The next morning, when Raeya entered Mikael's room to wake him up, she froze as she saw someone inside his comforter, half lying on his chest.
She dangerously narrowed her eyes and marched over to the bed to pull the comforter off, believing that it was Ginny, his secret mistress. And what she found froze her.
Raeya saw a little boy, soundly asleep on his brother's chest, his cute brows furrowing at the sudden loss of warmth on him.
"Rae?" She heard her husband ask, and when she met his blue eyes, she felt very guilty in her heart.
"Don't you have to go to the office?" she asked, trying to change the subject.
"I do, but not for another few hours."
"Oh, okay." She lightly said and her heart warmed up when she saw how peacefully Micah was sleeping. "It seems that he is quite attached to you. Does he usually sleep in your bed?"
"Yes. He mostly sleeps with Aunt Sariah, sometimes he hops in bed with Father, and when he is not around, he finds me or Anaiah. He doesn't like sleeping alone." Mikael smiled and then drew his hand to her. "My comforter?"
"Oh, sorry."
Raeya carefully covered them with the comforter again, and embarrassed at what she had just done, she quickly left the room.
Her mood, however, soured as soon as she arrived in the lounge and found Alison, Min-Jin, and Ginny sitting with her mother-in-law and chatting with her.
"Mikael?" Maria asked her.
"He wants to sleep in, and Micah is with him." She informed the lady, who understandingly nodded her head.
"Does he have anything important in the office today?"
"No, Mom. Not in the morning. He has a meeting with the Manager of Emres Tower in the afternoon," Alison answered to the Lady of the Zarayne Family, and her address surprised both Min-Jin and Raeya.
"It's okay. Let him sleep then. And you should stay here. Go to the office with him when he gets up."
"Okay." The grey-eyed girl obediently nodded her head, and before anyone could frown more at the sudden display of familiarity between the two, Maria stood up and walked towards the dining room, where the Albonns, Anaiah, Sariah, and Klara were already sitting.
"Micah is with him?" the boy's mother knowingly asked, and her sister-wife smiled at her.
"Yes. They want to sleep in today."
"As usual." She smiled, shaking her head, and everyone harmoniously had their meal.
Alastair, Edwin, and Grisha had to go to the office today and attend a few meetings, so they left first.
And one by one almost everyone left after finishing their meal.
In the end, only Anaiah, Alison, Min-Jin, Sariah, Ginny, and little Stephen were left at the table.
The boy felt a little awkward since he was not very familiar with the ladies, but having known Anaiah for a few days, he felt comfortable with her.
"Sister, can I go to the gaming lounge?" he asked for permission, and the young Zarayne smiled at him.
"Let's go. I want to see how good you are."
"Hey, I want to play too," Sariah suddenly said, much to Stephen's surprise.
"Aunty, you play games?"
"Of course. I am the best at third-person shooting games." She grinned. "Even Anaiah can't defeat me."
"I will beat you today," the girl confidently said, and then looked at Alison and the other two. "Do you know how to play the Order of Honour?"
"Yes!" The oriental beauty immediately nodded her head. "Alison and I used to sneak out to play games in the gaming café near her university. Everyone there played Order of Honour, and so we learned it."
"I play it as well. Everyone in my class does." Ginny confidently nodded her head.
"Good! We will have lots of fun then."
Sariah excitedly stood up, and seeing her so active, the girls were a little worried since she was heavily pregnant.
As the six of them went to the basement, Anaiah quickly set up the LAN party, and it just so happened that Stephen's cousins woke up and came downstairs.
When the two boys saw what they were doing, they requested if they could join as well, and since there were plenty more consoles in the lounge, they were happily welcomed.
The eight people spent hours in the lounge playing the game. Sometimes in duos, sometimes in squads of four, but mostly in solo mode.
Aunt Lu brought them some snacks and juices right before noon time, but they were too engrossed in the game to realise what time it was.
Except for Anaiah, everyone was shocked at how skilled Sariah was at the game. She was a real master, and she humiliated them so much they wanted to drown in a glass of juice in shame.
It was especially the case with Stephen's cousins, who thought that the ladies would only be decent at it, not better than them. So, when they saw that they were ranked fifth and sixth, only above Ginny and Stephen, it fuelled their competitiveness.
In the end, the rankings stayed the same, but they had a lot of fun.
Alison panicked when Aunt Lu came to inform them that lunch was ready and that Mikael and Micah were waiting at the table.
Stephen's aunties, Anne and Stella, were at the table as well, and when little Micah asked his mother where she was, an excited conversation started at the table.
Little Zarayne too excitedly told them how his brother taught him piano and a beautiful melody, which Sariah asked him to play for her later.
