"I’m Gavriel Valentine," he countered smoothly. "It is wonderful to finally meet you... Mother."

The exact moment he uttered that word, a violent flash of lightning struck outside. In unison, all three pairs of eyes snapped to him in absolute disbelief, staring as if he had just decided to push the absolute limit to see exactly what would trigger a stroke.

Aliana was so taken aback that it took her a full minute to recover from the shock.

Slowly, she shifted her gaze from him toward her mother, who looked as though her soul had peacefully ascended to another realm. While her father, standing slightly behind Portia, had the corner of his eye twitching so hard it looked medically concerning.

’This is not good,’ Aliana muttered to herself, releasing a quiet sigh as she decided to regain control of the situation.

Clearing her throat, she maintained a perfectly straight face and suggested, "Why don’t we talk over some tea?"

That was when Portia finally snapped out of her shock and stretched her lips into a smile so painfully forced that it honestly looked like someone making her do that at gunpoint.

"R-right, tea sounds wonderful!" Portia replied quickly before turning toward her husband with slightly panicked eyes. "Isn’t that right, honey?"

But the moment her gaze landed on Alester, the smile on her face nearly cracked. The man looked one breath away from verbally tearing Gavriel apart in the middle of the living room.

Realising disaster was seconds away from unfolding, Portia immediately moved toward him and practically dragged him by the arm toward the sofa before forcing him to sit down.

Leaning closer, she whispered sharply in a warning tone meant only for him, "Don’t do it, Alester."

Unfortunately for her, Gavriel heard every single word perfectly clearly.

Not that he cared.

If anything, Gavriel found it amusing.

Being glared at by Alester was honestly a rare experience for him. Most people usually avoided eye contact altogether when faced with him.

But the woman standing beside him clearly saw through his growing amusement and absolutely refused to let him enjoy himself at the expense of her parents.

Quickly wrapping her arm around his, she discreetly pinched him hard enough to warn him before whispering while staring him dead in the eyes, "Behave."

Gavriel looked down at her before the corner of his lips twitched slightly at the thought that the mother and daughter really did threaten their partners in exactly the same way.

He raised a brow at her lazily, only for Aliana to glare back at him.

Forcing a smile onto her face, she said sweetly through clenched teeth, "Take a seat, Gav... if you want your... cake."

At her reminder about the cake he had demanded earlier, Gavriel finally complied.

That was how they ended up seated in the living room across from her parents. Each quietly sipping their tea while subtly observing one another like participants in some deeply uncomfortable interrogation. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

As the silence stretched on, Alester reached his breaking point.

He could no longer tolerate watching a grown man be so thoroughly absorbed in eating cake rather than making any effort to converse with them.

"Mr. Valentine," Alester’s stern voice cut through the quiet. "I would like you to answer-"

"Please, call me Gavriel," Gavriel interrupted smoothly before casually adding, "After all, we’re going to be family soon, Father."

Alester genuinely felt his jaw threaten to drop at the man’s outrageous straightforwardness, especially considering they barely knew each other.

In truth, Alester was far from pleased with this entire situation. Gavriel had not only appeared out of nowhere, but he was also the chairman of Archon Group, a man far too mysterious for his liking.

The moment Aliana had first mentioned him, Alester had immediately conducted a thorough background check. And somehow, despite all his resources, he had failed to uncover even a single substantial piece of information about Gavriel or the Valentine family name itself. That alone made him deeply suspicious of Gavriel’s intentions.

That being said, both Portia and Alester had already watched the press conference. Whatever panic attack they were destined to have had already occurred mid-flight, a spectacle that poor James had been forced to witness firsthand.

Even so, Alester had no intention of letting this opportunity pass without properly assessing the man sitting before him. It did not matter that the marriage had already been announced publicly or that the entire world now believed the wedding was inevitable.

If he decided Gavriel Valentine was not the right man for his daughter, then Alester was fully prepared to deal with the public repercussions if necessary.

"Alright, Gavriel, I’ll get straight to the point." His sharp eyes fixed directly on the man seated across from him. "What exactly are your intentions with my daughter?"

Gavriel’s fork paused midway toward his mouth before he slowly repeated in a calm voice, "My intentions?"

"Yes, your intentions," Alester replied firmly. "I’m not foolish enough to believe that the chairman of Archon Group suddenly proposed marriage to my daughter out of nowhere when the two of you barely met a week ago."

His gaze sharpened further. "So I’ll ask again. What exactly do you gain from this?"

"Because if you have any ulterior motives involving my daughter or Van Empire..." Alester’s voice hardened noticeably. "Then I’m afraid this wedding cannot happen."

Aliana’s heart began to race at her father’s cutthroat interrogation, while Portia shifted uneasily in her seat before placing a reassuring hand over Alester’s.

"Alester," she whispered softly, clearly trying to stop her husband from making things difficult for their daughter.

But Alester simply covered his wife’s hand with his own before firmly responding, "No, Portia. This is not the time to go soft. We need to know this for the sake of our daughter."

Portia pressed her lips into a thin line, but she understood exactly where her husband was coming from. No matter how handsome and perfect her future son-in-law appeared to be, she could not lightly dismiss her husband’s concerns.

Alester had already told her everything regarding Gavriel’s untraceable past.

The fact that the man was practically a mystery even to someone as resourceful and well-connected as Alester was... unsettling. That alone was enough to make doubts rise within Portia as well, particularly when it concerned the wellbeing of their only daughter.

Gavriel, on the other hand, remained completely silent as he listened to the humans voice their concerns.

Instead of immediately answering Alester’s question, he calmly placed his now-empty plate onto the coffee table before picking up his tea as though he had all the time in the world.

As he took a sip, the faint hint of rose within the tea lingered on his tongue, and some strange sense of satisfaction settled inside him. His icy blue eyes slowly drifted toward Aliana, who was already staring back at him over the rim of her own cup.

At the sight of her, the faintest smile touched his lips before he finally spoke without looking away from her.

"Your concerns are valid," Gavriel said smoothly, "but your facts are inaccurate."

His cryptic reply made all three pairs of human eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Alester demanded.

"It is true that I proposed marriage to your daughter," Gavriel replied calmly. "But that only happened after your daughter insisted.... that we live together instead."

Aliana, who was right in the middle of taking another sip while wondering what game he was playing, spat out her tea in pure shock, before breaking into a violent coughing fit.