His Devious Rule

The news of missing guests and the chaos in the hall eventually reached the ears of Stefan and the captain of the ship. Hence searching for the three missing guests started immediately.

The Captain instructed Stefan to look for the missing ones and went to see the guests to control the uproar. He initially thought to hide the troubles from the guests so that they could be relaxed. He felt the need to inform the guests when he heard the guests were hurting the staff.

Stefan informed his team to check the surveillance. They feared those three men might be in the crew space, where the three could be used as hostages to stop the ship.

—---

In the hall,

The Captain stood on the raised platform at the front of the hall and spoke over the microphone, "Silence." His firm voice sounded.

The guests stopped in their tracks hearing the voice from the speakers. Everyone looked at the captain and identified him. They had met him on the first day of the cruise vacation.

"I am the captain of the ship." The captain introduced himself in case anybody had forgotten him. Then he continued, "Please take seats. I have an important announcement to make." Unlike the first day when he welcomed the guests with a smile, today he was dead serious. Deep frowns were very prominent on his forehead.

The guests looked at each other and listened to the captain. People listen to the ones who are in power. The captain was the chairperson of the ship so they had no choice but to listen to him.

The junior officers who were exhausted by the bombarding caught their breath in relief. They had been on many cruise vacations. It would typically be filled with different kinds of people. And this was the first time they were being harassed this way. These politicians and their families gave them quite a scare.

The captain waited till the last person in the hall took a seat and gave him complete attention. "First of all, I am sorry for the inconvenience caused." His eyes swept over the hall as he continued, "We have started the searching of the missing guests. The family and friends of missing persons, please cooperate with the officers so that we can find them soon."

Hearing the captain, the families, and the other young men who were with the three men on this cruise vacation stood up. The three junior officers guided them out of the hall for questioning.

The security team couldn't check every camera to find the missing persons. So they were planning to start from the time family or friends last saw them. The team had the confidence to find the missing guests as there were cameras everywhere.

Once those families left, the captain chose to disclose the situation. He preferred to keep that matter concealed from those family members as they could go rampant and disorder the situation.

"I am very certain you all are wondering why you have been brought here without any event or program. I and all my staff would like to request your support in this emergency." The captain tried his best to slowly alert them so that they don't panic too much.

The guests looked at each other. Emergency? If the guests are missing, the team should search for them. What kind of emergency could it be?

The captain unawarely held the microphone tight and continued, "We initially planned to hide this from you and protect you all. We didn't think it might cause more disorder."

Agitated, the guests started to murmur among themselves. Even if they tried to be calm,  other people's words were enough to make them terrified.

"A group of people is trying to seize the ship." The captain tried to keep the words light and noticed the guests' confused look, without understanding the gravity of the situation. He didn't want them to understand either. He just needed them to stay quiet and stop troubling his staff.

"Currently the situation is under control. But to be safer, we will arrange for you all to stay together. Your food and other necessities will be arranged here. Please cooperate and adjust for a night. If we feel the situation is better, we will send you back to your rooms." The captain calmly completed his words. But he doubted if those people even understood anything looking at the blank reactions.

Suddenly a man grasped loudly and cried out to ask, "Is the ship hijacked?"

'Hijack!'

That one word registered their mind better than 'seize.' Instantly there was a buzzing noise of fright. People cried, huddled in corners, and spoke adversely. While some men tried to stay calm, the middle-aged women panicked. Some families just sat close to their father or head of the family, some silently cried and a few had broken into a cold sweat.

The captain let them vent out for a few seconds before lifting the microphone to his lips, "Silence please…" Everyone looked back at the captain to hear him out.

The seriousness of the captain was replaced with a tone full of assurance, "No, the ship isn't hijacked. I know it is quite scary but believe me, together we can get through this. You are all safe here. Hence, I request you all to listen to the officers, stop troubling them and stay calm." He was a great leader, managed to cool off the panic.

The captain modestly bowed to them when they didn't create any noise. Then he spoke with the in-charge officer who was responsible for the security of the guests and the arrangements of food and other necessities.

Meanwhile, Stefan calmly sat and spoke with the three families and friends, until they spotted the missing persons on the screen. Now they will have to track them. Of course, they wouldn't do it in front of those families as it might panic them more. Sending those people to a different room, the investigation continued.

