CHAPTER 165: BABY, YOUR FATHER IS HERE

"River told me about this place," Hazel replied casually. She knew this kind of information would drive Arthur crazy since all he knew was that his daughter would never talk meaninglessly to someone else.

Well, Hazel would enjoy it, though. A lot of questions must be swirling in his mind, trying to figure out how someone like Hazel could know many things about his secretive daughter.

This was another form of torture.

"You seem to know her so well." Arthur didn’t pry further as he stood at the other side of the window, also staring at the beach. "She must hate this place; that’s why she talked about it."

Hazel looked at her father and contemplated. He stared at the distance as if he wanted to see the past memories. What kind of memory was he thinking of right now?

"No, River doesn’t really hate this place. She remembered she used to visit this place often when she was little. You took her here often."

"She even talked about that too..." Arthur’s eyes were fixed on the beach.

"Do you miss her?"

Hazel wanted to facepalm herself for asking the question. It slipped from her lips before she could think about it. She was curious to know what Arthur’s reaction was and how he felt about River’s disappearance.

Indeed, old habits died hard.

River used to look up to her father; his opinion mattered to her, and subconsciously, she would seek his approval, his acknowledgment.

It was fulfilling for her to be able to accomplish whatever task Arthur gave to her.

"She is my daughter," he replied after a long pause, but it didn’t explain anything.

"So, you miss her out of obligation; in that case, I assume you look for her also because of the same obligation." There was a derisive smirk on the corner of Hazel’s lips. "Just because she is your daughter."

"It doesn’t even make sense if I should be bothered by someone else’s daughter." Arthur chuckled, and he finally looked at Hazel.

"You got the point." Hazel nodded. "I don’t know where River is, but she will come to you to get her revenge. That’s all I can say."

"I know that. She is my daughter after all. I am the one who taught her to hold a grudge." Arthur nodded. "I know she will come for Aubrey and Arlo."

"Do you cherish your daughter so much to the point you still keep her around after what she had done to your other daughter?"

"It’s different." Arthur didn’t think the nuance of their conversation would turn out like this. In his mind, it would be like an interrogation, less informal.

However, right now they were talking casually while staring at the beach. They didn’t raise their voices, but you could feel the turmoil of emotions in their conversation.

It almost felt like this was not their first conversation, as if they had known each other for so long and the conversation just came out naturally.

"River is different..."

"Just because she is different, you are fine to forgive Aubrey after she shot her?"

Hazel enunciated every word clearly and watched the look on Arthur’s expression closely when the question left her lips.

And for the first time since she was here, Hazel saw it.

Shock.

Arthur was genuinely shocked when he heard the question.

"What did you say?"

"Aubrey shot River. Arlo was there too." Hazel repeated the words; she looked at Arthur right in his eyes. "You know that, but you still keep them with you."

Hazel threw out an assumption, but when she saw the change in Arthur’s expression, she learned that her father was told a different story.

He didn’t know about the shooting.

***

Marcus was done with his last job. It meant there was nothing to tie him down with the crowd anymore. He could leave.

But obviously, leaving this kind of organization wouldn’t be as easy as walking in the garden. He was well aware of that.

"You are not serious, right?" Nelson asked Marcus. He was not happy with his decision; he had tried to talk him down, but ultimately, it was Marcus who made the last decision. "You could be killed."

Marcus frowned. That was indeed a possibility, but it didn’t stop him from meeting with their boss.

Inside the room, Viper was sitting on his chair. People called the boss by that name, though no one knew what his real name was.

Beside Viper, there was the young recruit. A boy who was no older than seventeen years old. He stood by his side and looked lost in the crowd of rowdy people.

From the look of it, he seemed to come from a good background. No one knew why he was here, and Marcus was not interested in finding out about that.

"I am done here," Marcus said as he walked towards the table and placed his gun in front of Viper. He was going to go home and fix his relationship with Olivia.

He was going to tell her that he was really done here.

Hearing that, Viper glared at him with menace. "You think you can just walk away?" He waved his hand, and his men blocked the door, trapping Marcus inside.

On the side, Nelson sighed deeply. He knew it would come to this. Marcus was idiotic to think he could walk out of this place freely.

"Get him."

The response was immediate; three men came to Marcus and restrained him. No matter how hard he tried to fight back, it was a waste of effort.

It didn’t take long before two men pinned him down to the ground, rendering him unable to move.

Seeing that, Viper looked jolly. He patted Carl’s shoulder. "Do you want to be part of us?" He asked the young boy next to him. His voice was laced with sinister. "Here is your chance to prove yourself."

The boss beckoned one of his men, and he came with a long box that he placed on the table, next to the gun that Marcus had handed over earlier.

"Wh-What should I do?" Carl stuttered. He didn’t mean to get involved too deeply with these people, but he didn’t know where else he had to go.

He wanted to run away from home. He would rather not see anyone, and now it had been a few weeks since the last time he attended his school.

He used to be a brilliant student, but his grades dropped dramatically. It was very shameful. Nobody gave a shit about him now.

"Inject this into him." Viper opened the long box and showed a syringe inside.

"Wh-What is that?" Carl was scared.

***

Ranon barreled through the gates with his car; the sound of clashing metal was a pain to your ears, yet he didn’t flinch.

"Ranon! Are you crazy!? Shit!" Lucian cursed loudly as he pressed both of his palms against his ears; Ares did the same thing. "We can use different methods to enter!"

Ranon was running his car against the gates, intending to take them down by force. He reversed the car and then crashed it again.

Thankfully, the gates were not built for such a brutal attack; they toppled down after the third attempt, and with that, Ranon led them to enter the Lozens’ property.

Of course, what was greeting them was not very welcoming.

Someone stood in front of Ranon’s car and opened fire, but the car was bulletproof, and he ran him over without hesitation.

Soon enough, the front yard turned into a battlefield.

Meanwhile, inside the house, the commotion out there was too loud for Arthur and Hazel to ignore, and it interrupted their conversation.

But, before Arthur could ask what was happening, Sam entered the room and informed him that they were under attack.

"Ranon Leighton is here!" Sam said with urgency.

Hazel raised her brows and instinctively looked at the clock. It had only been seven hours since she was here, and Ranon had managed to find her location?

It was impressive, to say the least. She bet for forty hours, but he did it in less than half a day.

"It seems I underestimated him so much..." She muttered to herself. "Let me go to see him." She stopped Arthur when he was going to go out.

"No, you stay here. They open fire." Arthur’s face darkened as he rushed out of the room. Stray bullets could kill Hazel, and that was the last thing Arthur wanted.

"Well, if you say so..." Hazel plopped down on the sofa and enjoyed her ice cream. If Ranon managed to find her in such a short time, it was safe to say that he came prepared. "Baby, your father is here. He comes for us. Don’t you think he is rather cool to find us this quick?" Hazel nudged her bump, and she felt her baby kick back.

And that was the sight that Ranon found when he finally managed to find Hazel in one of the rooms inside this beach house.

His mind had gone so wild, thinking she was in so much pain and crying for help. Anger had clouded his judgment.

Therefore, when he found her lounging on the sofa while eating her ice cream, he thought he was seeing things.

"Hi!" Hazel greeted Ranon cheerfully; she waved her spoon at him. "Where are you going?!" Hazel immediately stood up when Ranon turned around and was about to leave.

"I see you are having a good time here. Go ahead; I will come back after I kill those bastards."

"Wait!" Hazel grabbed his hand to stop him.