Mr. Castillon entered the car where Edric was already waiting inside.
Phil was sitting on the driver seat and immediately greeted Mr. Castillon when he entered.
"Good evening, Mr. Castillon!" Phile greeted with politeness.
As soon as he put on the seat belt, Phil started the engine and they sped off on the highway.
"I'm very sorry about what you have witnessed during the dinner Young Master." Mr. Castillon formally apologized for how the dinner turned out earlier.
He really didn't expect for his son to act that way.
He was once an obedient kid. What changed?
"Don't sweet it. It was quite a scene. Haven't witnessed such for a while now. It sure brings back memories." Edric calmly told Mr. Castillon.
"As an elder, the only advice I could give to you is to not ruin your son's life. I could tell that he's very happy with that girl Monique."
"You can tell?" Mr. Castillon was surprised. Well, it's not only him who was surprised by his little lecture.
Phil, too.
However, what Edric said next made Phil's eyes to almost popped out from their sockets while his jaw dropped down the floor.
"Goodness! Which year were you even born that you did not even see that? His eyes sparkled when he mentioned her name. He has became sad and disappointed to you when you told him to break up with her." Edric paused to loosen the tie around his neck and continued.
"If you have met your wife through an arranged marriage, then don't make your sons follow the same tradition."
Mr. Castillon felt like he was being taught how to be a good and observant father by this man who was not even a father himself.
"Young Master, thank you for enlightening me." Mr. Castillon said.
The problem with rich and influential families was, they had these set of rules like a doctrine that every member should follow should they still want to continue being a member of the family and not called as a rebel, an outcast or all those nasty names.
Sometimes, the member's happiness had to be sacrificed for the sake of a certain family tradition.
Which was really unfair.
Edric only hummed in response. Then he frowned when he recalled the happenings during the dinner.
"Are you really close with Mr. Moulin?" Since the person was no longer in front of him, Edric changed how he addressed President Moulin.
After all, when his term was over, he would no longer be addressed that way.
"Yes. We were buddies during our University time. And it continued until now." Mr. Castillon honestly answered Edric's question.
"I see. So, why are you not informed about the existence of his other daughter? Or are you trying to cover up for him? Or didn't he tell you about this?"
Mr. Castillon never dared to imagine that how he answered Edric's question for President Moulin earlier would bring him to Edric's bad side.
"No. I didn't know at all!" Mr. Castillon Edric's words because he knew that Edric only spoke with valid proof.
He would never spout nonsense. Especially in this very sensitive topic.
"He was hiding something this important from you. Isn't this something that you should worry?" Edric wanted to measure how much trust Mr. Castillon had given to President Moulin.
"Mr. Moulin has a daughter which he has abandoned. Only your God knows where that poor soul is at the moment."
"You see, Rosalie is living the life while his other daughter must be living a hard time. Worse, she might be dead." Edric continued.
"If I were you, I wont let them use the so-called friendship that you have. Who knows? He is only after your influence."
Edric was clearly trying to stir Mr. Castillon's trust for President Moulin to the point that he would want to question their friendship.
Yes, Edric was not a good guy.
He was never the good guy. He was selective on to whom he would show his care and help.
"I understand. I'll be more cautious with him from now on."
Edric smirked when he heard that.
"And don't ever think about the marriage alliance. I don't like the man nor his new family." Edric added.
Phil stopped the car when they reached the main gate of the Castillon Residence.
"Thank you for dropping me by, Young Master. Are you sure that you don't want to stay here for the night?" He offered however Edric sternly declined.
"I'm sure. I don't want other members of your family to see me."
After making sure that Mr. Castillon's guards came to take escort him inside, Edric told Phil to drive him home.
When Edric arrived at his manor, he then checked his phone which had been drained for two days.
He only charged it today before he left to join the dinner.
When he turned the device on, he immediately received message notifications coming from Jane.
He then opened the message and read what was it all about.
Edric immediately gave his response with an apology for the delay.
In his message, he told her that it was fine if he missed this week's tutorial session with Celeste.
After all, she must have surely missed her family back in their province.
Family.
He no longer had it. And it had been a long time since he had received family love since his parents died many centuries ago.
He was quite upset and sad that he won't be able to receive such love and care from them.
He then summoned Edward through mind link to know Jane's condition in the province.
"Master!"
"Edward, how's Jane?" Edric asked him straight away.
"She's good. She didn't get sick since the day she landed here." Edward reported.
"How about her family?"
"Not good. Actually, they have been stressing out on how to pay their debt to this guy named Mr. Simon Sandoval."
"Tell me about it."
Edric was well-informed about her family's financial situation. Especially the debt that she had been helping her mom to pay in installments for many years.
"Mr. Sandoval urged them to pay the debt that they owed after thirty days. Should they fail, they will lose their freedom to the man."
"I see. So he is planning to enslave them if they failed to deliver the payment?"
"Yes Master."
"How did Jane react to this?"
"She is now looking for ways to earn money. She is planning to invest what she has in the in stocks."
"That's risky. She might lose everything." Edric mumbled.
"How much money do they still owe from Mr. Sandoval?"
"Seven million pesos, Master."
"I see. That's all for now. Make sure that nothing will happen to her. Don't let them touch even a single strand of her hair. Remember not to use your abilities."
Edward who was listening from the other side scratched the back of his nape because it seemed impossible.
He was a familiar with a weak physical body. He was equivalent to a floating ghost. How could he do that by not using his power?
However, he had no other choice but to agree to it.
"Okay Master."
Edric looked at the screen of his phone.
He must be waiting for Jane's reply.
And most importantly, for Jane to ask his help.
Should the method she had in mind fail, she would lose everything.
However, he knew that Jane was a stubborn type and would not give up easily.
Edric tossed his phone on the bedside table and he prepared himself for bed.
***
For the rest of her first week in staying in Jane's hometown, she had been spending her time learning how to trade on stock better before she would dive in the real thing.
She knew the risks. She might lose everything within an hour or so.
She started trying on investing within the second day.
She was very lucky that the company which she had bought the stocks was performing really well in the market.
She was able to generate forty percent of her initial investment.
And yes, she had spent half of the money in her bank account for this.
While she spent half of the rest in buying baking ingredients.
Since their store was destroyed, she came up with the idea of selling home baked pastries online.
To make sure that Mr. Sandoval won't know what they were doing, she used a different name on their online store.
As expected, their first day didn't go well since no one could recognize them.
However, on the second day, someone ordered them a bulk order of everything that was on their online menu.
The order was overwhelming that they had decided to secretly tap their previous workers for extra help.
Jane helped in making the variety of pies since she still had old Jane's memories on how to make it.
Mrs. Sanchez and Naomi were baking the cookies and macaroons while Anton was the one packing them.
They were so careful with their movements.
They were able to finish the order overnight and a big van took the orders from their house.
The buyer said that he would be giving the bread and pies to the children they would meet on the street and also to everyone on the street.
Since everyone got the chance to taste it, positive reviews were pouring on their homepage.
And some even ordered for their events for next week.
The most requested was Jane's pie varieties.
They could not get enough of it!
For the whole week that they started taking orders, they were able to earn a net income of thirty thousand pesos everyday.
And Jane thought that in the coming days, as long as the positive reviews kept on coming, they would be able to earn more.
However, she knew they won't be able to earn millions after a month with this.
And Jane's vacation time was almost over.
She had to go back to the Capital two more days.
Will they be able to make it the moment she go back?
She never trust Mr. Sandoval to keep his words.
She knew that he would find ways to make trouble for her family when she's away.
"What should I do?" Jane mumbled while looking on her computer screen.