Stefan was supervising when he felt a pat on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw it was the captain, "Officer, I didn't see Collins couples with the guests. Where are they?"

Stefan's brow twitched. He didn't expect the captain to still have Alvin and Anya in mind. He awkwardly coughed and took the captain out of the room. "Captain, they were attacked by nearly ten men on the first deck passageway when they were going to fetch the diving suit..."

The captain was hoping to hear as they were safe and resting somewhere in the ship but Stefan revealed promptly, "They jumped out of the ship."

"What!?" The Captain was shocked.

Stefan quickly continued, "Captain, don't worry. They aren't careless people. They certainly had a plan before making such a decision. And that lady seemed to be an officer from the country Narnia. They probably boarded the ship aware of the situation." He paused to take a breath, looking at the captain forcing himself to calm down. "In short, those two aren't any simple or helpless people who we should worry about." He was trying to focus the captain's attention on the problem they had at the hand.

The captain had numerous questions about the couple but held back. It wasn't the time to feed his curiosity. He got back to work to overview the ship's condition.

—-----

In the yacht,

Anya woke up in the middle of the night. With some struggle, she pulled herself to lean on the headboard. She gently pressed her forehead feeling her head heavy. She remembered drying her hair and lying on the footbed to catch a breath. But she slipped to slumber.

Her hand touched the slightly heavy bag on her stomach and took it out of the comforter. She smiled, wondering how Alvin knew so many things and took care of her. He was known as a cold-blooded person.

Looking around in the dim-lit room, she noticed Alvin resting on the couch without a blanket or using the throw-over that was right under him.

'He took care of me and forgot himself.' She shook her head in resignation.

She didn't recklessly try to move. She got off the bed slowly feeling her strength. She was a little weak but a lot better after the nap. The temperature of the room seemed to be a little high so she didn't feel cold after getting out of the comforter.

Pulling the comforter to her hand, she went to him without making a sound. Carefully spreading it over, she tucked him and sat on the coffee table with a sigh. Her lips faintly curled looking at his calm face. He didn't look like a vampire anymore, neither angry nor cold.

Feeling her throat dry, she sipped the water that was on the coffee table. Grabbed the remote and set the room temperature to appropriate. Then her hand reached out to touch his forehead but halted, afraid of waking him up.

Looking at his handsome face, she wasn't edgy anymore when she again thought about Alvin being aware of Zane's identity.

Although he might get angry at her for hiding about Zane or loathe her by misunderstanding anything, she was sure he won't treat her baby, Zane badly. She made up her mind to convince him to let Zane be with her, instead of foolishly running away from the country or city.

She wanted to be the same calm and strong-headed woman while facing Alvin. She didn't want to act like an overprotective mother or panicked woman or silly girl in love.

A sigh slipped her lips. She had thought she was over him, looks like she was just deceiving herself. More than five years! She is seeing him after five years. Why was she still hanging on to him? They never even dated, nor did he give her any hope of affection.

He is so harsh, cold, livid yet she couldn't see those. All she knows is he always goes out of his way for her. He was getting her books pretending as those books were for himself. He was making time for her saying he was giving her early training before joining his company. He had protected her from getting bullied by calling her stupid.

If all those were in the past, currently, he saved her without even knowing who she was. He tagged behind her for her safety without trusting anybody else for it. He is taking care of her.

Although she gets annoyed seeing him do his mind without asking her opinion and force her sometimes, his intentions were always clear. Hence she wasn't least bit surprised when she took the decision of keeping him safe in the water. She felt like a fool to fall for him without even knowing and to always see through his actions.

However, it didn't even cross her mind once to get close to Alvin through Zane. In the past or present, she never fantasized about being with him.

"Like what you see?" A groggy deep voice suddenly floated in the air.

Anya had seen his lips move so her expression didn't change at his voice. She watched his lips that were threatening him to arc but he pursed them to a line, making him look grim.

"Alvin…" Her soft low voice was sweet on his ears, relaxing his face. He hummed without opening his eyes.

"Why do you treat me well?" She asked him directly. She wondered if his answer will be the same as in the past, 'Because you are a little fool.'

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