CHAPTER 258: THE CHANGE OF STRATEGY

Hazel’s ears were ringing painfully. She was disoriented for a moment as she clutched onto Ranon’s front shirt. Ranon was hugging her tightly.

"Hazel! Are you okay?" Ranon shook her body lightly.

Hazel lifted her head and then looked at the concern etched on his expression. "Yes... What happened?" She shook her head and watched the commotion around them. Many people rushed outside to see what that was.

At first, Hazel didn’t realize that the blast originated from a bomb planted near the building.

"I don’t know. Stay here. I will check."

"No, I will go with you."

Ranon should have known that Hazel wouldn’t stay; therefore, he took her with him. But before he could get to the source of the deafening sound, one of the bodyguards came to report to him about what had happened.

"There was a bomb in your car."

A bomb?

Hazel was alerted. They prepared for an assassination, a quiet action, not a bomb that could attract so much attention. This was not how they worked.

Chaos ensued as many people realized what had happened, and panic spread like a disease. They needed to put the situation under control as soon as possible.

From afar, Hazel could see the black smoke from the parking lot, and she remembered something...

It was Ranon’s car that became the target of the failed assassination, and Nolu had gone to retrieve the vehicle instead of Ranon.

Nolu...

Hazel felt a sharp pain in her heart. She had known him since the beginning. He was part of her days, a constant presence in her life.

***

"What the fuck, Michael!" Arlo stood up. He slammed his fist against the table. His nostrils flared as he used all of his might not to punch his brother.

Meanwhile, Michael stood there, watching his brother lashing out at him. There was no remorse on his face.

"Which part of my instruction that said ’don’t make another unauthorized move without my permission’ did you not understand?! Did Lyle know about this?!"

"The order did not come from Lyle, but Kyle," Michael said calmly.

"Kyle?" Arlo furrowed his brows. Kyle was in charge of this mission, but he didn’t execute it. It should have been Lyle. "Did he give you the order?"

Michael shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "It seems we are not the only siblings who disagreed with each other." Michael sat down and stretched his body. "Kyle is not satisfied with Lyle’s slow strategy; he wanted this to be done quickly."

"It’s reckless!"

Michael didn’t seem to care. "Tell that to Kyle. I only followed the order."

"You follow my order!" Arlo was furious. His face turned red.

"Dad knows about this, and he agreed with it."

Arlo was speechless. "Dad knows?" He sat down again. "Why didn’t he say anything?"

"You are good at handling the business side of the family, but Dad said your method was outdated. The way you do things is the same as the Lozens. He wanted something new."

Arlo couldn’t believe his father was going behind his back and doing this to him. But before he could lash out again, Michael had raised his hand.

"If you have a complaint, go and call Dad. Don’t complain to me; I was just following orders."

Right on cue, Arlo’s phone was ringing, but it was not from his father; instead, it was Lyle’s angry voice that came from the other end of the connection.

"Rein in your brother before he ruins everything!" Lyle sounded exasperated. "If you can’t discipline him, I will do it!"

"Tell that to your brother! It’s Kyle who gave the order for the bombing! Rein in your brother! This is not how we do business!"

Arlo was too angry to continue with the conversation, so he hung up. He would find his father and demand his explanation about this madness.

How could his father do this behind his back?!

On the other side of the door, Aubrey immediately walked away when she heard footsteps approaching.

She couldn’t hear clearly, but she caught a few words, which were enough for her to conclude what was going on.

There was an uproar in the media. The narration couldn’t be further from the truth, as they talked about the assassination attempt on Ranon Leighton.

The media also connected the latest news about the robbery in the Leighton family’s house more than a year ago. They thought it was another assassination attempt, which was actually true.

However, the PR from the Leighton family had not yet released any statements related to this matter.

Once again, the public was in an uproar, and Leighton’s name was at the top of the headline in every news outlet that evening. Many speculations were circulating online.

