Secret Scion

"Cas, Asher asked me to tell you that since you helped him out in Rollinsford back then, please don't hesitate to go seek him out whenever you're faced with problems. After all, Alexandrius is his turf, and he's not one to burn bridges as well," Dove piped up.

"Got it." Castor nodded solemnly. "Personally, I'd like to avoid resorting to my connections with him if possible. That is, unless I'm faced with a problem that I can't solve on my own. He'll be my

last resort once that happens. It's best if I don't ask for his help for small problems."

Dove nodded, not really understanding her brother's reasoning, but she still accepted it nonetheless.

At that moment, a couple of young men and women walked into the restaurant. Dove had seen them before; they were all friends that Castor had made during his stay in the Capital City. According to him, two of the youths were quite influential in the city. One of them was Dustin Bowie, whereas the other man was named Barry O'Connor.

Having spotted them, Castor led them to a private room and served them with good food and wine.

Dustin wore a floral-printed shirt, loose pants, and a pair of sandals. His eyes were fixated on Dove for a few moments before he commented with a grin, "Hey Castor, I heard that you were involved in a fight with Tristan. Why didn't you tell us about it? C'mon, we're all friends here! We'll definitely help you out whenever we can!"

Castor just responded with a polite smile. "It's just a small problem. I didn't want to trouble you guys."

"A few years ago, that Tristan brat was nothing to me! Back then, we kept pushing him around. Then again, Savannah has gained so much traction over the years, which in turn elevated the Andersons' status. That's why Tristan's arrogance has grown to this point. However, he still has to reel himself in when I'm around." Dustin spread his arms across the back of his chair with his legs blatantly crossed in a crude manner while sounding extremely conceited.

Castor nodded and decided to go along with the flow. "Of course. After all, you're quite famous in Alexandrius. Haha!"

He may be the cream of the crop back in Rollinsford, but he was nothing in the Capital City. This was the true distance between the elite circles of both cities.

"By the way, Castor, your sister is so beautiful! Does she have a boyfriend? If not, can you introduce her to me? Haha!" Dustin said in a half-joking manner.

Castor replied, "I can't make decisions for Dove. This all depends on what she wants."

Hence, Dustin turned to grin at Dove. "Dove, why don't you consider me as your boyfriend? I don't dare to claim myself as a bigshot, but if you were to become my woman, I promise that I'd give you a great life."

Dove finally realized that all of Castor's "friends" did not view him as a true friend. Otherwise, Dustin would not have said these things.

"Sorry, but I already have a crush on someone else," she said bluntly.

"Who's that guy? Is he from Alexandrius?" Dustin had a scornful smirk playing on his lips as he remarked in a snide manner, "It'll be easy to get rid of him if he's an Alexandrian. I'll make sure to meet up with him after this and send him packing as far away as he can from here! Haha!" Dove could not help but chortle in amusement. She was used to seeing people acting very arrogantly, but never had she met such an arrogant man in her life. Dustin spoke as if the entire city of Alexandrius belonged to him. She decided to reply, "I didn't realize that you're this influential in the Capital City, Mr. Bowie. Well then, the person I like is named Asher Crawford. Feel free to seek him out."

"Asher Crawford, you say? All right, then..." Dustin's words trailed away when he thought of something. Shock quickly replaced his expression as he exclaimed, "Hold on, w-what did you just say? Asher Crawford? Which Asher is that?"

Dustin was not the only one looking so shocked. Everyone in the private room stared at Dove in various degrees of surprise.

"Dustin, Dove wasn't referring to Master Asher from the Crawfords. It's just a man that shares the same full name." Castor nudged Dove's elbow, but the latter could not endure Dustin's arrogant attitude at all. She interrupted, "What do you mean by that, Cas? The Asher that I have a crush on is the heir of the Crawfords!"

Then, she continued with a smile, "Mr. Bowie, do you have Asher's contact number? Why don't I give it to you? You can call him now if you want."

Dustin almost fell out of his chair. Eyes wide and jaw dropped, he could not utter a word even after a few minutes had passed.

"D-Dove, you're joking, right? H-How can you have a crush on Asher Crawford?" Dustin felt that it was very surreal. Who the hell was Asher? He was the famous heir of the Crawfords in the Capital City! Dove, on the other hand, was just Castor's little sister, so how the hell could both of them meet under such circumstances?

The sight of Dustin looking so flabbergasted satisfied Dove to no end. "How could I ever joke about this? Why don't I call him over right now?"

