Moulin greeted Mr. Castillon by initiating the la bise and a hug.
From how they made interactions, it seems that these two were well-acquainted.
After the greetings, both parties had decided to settle down and start taking their order.
"Where's Rosalie?" Mr. Castillon asked the couple.
"Oh! She's on the way now. How about your son?" Of course, the couple knew Mr. Castillon's family very well.
In fact, it was all thanks to Mr. Castillon's extra support that President Moulin won the Presidential election.
"He's also on the way." Mr. Castillon answered with a smile.
"As expected of you, Ben! You're able to book the most exclusive room of this restaurant for us. Even I could not do it." President Moulin expressed.
"Oh! Well, I'm very lucky to be acquainted by the mysterious owner."
"I never doubt that. Can I meet him?" President Moulin asked making Mr. Castillon to be tensed and gave a side glance to Edric.
"I don't know if he would go and meet other people. He was very busy the last time we met. It just so happen that he owed me a favor and he granted me to use this room once in exchange to that." Mr. Castillon clearly lied.
He felt like he had bitten his own tongue after he said that.
Good thing President Moulin believed him.
"Really? Such a shame."
"So, who's this young man? Why haven't we seen him ever since?" Mrs. Eloise Moulin asked Mr. Castillon.
"Oh, this young man's a relative. He has lived abroad since he was young. He came here to visit." Mr. Castillon introduced Edric to them as his relative as per Edric's request.
Mr. Castillon inwardly gave himself a shoulder tap after he said it without batting an eye.
"I see."
"It's nice to meet and be with the President and his First Lady for tonight's dinner." Edric said.
Since he was only a relative, Mrs. Moulin showed a cold shoulder towards Edric.
To Edric's surprise, President Moulin was quite friendly to him.
"Just call me Uncle Franco since Benedict's my best friend since our university days."
That explains why these two people were close.
"Okay Uncle Franco, I'm Edric." Edric went with the flow and introduced himself like how President Moulin went casual with him.