"You were supposed to wake her up, not sleep alongside her!" Susana disbelieving looked at Keith after she woke them both up, and then could not help herself but break out in a laugh.
Julian, who was standing at the door, was already howling, and Rebecca embarrassedly threw her pillow towards him, which only ended up halfway on the floor.
"And why are you in my bed?!" She narrowed her eyes at Keith, trying her best to control the heat that was creeping into her cheeks.
At other times, she would have not been too embarrassed about Keith doing it, but right now, her mother was standing by the side of the bed, and she could not help the shyness that oozed out of her.
"I just decided to take a nap." He simply shrugged and then got up before apologising to Susana for his laziness.
"Yeah. I can see why she likes you." The lady of the Grayson Family suppressed her giggles and then feigned a sigh. "I am now worried that you will make her even lazier than she already is."
"Mom!" Rebecca called out and narrowed her eyes at her. "Give me 10 minutes. And I will be downstairs."
"Okay." Susana did not intend to pull her leg and just agreed to wait for her to get ready.
She knew that if they started on it, they would waste a lot of time and keep the family members waiting for them.
The golden blonde girl immediately rushed out of the bed to get away from the eyes of her mother and entered the dressing room to freshen up and get changed.
And Keith was left alone as the target of the mother and son's amused smiles.
He did not bother about making up an excuse. If they wanted to think that he was lazy, he was fine with it. After all, they were not exactly wrong. He could be very lazy at times.
Keith excused himself away to make a call to his mother, intending to ask her when she was going to come over.
"We will be there in half an hour," Venessa answered as soon as she picked up the call.
"Alright. Be safe." He simply said and ended the call.
"How long?" Susana asked.
"30 minutes." He replied and then poured himself some water that was placed on the breakfast table in the room.
"Did you really give Rebecca your AMG-ONE as compensation?" Julian curiously asked when Keith placed the glass back on the table.
"What do you think?" He smirked at his friend and asked back.
"I thought so." The blonde boy sighed understandably. "She's a little too much, sometimes."
"It's fine." He shrugged. "It's just a car."
"Yeah, but it's your favourite car."
"Not a loss that I can not bear." He chuckled and then curiously looked at the painting that he had earlier looked at when he toured the room.
There were three children in it, two blonde girls and a little blonde boy. The oldest and the most beautiful was undoubtedly Rebecca, and then there was the second girl, who was a couple of years younger, at six or seven, and she was quite a beauty too. And finally, there was the little boy with a baseball cap on his head, and it was not hard to guess that it was Julian.
"Who's she?" Keith asked, gesturing to the second girl in the painting.
His words were met by silence as Susana turned her eyes away and refused to answer him. And Julian seemed a little conflicted.
"That's my cousin, Naomi." He finally answered after sneaking a glance at his mother.
"Oh." Keith nodded his head, not asking anything in particular about the girl, which the Lady of Grayson Family was quite relieved about.
And he did not really need to ask anything about the girl named Naomi. After all, he knew everything about her that was worth knowing.
He sighed in his heart when he found Julian lost in his thoughts. And he knew that he was thinking about Naomi, the girl he loved with all his heart.
"Did anything happen after Rebecca called me last night?" He asked, grabbing the boy's attention.
"Not really." Julian shook his head but then frowned. "But Rebecca showed us the video that you sent her. Tristan saw it too." He said and clenched his fist. "I never thought that the Heir of the Falken Family was such a despicable and dumb person."
"I can't say that I disagree with your evaluation." He chuckled and shook his head before sighing.
"Did he even think of the consequences before he took such a desperate decision?"
"He probably did. But we all know that things would have been quite different had he succeeded in his plan." Keith smiled at him.
"How can you be so casual about it? He tried to kill you, Keith."