Meanwhile, Hazel and Ranon were in the hospital.

Nolu was dead, and Yara was injured, but she was in shock and needed to stay for a day or two. Thankfully, she was not very close to the car, but the strong blast hurled her, and her body hit another car.

Aside from Nolu, three other people were killed in the incident: a woman and her child and one of the employees.

They would be compensated dearly for this, but no amount of money could make up for this kind of loss.

Right now, they were in the Central Hospital, since it was the closest big hospital in the city. Ranon was on the phone with Ares, while Hazel was talking to Laurel.

"Are you okay? I saw the news!" Laurel said in a panicked voice. "What’s going on?! I tried to call your phone and Ranon’s earlier, but both your lines were busy."

It must have happened while Hazel was on the phone with someone else. "I am fine. Ranon is fine. But there are a lot of things that we need to handle here. Can you stay with Ashlyn for the meantime?"

Hazel wanted to go home and check on her baby, but she knew it was only her impulsive thought. Moreover, she was more useful for being here with Ranon to figure out this incident.

Arthur was on the way to the hospital along with a few of his men.

"Don’t worry. I will stay." Laurel then sounded more concerned. "Is Nolu really..."

"Yes," Hazel said.

She knew death intimately, since she grasped the consequences of her job. But Nolu’s death was unexpected, especially with the way he was killed.

Even if something were to happen to him, Hazel imagined the worst would be if he died in a fight while on duty. He would have a chance to fight back. Not this way.

This method was cowardly.

"I have to go," Hazel said. "Laurel, don’t go out. Stay there."

"Okay, understood." Laurel sounded worried. "Be careful." Hazel had helped her a lot in the past. This was the least she could do for her sister-in-law.

"Thank you." Hazel then hung up the phone and checked her messages. Aubrey just texted her to answer her question earlier.

Instead of texting her back, Hazel called her.

"It’s Michael’s idea." Aubrey picked up the call on the first ring. She went to the bathroom because she was afraid someone would hear the conversation. She ran the water to muffle her voice, just in case.

"Michael?" Hazel was dumbstruck. Among all the people who could concoct this plan, Michael didn’t even cross her mind. "Are you sure?"

"I heard their conversation. Arlo was mad at him because he made an unauthorized move again. I am sure about that, but I don’t know the rest of their conversation."

Hazel massaged her temple. Why would Michael involve this...? She remembered that Michael never paid any mind to the family business. Now, he was the one who instigated the attack? It was hard to believe.

"What else do you know?"

"I don’t know. Arlo went to the McKenna family’s house." Aubrey wanted to sneak into his study again, but after the last time when Darren caught her, she became even more cautious. She had not been there ever since.

After making sure there was nothing else, Hazel hung up the call with Aubrey and approached Ranon, who had also finished talking on the phone.

"Nolu’s family will be here," Ranon said. "You can stay here; I will meet with them."

"No, I want to see them too." Nolu had been with her for almost two years; it wouldn’t be right for Hazel not to meet with his family.

After they managed to put out the fire, there were not many of Nolu’s remains they could save. It was especially difficult for the family because they couldn’t see him for the last time.

"Okay." Ranon entwined their fingers and then walked away to meet with Nolu’s family.

***

"What do you mean by this?!" Lyle lost his temper as he entered the training ground, where Kyle had just finished his training.

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed his instructor. "I don’t appreciate you yelling at me in front of many people, Lyle." He glowered at his brother.

"You bombed Ranon’s car! Are you insane?!" Lyle hissed viciously. They were alone, but just in case. "You didn’t discuss it with me."

"Because you will not agree."

"Of course, I will not. This is stupid! We move in silence; we don’t let anyone know what we are up to, so we don’t announce it to the whole country and put the spotlight on our target! You know how it is!"

"It’s time for a change. You used the same method as Arthur’s, and now he is with Ranon; of course, we need to change our strategy."