The hidden billionaire heiress (Lyra Melvin)

Mavis sat at the desk in her hotel room, working remotely on business for a foreign company. She took a sip of coffee from the cup beside her and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window. "Moore, we need to secure these partnerships as soon as possible. If we can't, find a way to delay signing the contract until I return so we can discuss it further."

"Yes, if profit margins are an issue, I'm willing to lower it by 1. 5 points but not less than that. And remember, every point counts when dealing with Lloyd's Corp." "I'm doing well; don't worry about me. I'll finish up here soon and maybe..."

Mavis trailed off as she looked through the window at a small figure in the kindergarten below.

The school was bustling with parents and children participating in activities on the playground but she couldn't see her son or any sign of Anthony.

"I have an urgent matter to attend to now so let's follow my instructions from earlier. Thank you for your hard work," Mavis said before hanging up.

She scanned through the crowd again until she finally spotted Alistair sitting alone on a small bench watching other kids play games during their parent-child activity day. Although he was too far away for Mavis to see his face clearly, she could sense his loneliness even from this distance.

Where was Anthony? Why wasn't he there for such an important occasion?

Because no parent had shown up yet, Alistair couldn't participate in any events and had been sitting there quietly watching others compete without him while eating candy sticks.

Mavis felt uneasy seeing her baby boy being treated unfairly like this and decided that something needed to be done about it immediately.

She put down her coffee cup and quickly changed into casual clothes before putting on a black wig disguise along with some accessories that would help conceal her identity just enough not be noticed by the Callahan family security guards who were patrolling around due all of parents being present today.

As long as she didn't reveal too much of herself, then everything should go smoothly.

Inside kindergarten, Alistair remained seated alone on his bench, swinging his legs back-and-forth restlessly while sneaking glances at other children participating in various activities alongside their parents. Some were making handicrafts together holding hands with mom or dad, while others laughed happily playing games together.

But there were also some naughty kids who got scolded by their fathers, which made them cry loudly only later cheered up again after they rode piggyback style around like horses, which made everyone laugh out loud including himself. Despite still having tears running down his face, he looked comical indeed!

Alistair watched silently, feeling the lollipop in his mouth was not sweet at all.

"I'm not jealous at all, I'm so bored," he said.

He threw away the half-eaten lollipop and turned around to block his ears and close his eyes. After all, out of sight, out of mind. Not jealous, not fun!

He muttered to himself as the principal suddenly walked up to him and gently patted his shoulder. "Alistair, your aunt is here. She wants to accompany you for the sports day. Do you agree?"

Aunt? Alistair turned around in shock and saw Mavis standing among a group of parents nearby waving at him. Although she wore a mask, he felt that she must be smiling.

He ran over and hugged her neck when she crouched down. "Why did you come? You said yesterday that you couldn't make it."

"He didn't come so I had to come because nothing is more important than your matters," Mavis lightly touched his nose with hers.

His heart was filled with joy by those words; even breathing became excited but accompanied by worry as he asked anxiously, "This is my first time participating in such a competition; what if I lose?" "The most important thing is participation; results are not everything but experiencing happiness during this precious moment is what counts most even if we don't win any prizes or awards." Mavis reassured him while promising him an even more interesting toy as a reward.

"Yay! Mommy rocks!" Alistair exclaimed happily before being corrected by Mavis about calling her "mommy" instead of "aunt."

"Auntie rocks! Yippee!" He shouted louder instead before they both participated together in the next activity called Cotton Ball Game. In this game, blindfolded parents used spoons to scoop cotton balls from bowls without using their hands while kids used anti-slip chopsticks to remove peanuts from bowls with shortest time winning for their family table.

Mavis wore a mask and hat covering almost her entire face, which made Alistair laugh uncontrollably while other parents asked, "Isn't it hot wearing mask and hat on such hot summer days?"

Mavis calmly explained, "I had an allergic reaction on my face two days ago, which caused some rashes so I covered up fearing children might get scared."

The explanation satisfied everyone who stopped asking further questions. Then, eight families started playing cotton ball games simultaneously after hearing whistle blows from the principal's direction. Alistair was the most skilled at using chopsticks among the group of children. He could easily pick up food with regular chopsticks, and learning to use them was too easy for him. After all, his ability to hold chopsticks was learned through Anthony's strict supervision.

Picking up peanuts and such was already a piece of cake.

After a small competition ended, Mavis and Alistair had the shortest time.

Mavis was the happiest, pinching her son's face. "Alistair, you're really amazing. You're my pride and joy."

Alistair blushed shyly and giggled in embarrassment. He felt satisfied being praised by his mother like that; if he had a tail, it would probably be wagging happily right now.

"I'm not really that great," he said humbly. "Using chopsticks correctly is just basic skill. I'm too slow at learning things because I'm not very smart. Dad scolded me many times before." "How can you say you're not smart?" Mavis asked seriously while frowning slightly in concern. "He... he often scolds you?"

Alistair pursed his lips and nodded, "Dad never praises me; he seems to dislike me sometimes but... I am indeed not very bright. I can't even hold chopsticks properly or play piano well or do math without making mistakes..."

Mavis felt distressed listening to him speak like this, so she rubbed her son's little earlobe gently while saying earnestly, "Alistair, you're only five years old yet you can already do math problems! How could you possibly be considered unintelligent? You are clearly my little genius!"

"Really?" Alistair doubted himself slightly as he asked this question.

"Of course it's true! Look at all these other kids here. How many of them can do the math problems? Only my Alistair! If that still makes you feel dumb, then every child in the world must be an idiot," she whispered softly into his ear before adding, "I used to be an idiot when I was your age too."

The last sentence made Alistair laugh out loud as he fidgeted with his clothes' hemline without saying anything else.

Spencer could already solve middle school level math problems when he turned five years old...

Mavis didn't know what exactly her son was thinking about so she rubbed his small head while telling him seriously,

"Alistair, you are my pride and joy; I am proud of having you as my child."

Her pride?

His blue eyes stared intently at Mavis which shone brightly like tiny stars. He hugged her tightly with his head buried on her shoulder.

"Mom... no wait Auntie, I love love love you~"

Although they haven't spent much time together yet, Alistair felt needed by someone now more than ever before.

There seemed to be some kind of mysterious power within him, which gave him a sense of security deep inside.

Mavis leaned against her son's little head gently while speaking softly, "I love you too - very much."

Within seconds, she felt her son's body shaking as he began to sob, her shoulders wet with tears.

"Alistair?" She lifted her son's face and saw that his eyes were red and misty. "What's wrong?"

"Waaah! I don't love daddy anymore, mommy. Daddy is a bad man who doesn't keep his promises!" Alistair was angry and upset, worried that Mavis wouldn't understand the situation. "He went to be with that old lady again. She wants to steal daddy away from us and be our my stepmommy! That's why he took my dad away from me..."

Alistair continued on about the time Bryleigh had scolded him before, waving his arms around in frustration.

Mavis understood what was happening now: Anthony had found someone new in his life and didn't care about their son anymore.

She felt a mix of emotions but remained silent.

"Mommy auntie," Alistair pleaded with her. "I hate that mean lady so much! Can you please get daddy back for us? Even though he can be mean sometimes too... he's still my dad!" Mavis didn't know what to say.