"It's an enormous manor, I'll go there tomorrow morning to check everything and see if there's something else that needs to be reformed. If so, I'll start taking care of as soon as you get the scripture of the place with my friend, Duchess Amelie Edwards Harper, she's not part of the current ruling family, big she's connected to them, far but still. She turned the boring place into a majestic property, she's been reforming it since 2021, she just finished it in early March. It's fundamentally worthy about 100 or 110 million pounds, right now it would be up to 200 million at most, but it wasn't supposed to be sold, however, as the heir and owner of the property, she can. We're lucky she craves for money, and you're rich enough to be able to pay for it with ease!"
"It's almost a castle, to be honest, it's really huge, has a whopping amount of 70 suites, 2 master suites, 87 bathrooms, and that on the main manor, there's also a detached guest house with 10 suits and 17 bathrooms, and also a staff house with 27 bedrooms that can be turn into dorms and fit two beds each and 30 smaller bathrooms. The main manor is three floors high if we count the ground floor, has usable and exciting rooftop, and two underground floor, the last one being a modern garage. Oh, yes, the infinity pool behind the main manor is deep enough that if you swam to it's depth, the bulletproof glass of the pool with give view to the garage!"
"That's too bloody much," I gasped.
"Sounds perfect," Rhys said instead. "Worthy of a Princess."
"Why do you all keep calling me a Princess?" It's getting on my nerves.
"Our family is very, very powerful, Ruby," Adeline told me. "The Crowthers pretty much rule what we call the underworld, you don't seem to know that, but the Sinnotts are part of it too, so are the Warners, and aunt Ava's family, as well as Damien's, and many other families whose children you met in school, and didn't know. It's not simply mafia, it's beyond that, sure, the Crowthers rule the mafia there, but our power is wider than that, we have people in all sectors, and not just in the US. The Crowther are the most powerful, next are the Warners, mom was the Warners only heiress, she married dad for power play, they had us, and as Rhys is the claimed heir and the only fertile of us three, he takes it all."
"Us Crowthers actually have more power than the very England Royal family," Niklaus told me, serious for a change. "We are also richer than them, and our ties go deeper into government institutions, because they preach law, equality, and peace or whatever, but they all have price, and they all want a slice of our power pie. So, if uncle Morris Crowther is the King, Rhys as the heir is the Prince, thus, you're the Princess to be Queen."
"What the hell?" I gasped and turned to mum. "Dad's... in the mafia?"
Sigh, "Yes, but he's more like... a trustworthy lawyer. He's Morris' childhood best friend and lawyer, aside from being a businessman for the Sinnotts."
"How didn't I know that?" My jaw dropped.
"You were too busy running from reality and headset in getting to Oxford," mum chuckled. "Your father wanted you to be a lawyer and go to Harvard because he wanted you to be," she pointed her chin to Rhys, "his lawyer, as he was to take over as heir at some point. To keep the links strong. Hence why Cole and Hayes were encouraged to become best friends, and why Cassiano and Morris are actually joyful that the two are engaged, since Hayes is infertile either way. Now your father is making your half-siblings co-heirs, since you chose to be my heiress instead. Cassiano is unbothered, since Rhyot is his heir, though he had tried to contact me before, to try a union between you too."
"He what?" Both me and Rhys frowned.
"He'll probably be infuriatingly overjoyed to know that my refusal and our fight over it, 8 years ago, was useless, because you ended together either way, and already having a son. But it was natural, so that relieves me quite a bit. The arsehole wanted to force you into an arranged marriage, all because he wanted you to be integrated in the Crowther, so your offspring, as he called it, would be phenomenally beautiful and smart," she rolled her eyes. "Little did he know you already had an offspring, who was, indeed, beautiful and smart."
"8 years ago?" Rhys asked and mum nodded.
"Yes, Rhett was already 2 years old," she passed a hand over her hair.
"Never thought my dad had in him," he scoffed and I looked at him, noticing how he tensed, as if something happened 8 years ago between him and Morris.
"Well, regardless, I'll check the manor tomorrow and I'll talk to you later on," she told him that, then side-eyed me. "And you, darling, should be honest with yourself for a change, yeah? Fighting this, won't take you anywhere, but back to him in the end, it'll be the same as trying to subdue a fire with gasoline."
"Mum, I know what I'm doing," I groaned annoyed.
"And I know what's best for you," she countered.
"Oh, don't a mother Gothel on me, mum, I'm 26!"
"26, single, with a son, and trying to refuse the father of the son for whom you harbor genuine feelings, even if they are a mess and you are unable to name them. Think of you, but think of Rhett too. And of the past, let's not repeat what happened back then, yeah?" She held my face softly, kissed my forehead, and took a step back. "I took the liberty to call Leah Reid after I heard about our trip to Scotland, and told her to plan for more four people to go with us."
"What? No, mum. It's not a trip for fun, it's a trip for work. I only accepted Leah and her family to go, because Rhett wants Lloyd there!" What a nightmare.
"Rhett will want both his parents there," she countered. "However, Rhyot here, going, means those three will go too," she pointed to Niklaus, Adeline, and Damien, who smiled at me, though Niklaus's was more like a bloody grin. "This is your new reality, darling. Rhett will be entertained with his dad and his friend's family, Rhyot will be entertained with Rhett and you, Adeline and Damien will entertain each other, Klaus here will be my entertainment," and she grinned, grinned mischievously and I faked a gag.
"No. What the hell?" I glared at him. "Were you hitting on my mum?"
"What? No!" He gasped. "She was hitting on me."
"Mum!" I yelled. "He's 28, you're 59."
"Yes, and? I like younger men now, and he's delicious," she eyed him like food, and Niklaus turned strawberry red, with a flirty grin on. "So tall and east Asian."
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No! I refuse to see this. Jesus Christ."
She rolled her eyes dramatically, "I'm divorced, both my children are adults, I'm already a grandmother of a 10-year-old, I get to live what I want. I want him!"
I covered my ears with both hands, "No, no, noooooo, ew, eeeew!"
"Noew, ah, I miss that cat," mum sighed.
"I'm surrounded by idiots," I groaned. "Go to the kids, mum. And you," I pointed my finger to Niklaus, "stay away from my mum."
"She looks more like your aunt, though," he mumbled and mum loved it.
"They say I look 39 to 40, at best," she winked at him.
"Ew, eeeew," I grabbed her and pushed her to the lift, "go."
"Why don't you go make me another grandson, and let me enjoy myself?"
"I'm not making another child!" I yelled. "Stop jinxing me."
"Hmmm," she side-eyed Rhys, up and down, then me. "You're ovulating."
"No, I'm not," where did she get the from?
"Mmhm, you're ovulating," she tilted her head.
"I'm not!" I snapped, because I'm not.
"Yes, you are," she grinned.
"Mum, I know my cycle, I'm not ovulating!"
"If at the end of our Scotland trip, by the July 25th, your period,"
"Mum, Jesus Christ, I'm 26! Stop it! This is embarrassing. You're embarrassing me in front of mafians," I groaned.