CHAPTER 254: THE DAISY MEN

Hazel’s first instinct was to confront the intruders, but Ranon pulled her behind his back and kept her there.

His protection made Hazel frown. But Ranon glared down at her, telling her to behave, and left her unable to complain.

Why was she acting timid with him?

Arthur opened fire. There was no muffler for his gun, so the sound rang loudly in this cramped room. Without a doubt, people in this apartment would be aware of what happened, and it was only a matter of time before someone called for the police.

From their position, it was hard to tell what Arthur saw. There were only two exits inside this room: the front door and the window.

It wasn’t impossible for them to escape through the window; however, the intruders were armed with guns, and Arthur was currently engaged with them. Therefore, unless someone stayed behind to hold the intruders off, escaping through the window was not an option.

"See? I told you to bring a gun." Hazel chided Ranon lightly. He refused when she wanted to bring a gun, saying it was unnecessary. However, to her surprise, Ranon reached into his jacket and produced one. "What the hell, Ranon!" Hazel felt she had been cheated. "You said no gun."

"For you." Ranon pushed her back as he assisted Arthur. "Stay back."

Hazel should feel flattered because her man protected her, but it was the other way around; she felt irritated. She was used to taking the lead, not to sitting around like a damsel in distress.

She would rather not be protected! She wanted to be in action, too!

However, she was not crazy enough to go ahead when they were armed with guns, while she had none. Unfortunately, she was not bulletproof.

Therefore, sulking, Hazel pulled a chair and sat down while Ranon and Arthur exchanged shots with the other three men outside the door.

Soon enough, the gunfire ceased. It seemed there were other people from the outside who attacked them as well.

"Don’t shoot. They are my men," said Ranon, putting his hand on Arthur’s shoulder. The others informed them that it was clear now.

"Sir, are you alright?"

"Yes." Ranon then went ahead to the door, which revealed three dead bodies on the floor.

Arthur came as well to inspect while Hazel was still sitting on the chair. She was not in the mood to see a dead body today. They came here to talk to Arthur.

"Do you know them?" Ranon asked Arthur. He squatted down to get a closer look at the three young men, who had a bullet on their heads.

"No."

"Daisy tattoo." Ranon saw a tattoo on the man’s left shoulder. "Isn’t this the tattoo of your men?"

Arthur scoffed. "Of course not. We don’t identify ourselves. Our business is about secrecy. It’s only a rumor that we spread for a distraction."

Ranon nodded. Hazel had explained this to Ranon a long time ago.

"But still, it meant they are related to you, since you deployed a few people to act like your men, flaunting around with this tattoo."

Arthur shrugged his shoulders. "They are not necessarily my people. Some men got the idea to put on the same tattoo because they thought it was cool to be part of our organization, even if it’s only a ruse."

"Sir, we need to leave. Someone had called the police."

"With this, you have no other choice." Ranon stood up and then walked toward Hazel, who looked annoyed with him. "Let’s go back."

He grabbed Hazel’s hand and took her out of the room. His wife was sulking.

Meanwhile, Arthur followed them. He was still not satisfied with Hazel’s answer earlier, and he planned to find some alone time with her.

Moreover, Ranon was right; he didn’t have another choice but to follow him. He had no luck with the Ravens, since they didn’t seem to care enough about Elise’s death.

***

Aubrey found a small satisfaction in petty things that she did without Arlo realizing it. She was always a selfish, petty, and childish person; Arlo shouldn’t put it above her that she wouldn’t do such a thing.

In every meal that Arlo ate, Aubrey would spit on it. She used his toothbrush on the toilet, put away his pens or documents out of his reach so he would need to stand up and walk to get them, or made him search for his car key when he wanted to go out.

It didn’t mean anything, but it gave her a breath of fresh air to see how frustrated Arlo was, thinking he was misremembering where he put his things.

"You need to stop that," Darren said as he caught what Aubrey was doing. He was around her so much since his main job was to protect Bryer and Aubrey by proxy.

"No," Aubrey said curtly after she moved Arlo’s laptop to another table. She knew him well enough to know that this would irritate him. Arlo was very particular about where he wanted his things to be. "It will not harm him, though."

"If he knows, you will be the one being harmed." Darren put the laptop back in the same position. "You only bring trouble for yourself."

Aubrey rolled her eyes and went to get the pen on the table, but Darren stopped her. He grabbed her hand and looked at her sternly.

"Stop it."

Aubrey was not satisfied, but they heard the footsteps. It was Arlo. Darren immediately put distance between them.

"What are you two doing here?" Arlo asked as he entered the room. His eyes were fixed on Aubrey, who was holding his pen.

"I make sure you have your pen here. You have been feeling very irritated lately because you lost them so often." Aubrey put the pen back with a straight face.

The only reason why Arlo had not yet noticed Aubrey’s little trick was that his mind was occupied with something else; it didn’t occur to him that Aubrey would act so childish.

"What are you doing here?" Arlo shifted his attention to Darren. "You should be with Bryer."

"There is important information that you need to know right away, sir. I came here to look for you, but you were not here, so I waited."

"You can leave, Aubrey," Arlo said as he limped toward his chair. He hated it when someone saw him walk. His limp would get worse when he was exhausted.

Aubrey said nothing and then left the room.

"What information?" Arlo sat down on his chair, observing his desk, just in case something was out of place.

"Mr. Leighton and Mrs. Leighton were in the Goscht Country. They found Arthur, and from what we learned, they took him with them."

"That couple..." Arlo clenched his jaw. The hit on Ranon became personal now, since that man had killed his best friend. He would make sure he suffered a worse death.

For Hazel... There were a lot of things Arlo wanted to ask Hazel, but he never got the chance since Ranon was always around.

The way she fought... he was sure he was not out of his mind. The way she fought was similar to River’s.

"And there is another report," Darren added. He then told him that three men had attacked Arthur’s place after they saw Ranon and Hazel were there. "They were sent by your brother."

"What?" Arlo massaged his forehead. He knew it was not a good idea to let Michael get involved in this. He was very green for this field, and he let his impulsiveness run wild.

"Whose men did he use?"

"Apparently, he used the Daisy Men. He found them in a bar not a long time ago."

People called them the "Daisy Men" because they used the ruse tattoo for distraction. The idea came from Arthur.

"Call Michael here; you can leave." Arlo waved his hand. Lyle should be the one in charge of watching Michael, as this would be his first official mission.

***

"Ashlyn," Hazel called her daughter on a video call, but the little girl shook her head and said "no, no, no" repeatedly while refusing to look at her. "What happened with her?"

"I think she misses you two. She kept walking to your bedroom, thinking you were there."

Hazel frowned. Her breasts were in so much discomfort in these few days. They were engorged because she was weaning.

"We will go home as soon as possible," Hazel said. She tried talking to Ashlyn, but the baby wasn’t interested. She hung up after talking to Renna about a few more things.

Currently, she was in the hotel room alone, while Ranon was talking to Arthur in the room next door. She didn’t join them because she wanted to call home first.

Only when she was done with the phone call did she walk over to Arthur’s room and get involved with the discussion.

"Let’s go back; we can start this by having the second test on River’s body," Hazel said in the end. "You don’t have anything to do here. While you still have your men back home."

"Yes, but only if I work under your husband." Arthur scowled. His pride didn’t allow him to work for someone else. He used to be the leader of a formidable family, not a lackey.

"Do you have a better way to avenge your wife? And destroy those who betrayed you?" Hazel knew they had an upper hand in this matter. Knowing her father, this old man only wanted to make things difficult because his ego was hurt.