At exactly 3 pm, Alison arrived outside and entered the passenger seat of the AminFarina.
"Boss, Manager Graham will be there at exactly 4:45 pm."
"Alright." He smiled at her and then helped her fasten her seatbelt. "When it is just the two of us, call me Brother, okay?"
Her eyes immediately turned misty and she nodded her head, feeling warm in her heart. However, her mood soon brightened up as she got to experience his driving skills again.
"Do you know how to drive?"
"No," she shook her head when they got out of the car in the underground parking lot.
"Want to learn?" he asked her, and seeing her hesitate, he laughed. "I will teach you."
"Thank you, Boss... Brother."
"You're welcome."
The two entered the lift and arrived at their floor, and as soon as they entered his office, Jenna came in and handed him a file that was marked "confidential".
"All the papers are ready, Sir. Alizer Pharmaceuticals has finished the paperwork on their end and now they are waiting for us."
"Good job, Jenna." He appreciatively nodded his head and opened his laptop.
Jenna and Alison quickly scanned the documents that he had signed, and then the former connected the hand scanner to the laptop and they began filing them.
The process took an hour after Mikael confirmed his identity and submitted his handprints on the official database and even entered a video chat with the agent at the Ministry of Commerce.
As soon as the approval came, he received a call.
"Thank you." Haera's cold yet sweet voice, which held inexplicable emotions, softly sounded out.
"Thank you too, Lady Valentius. I hope our business will bring us a lot of wealth and prosperity."
"Would you like to hold an office in the company?"
"I am a busy man and I have my hands full. If it is just honorary, then it is fine. Otherwise, there is no need for it. I have faith in your ability or else I would not have invested in the company. There is also no need to make any announcements."
Haera calmly listened to his words and felt weird.
Why did he have so much faith in her?
However, she did not raise the question.
"I will appoint you as the President. Do not worry, you will not have to come to the office."
"Alright. I will talk to you later, Lady Valentius. I have a meeting to attend."
"Take care."
"You too."
After the call ended, Mikael curiously looked at Alison, who was frowning as she read the file.
"Boss... 1.3 billion Draks?" Her voice trembled, and he smiled at her.
"Yes."
"But it is a new company..."
"Most of that money is for R&D. They are developing some drugs that can make the lives of people better. Haera Valentius is a genius doctor and an alchemist, and her best friend, Jean, is a brilliant chemist and microbiological and biotechnological scientist. They are two of the best in the country."
"How old are they?" Alison asked in surprise.
"Haera is twenty-six years old, and Jean is thirty-eight years old."
The grey-eyed girl was still sceptical about their expertise, but she trusted Mikael's judgement and no longer asked any more questions.
The meeting between Redline Securities and the Emres Tower manager lasted for an hour, and when Mikael returned to his office, he found Raeya sitting there, doing her own office work.
"Was your office too crowded?" he playfully asked as he took his seat.
"Do you mind?" she questioned without even raising her head from the papers, and he chuckled.
"No," he simply said and busied himself in his own work, keeping his sharp eyes on the changes in the stock market and on the news.
At exactly 6.30 pm, he received a call, and Raeya became curious when she heard its content.
"I see." Mikael ended the call and called Alison into his office.
"Yes, Boss?"
"Contact Archer. Ask him to send Unit 6 to the Galaxy Hotel. We are going there to take over the operations tonight, and Redline Securities will be responsible for the premises' security from now on. Tell Jenna to draw up the contract."
"Yes!" She nodded to him and got to work.
Mikael then entered the room that was attached to his office and came out dressed in a blue suit after taking a shower.
Raeya, who had finished her work, was scrolling through her phone, and she raised her head and curiously looked at him.
"May I ask you something?"
"Yes?"
"How do you have so many Aurors in your company? And all seem to be well-trained professionals."
"Come. We will chat in the car." He invited her to come with him and then helped her carry her briefcase and laptop bag.
Downstairs, a silver REGAL Genesis, one of the finest luxury limousines in the world, was waiting for them, and in front and behind, two AMG SUVs were lined up.
When they entered, they found Alison already sitting inside, working on her laptop, and soon the scanner inside the car beeped and she started collecting the printed documents in a file.
"Boss, here are the documents you asked for." She handed them over to him, and Mikael silently went through them before he took out his pen and signed them.
Once he was done, he handed her the file and smiled at his wife.
"So, you want to know what is special about my security company?"
"Yes." Raeya nodded her head.
"Let's wait for Klara," he said to her, and then picked up the phone to make a call to his second wife.
"I will be downstairs in two minutes."
"Alright."
And just as she had promised, she entered the car exactly two minutes later.
After Mikael sent the signal to Archer, their convoy started moving.