"Huh? T-T-There's no need for that! Dove, I was just joking around with you! Please don't take it seriously, okay? Haha!" Dustin tried to play it off as a joke.

Barry, who was seated next to Dustin, suddenly piped up, "Castor, I didn't know that you and Dove are acquaintances with Master Asher. I'm embarrassed to say this, but I'm acquainted with him, and yet he doesn't know who I am. Please introduce me to him if an opportunity arises, Castor."

Dustin nodded in agreement. "That's right. If we can be friends with Master Asher, we won't have to worry about a thing in this city ever again."

"You're overthinking it. How could Master Asher become friends with us nobodies? I just hope that I can serve him well in the future," Barry commented with a wry smile.

Dustin could not help but feel embarrassed after hearing Barry's comment.

"Dove, come and sit with us! You've been in the Capital City for so long, and yet I didn't do much to welcome you here. Now that we're here, I'll have to give you a warm welcome. Consider this meal as my treat," a scantily-clad woman at the table said smilingly.

"Since you're Castor's little sister, that makes you our little sister as well. If you ever need help in the Capital City, don't hesitate to hit us up. Hehe!"

Dove just smiled and nodded. She could see that all of those people were people-pleasers who knew how to pick their side.

"Boss, are you in there? A few troublemakers have shown up downstairs to cause a ruckus." At that moment, an anxious voice rang from outside the private room.

Castor opened the door immediately and asked, "What happened?"

"There are a few young men downstairs who came here to cause trouble on purpose. One of them claims to be Tristan Anderson, and he demands for your immediate presence." "Tristan?" Castor's expression darkened immediately. "Let's go take a look."

When Dove heard that Tristan was one of the perpetrators, a grim expression was quick to appear on her face. Then, she looked at Dustin and the rest of his gang. "Mr. Bowie, didn't you say that Tristan would give you face if you were to show up in front of him? Then, the time has come for you to help my brother out."

The things that Dustin boasted about earlier were half-truths. It was true that he did not respect

Tristan at all a few years ago, but it was a completely different story now.

He looked rather torn as he hesitated for a few seconds. Left with no choice, he said, "Since Castor is in trouble, we can't just sit by and watch. Let's go see what it's all about."

One of Tristan's arms was slung in a cast, but it did not stop him from barging into the restaurant and causing trouble for everyone there. The moment he came in, he chased the customers away from their table before plopping his ass down and placing his feet on the table. He looked like he was the ruler of the world.

"Hey David, I heard that you earned a bucket of gold lately! Congrats on that!" Tristan shot a glance in the direction of an ugly man with a long and skinny face.

David took a deep drag from his cigarette before laughing in response. "That idiot is a total dreamer, all right! He even dared to start a business with me! He should've taken a good, long look at himself in the mirror! Does he seriously think he's a bigshot in this city? Then again, I didn't manage to swindle too much money from him! It's just a total of 300 thousand dollars, that's all."

"300 thousand is a big sum, my friend. How much do you want, exactly? I heard that guy came from Rollinsford as well."

"Yeah." David nodded. "I brought twenty subordinates here. They're all waiting in their cars outside. If you think that's not enough, I can always get more here!"

"Twenty people is more than enough to thrash this restaurant. To think that an outsider dares to make this city his territory... I think he's tired of living!" Tristan snarled through gritted teeth. At that moment, Castor had already bound down the stairs. The sight of Tristan and a few strangers sitting on their stools at a table made him take a deep breath. Then, he approached them and said, "Tristan, what the fuck do you want? Life will be much easier for you if you know when to hit the brakes and not go down this path. If you insist on using such extreme methods, no one will benefit from this situation."

"Haha! It's been a few days since we last met, and yet I see your temper and arrogance have gone up quite a lot, eh?" Tristan chortled coldly in response. He grabbed a bottle of wine and hurled it at Castor immediately. "Fuck you! Who the fuck do you think you are? How dare you talk to me like this! I'm definitely fucking up this place!"

Castor managed to evade the flying bottle. It exploded behind him in a rain of shards and splinters.

"David, summon your men," Tristan ordered coldly.

David shot Castor a glance before snapping his fingers at a guy wearing a singlet. That guy left the restaurant immediately. Soon, he was back with over twenty people. All of them glared at Castor as if he was their prey.

However, at that moment, Dustin, Barry, and the others had already descended the stairs. When they noticed Tristan and David sitting at the table, Dustin could not help but frown. He regretted having gloated too much in front of Dove at that moment.