"It's not like he's not going to pay for what he did. His decision has led to a lot of deaths and has jeopardised the lives of hundreds if not thousands of more people in Delvon City. The Authorities are pressing the backs of Falken now. They have really hit their foot this time." He said then frowned. "However, our Business has taken quite a hit since they targeted key officials of our Consortium. They have touched a line that had always been observed and respected."
"Yeah. I saw the news." Julian sighed and shook his head. "Falken are now claiming that they only did what they did because their youngest son went missing. They claim that your family is behind his disappearance." He informed him.
"Are they now?" Keith smirked. "Do they think that everyone is a fool? And why Anthony and not Christian if we really wanted to target them?" He shook his head.
"Of course, no one is going to believe them." Julian shook his head. "But father said that this narrative could save them from the worst of the punishment that the Government would award them."
"Interesting." He amusedly smiled. "So, they are Kin-Slayers too now."
His words made both Julian and Susana frown.
"Do you think that they made Anthony the scapegoat?" The blonde boy apprehensively asked, and the mere thought of it sent chills up his spine.
"Who knows. But it sure seems like it." Keith just shrugged and then smiled at the girl who exited the dressing room. "You took your time."
"I said 10 minutes, and I am here in 9." She scoffed and then curiously looked at the solemn expression her brother was wearing. "What were you guys talking about?"
"Nothing," Susana replied and then grabbed her daughter's hand. "Let's go! Everyone's waiting for us." She said and led them all downstairs to the dining room where the members of the Grayson Family were waiting for them.
The Graysons were quite a large clan and both Rebecca had lots of older and younger cousins.
Something like this could have overwhelmed another person, but Keith took his time greeting everyone before finally meeting the head of the Grayson Family.
"Mr Grayson!" Keith politely bowed to Rebecca's father, who was a man in his late fifties, but appearance-wise, he appeared to be in his early forties. Just like his children, he had those trademark ocean-blue eyes and golden locks. And with the light beard he kept, he looked quite majestic.
"Heir Demiliore!" He greeted him back in his magnetic voice. "It's good to have you with us tonight."
"Thank you for inviting me." He smiled and said before shaking the hand that was offered to him.
"Marcus, Lady Demiliore will be here shortly," Susana informed her husband, but simply nodded before gesturing for Keith to take his seat.
"My wife has praised you a lot for your business acumen. She says you are just as brilliant as your mother, if not more."
"I am happy to hear such an evaluation, but honestly, I have nothing on my mother when it comes to business." He brightly smiled and answered.
"But you believe that you are better than your mother at something else?" Marcus smiled back and asked.
"There's a list." He nodded his head.
"Help my curiosity please."
"For starters, I am a better Equestrian and a better Musician..." Keith casually started chatting with Marcus, much to the surprise of everyone since the Head of the Grayson Family was not so easy to talk with.
Rebecca was really happy that her father was not trying to make things difficult for Keith, and she happily joined in their conversation when she became the subject of it.
Venessa and Amelia arrived on time as they had promised, and unlike Keith, who took his time greeting everyone individually, his mother and wife collectively greeted everyone before individually greeting Mr and Mrs Grayson.
The daunting presence of Venessa at the table did quieten things down, and everyone attentively listened to everything that she, Marcus, and Susana talked about.
Rebecca and Amelia sat next to each other, and both of them were engaged in a polite conversation about the business world and the latter's interest in architecture.
Even after the dinner was served, everyone kept chatting with each other, and finally, at the end of the meal, the engagement between the two families was brought up right in front of all members of the Grayson Clan.
"I have no objections to it since both of them truly want it." Marcus clarified his stance right from the start.
"It's the same for us." Venessa smiled and said.
After both sides confirmed their stances, everyone congratulated each other and blessed both Keith and Rebecca on their union.
The elders then excused themselves away from the young to discuss the more important issues that came with the union of their families, and Rebecca, Keith, and Amelia were asked to be present in this meeting.
Unsurprisingly, the first thing that came up was the events of last night.
"The Head of the Falken Family came to us last night..." Marcus informed them after they took their seats in his study.
