Jane watched as Edric drove them towards this unknown place.
The road was small and only two vehicles could fit in compared to the four lanes in the highway.
There were sugarcane on each side of the road and they were heading towards this huge developed land beside a mountain where there were a community of big houses built near the foot of it.
"PRISTINA NORTH' Said the signage that greeted them at the main entrance where the guard house of the subdivision was located.
Edric pulled over and waited for the checkpoint bar to lift up before he drove the car inside where the two subdivision guards welcomed them.
The guard asked for their identification and Edric gave one of his card.
Jane also did the same.
Upon receiving their ID's the two guards stiffened and looked at them.
As for Jane's ID, she was still the ugly her because she had not updated it yet.
However, it was not Jane but Edric's name whom made them nervous all of a sudden.
"Is this going to take long?" He asked the two guards impatiently.
"Good morning Sir! I'm very sorry for the delay. My partner's going to attach the Pristina North sticker on your car so next time, you don't have to present your ID's to us." One of the guard explained while handing them back their IDs.
Jane made a mental note to update the image so this awkward situation won't happen again.
"Then do it!"
The other guard then attached the sticker and then logged the plate number of the car, the induction sticker, owner and house number of the owner.
When they got the green light to go, Edric stomped on the accelerator and he sped off.
"Damn! Are they the new member of the Homeowners Association." The first guard asked his colleague.
The second guard answered.
"Yes. They're scary. The fact that they owned the biggest house in the subdivision speaks volume."
"Then, we better do our job well. I feel like change is coming in the HA leadership."
It didn't take long until they reached the black gate with little palm trees planted on the landscape outside.
The three-stroy house screamed status in the unfamiliar neighborhood.
It was like a mansion behind the three-meter high white wall.
Edric pressed the horn of the car to let the people inside know that they're outside.
The gate then opened at it slid to the right.
Edric then wasted no time to drive inside the gate and pulled over on the concrete outdoor parking lot.
Edric got out of the car to open Jane's side but Jane beat him to it.
Two men in grey uniforms approached Jane and Edric.
"You should be our new masters?" One of them asked the them.
"Yes. She's your Young Miss." Edric introduced Jane to these two.
"I'm Sandro. This is my brother Pedro. We pledge our loyalty to you, Young Miss!"
The two knelt down on the ground with their heads bowed down like two loyal servants paying tribute to their masters in ancient times.
Jane was taken off-guard with this. Though this was not the first time that a servant greeted her, but it just felt weird receiving such treatment now that she's Jane.
"Wait what? Mr.--" *Edric* "--Edric, this is, too much. Are you sure that we're in the right house?"
"Yes. I wanted to give this to you and your family as a gift."
Edric said so casually yet Jane could feel the sincerity in it.
"No! This is too much! Even my Mama will refuse this kind of gift."
"No. She'll accept this."
Edric was confident that Ann would accept this but Jane still wanted to challenge him.
"How are you so sure?"
"I just know. Now, they have acknowledged you as their Young Miss. What are you going to do, then?"
Jane looked at Sandro and Pedro and then she sighed heavily. The two were kneeling as they paid tribute to her.
"I really don't agree to this but since this man insisted, I'll be in your care then."
'Jane, though we agreed our marriage to be nominal, you're still going to be my wife. I want to give you all the benefits and privileges of being my wife. And that includes your family.'
Edric's thoughts echoed on Jane's head.
'Fine. But this will be the last. Don't pamper me, too much. I might get used to it.'
She pleaded to him which made Edric to wonder why Jane was like this to him.
For him, he was only trying to be nice to her.
Sandro and Pedro got up and led the two inside the house.
"Sandro, you're going to be the head butler in this house and will be in-charged of your their well-being here. Start looking for servants according to Mrs. Sanchez's preference." Edric ordered in one beat.
"Okay Young Master!"
"Pedro, I heard that you're good at self-defense. You're going to be the head of security for the family."
Sandro and Pedro were both retired military personnel of the country after being a veteran of war in the Southern part of the Country P.
Phil selected them from the best candidates to serve Edric but they were put on standby until this day.
The only intel they got was they're going to be protecting the in-law of the Young Master who hired them after retiring.
And so, that's why they're here with them.
Phil had bought this house on last minute at a very high price. Surprisingly, it had not been occupied by the original owners yet because the foreigner and his local wife filed for divorce.
And so they had decided to put it up for sale last minute to split the price.
The house was a three-story house. Majority of the exterior of the house was made of tinted glass with some parts, steel and concrete.
It had a big garage which could fit three cars inside. A green front yard and beautiful green landscaping beside the wall. There were some trees planted near the three-meter high white fence on the outside but of different shades of colors on the inside depending on which part of the compound it was.
A cemented pathway decorated with small river stones arranged like a mosaic to form some patterns would be the main pathway going to the entrance of the house.
A huge chandelier on top of the living room would welcome the guest upon the entrance.
There's a gray leather bench and a shoe racks with indoor slippers already prepared for the owners and the visitors to use when going in.
They all changed into those slippers before going inside.
The living room was all dirty white with a touch of gold and silver on the cabinets, steel frame of the coffee table, furniture, curtain rod, the outlines on the ceilings and on the walls.
The living room was big with a huge seventy-two inch TV on it.
Jane didn't have to go to the kitchen and the dinning room to know how extravagant the interiors were in there.
The more Jane looked around, the more she thought of Edric's house. The only difference was that, this one was more vibrant, and had a light feeling, while the other one was dark and mysterious. Almost haunting.
"Ed, this is so huge. I don't think my family would like living here. It felt lonely, to be honest."
'What did you just call me?' Edric heard it but he only wanted to confirm making Jane to pause but ignored him.
Did she just give him a nickname? Never mind.
Going back, this was the downside of living in a big house.
The space was so huge for the occupants to work on. That even if they're at home, it still felt like they're alone.
"I don't think so. Your family and the strong bond that you shared could make this house warm. At least when Anton and Naomi got married, they could still stay here and Mrs. Sanchez won't feel lonely."
That sounded a really tempting offer.
"Where's my Mama? I thought you're going to bring me to her."
Edric looked at Sandro and Pedro and this time, Sandro nodded and then said, "Follow me Young Miss!"
Sandro then lead them to the Master's Bedroom of the house.
"She's here Young Miss. She's resting. Doctor Harold was inside too. Closely monitoring the Madam."
Upon hearing the name of a certain doctor, Jane immediately panicked.
"She's fine Young Miss. Aside from the slight fever she had at the moment."
Jane then looked at the handle and didn't hesitate to open the double door in front of her.
She immediately teared up when she saw Ann whose portion of her head was covered with bandage.
There's also an IV drip attached on her left hand.
"Mama!" Jane then ran towards Mrs. Sanchez who was still sleeping peacefully on the king-size bed.
"Careful Young Miss. She has just gotten back to sleep." Dr. Harold who was holding her mother's medical charts spoke near the window.
"How's she? Why is she like this? What happened?"
"She's just having a little fever now. Due to stress and fatigue her body became weak. She needs enough amount of sleep. Don't worry, the injury she had on her forehead is nothing serious."
Jane heaved a sigh of relief after Dr. Harold explained her mother's condition.
"Wait, I don't understand. I thought she was in the police station right now. Why is she here?" Finally, Jane asked the question that she should have asked earlier.
"Last night, I asked Phil to check on her condition on the Police Station. But he heard one of the police talking about her going to be brought to Mr. Sandoval's house later that night. Before it happened, I called some help to save Mrs. Sanchez." Edric explained it as brief as he could as he didn't want to fill Jane with more lies. The important thing now was Mrs. Sanchez's safety.
Edric saw Jane's hand balled into tight fist as she said, "That damn old man! He really had gone too far this time!"
"Don't worry about him. I have him taken cared of!"
"No! I want to punish him myself!" Jane immediately opposed of letting other people to punish Mr. Sandoval.
"I know you'd say that. When you're ready, we will go and meet him."