Chapter 227: A PECULIAR TASTE
"James, you are not helpful with this situation," Wena admonished her son. "You should know how to be a parent to your son! Laurel won’t be happy if she knows you are like this."
"Don’t say her name!" James stood up. He roared angrily at his mother. "Never mention her name again!" He was so angry that he struggled to catch his breath. He had buried himself in work because he didn’t want to think of her anymore.
Their divorce was almost finalized, and at this point, there was nothing he could do to save it. Therefore, he tried to move on. He tried not to think about her because it hurt him; seeing Carl only brought back all the pain.
For that reason, he had been avoiding his son. Even though he knew the mistake was on his part, he needed someone to blame, and Carl took part in why Laurel didn’t speak to them again.
If only he had behaved, if only he were still very close to Laurel, he was sure that he would be able to win her over with his son. He knew how much she loved Carl and that he was her soft spot.
However, Carl ruined everything. He upset Laurel even more.
"You are unhappy now because of your mistake; don’t try to put it on your son!" Wena yelled back at James. "You should know better than to go back to that piece of shit of a woman. The only good thing about her was that she gave birth to Carl!"
"Now you compare them both?" James was indignant. He had been butting heads with his mother in the past few days because she kept urging him to pay more attention to Carl. "I remember you didn’t even like Laurel. You kept giving her a hard time in the beginning of our marriage."
And from there, their arguments were endless.
Carl went downstairs and heard everything. It was not as if they were trying to keep it low; the mother and son were screaming at each other. Even if Carl didn’t want to overhear what they were saying, he could still hear them through the crack of the door.
He stood there, not saying anything, and then went to his bedroom again. He recalled his last meeting with Laurel.
She told him to give them time to heal. She would meet him again in the future.
However, the future was so bleak for Carl. It was already exhausted enough to live day by day. He barely left his bed and spent most of his time sleeping. He felt numb; he didn’t know what to do anymore.
When Carl was inside his bedroom, he slid his body down on the floor, sitting behind the door, and stared at the ceiling. He didn’t know how long he had been doing that, because when he looked outside, the sun was almost set.
The sky was painted in a deep red color.
He needed to feel something. Anything. This emptiness made him have a hard time breathing, as if he were being buried alive.
***
Hazel won a significant amount of money, but she quickly gambled it away in this low-end gambling house filled with unpleasant-smelling men covered with tattoos, who wore slightly decent clothing.
Yara and Nolu were standing behind her. They were at a loss to see their madam like this. Nolu had informed Ranon about what his wife was doing, and he asked him to give the phone to her.
He didn’t know what they were talking about, but when Hazel handed the phone back, Ranon only told Nolu to keep his eyes on his wife and to make sure she didn’t get into trouble.
How was Nolu supposed to do that? This place alone already smelled like trouble for him.
On the other hand, Hazel didn’t seem to be bothered as she won another round. She had been playing for two hours by now, and it was getting dark outside. The street lamps were on, and this narrow street got more crowded, if that was possible. It was the weekend.
"Okay, I am done here," Hazel said as she gathered her money. "I am going to leave now; great games." She then stood up and handed over the money to Yara.
"I don’t think you can leave." One of the men who lost so much money during their games stood up. He was so damn angry with Hazel because she was going to leave when his luck just came around. He won the last two rounds, and Hazel’s retreat pissed him off.
"Why not?" Hazel smiled sweetly at him. From the corner of her eyes, she saw two other men go to the door and close it.
This gambling house only provided three tables, and not just anyone was allowed to enter. But of course, the sweet-looking Hazel would always be welcome since everything about her screamed money. Seeing two bodyguards with her only solidified that.
They saw Hazel as easy prey. They couldn’t care less about the reason why someone like Hazel would be in this part of the city. What they saw was money and all the valuable items on her.
"You are not taking that money, lady," the bald man said. He had a tattoo on his head, the shape of a spear. "Put the money down and all of your valuable items. Only then will we consider whether to let you leave or not."
Hazel raised her brows. "You will decide whether I am allowed to leave or not?" There was an amused smile on the corner of her lips.
Seeing that the situation had escalated, Nolu pulled Hazel behind him in an attempt to negotiate. However, Hazel sidestepped and wriggled her hand free from him.
"Okay, let’s see who wants to leave." Hazel grinned. There was one thing about this place that she was certain of: there were no guns here.
The owner didn’t allow anyone carrying a weapon to enter his establishment. However, it was difficult to pull him out of his comfort zone. Something dramatic had to happen. And sometimes, Hazel could be very dramatic.
***
"Where did your wife go? Why hasn’t she come back yet?" Lucian was about to leave after he discussed everything with Ranon. They also called Ares over to discuss the new agreement regarding the company buyout.
"She must have lost track of time," Ranon said as he glanced at the clock. He didn’t receive any reports from Nolu, but his men said nothing happened in the gambling house that Hazel visited.
He deployed a few more people to hang around the area.
"Ranon..." Ares tried again to convince him, but Lucian elbowed him as a warning not to bring the topic up.
"Let’s go. I want to go to bed early and get some beauty sleep," Lucian said, dragging Ares out of the house.
Meanwhile, Ranon went to his bedroom and found that Ashlyn was awake. She didn’t make a noise as she was playing with her fingers, but her big brown eyes stared at him when he looked down at her crib.
Ranon stretched out his hand and caressed her cheek. "It’s harder to take care of your mother than you."
The little one didn’t understand what her father was saying, but she made noises and caught Ranon’s fingers to put them into her mouth. Ranon pulled away and carried her out of her crib instead.
"It’s tummy time," he said, and the baby pursed her lips when Ranon flipped her body over. Obviously, his daughter didn’t like this and started making a fuss.
Ranon, on the other hand, just chuckled when Ashlyn threw a tantrum.
"You are like your mother."
When he saw Hazel holding Arlo to kill him, he could tell that she was planning to run away from him after she was done with him.
And Ranon knew there was only one way to keep her close. That was why he didn’t question her and let her do whatever she wanted to do.
Hazel had a plan to take down the Barlowes and the McKennas. Ranon could figure out that much about her. He would be so stupid not to pick it up, even when he was still confused about why Hazel carried on with River’s personal vendetta.
After receiving information from Lucian, he began to formulate a theory. But it was so wild. He didn’t think it was possible.
But then, that one wild theory was the only thing that made sense for him. It could explain all of Hazel’s weird behavior.
On the other hand, Ashlyn kept crying, and when five minutes were over, she seemed to be upset with Ranon and squirmed her little body in his arms.
Hearing her cry, Renna knocked on the door and offered her assistance; Peni had already gone home. There was nothing much she was doing today, since Ashlyn was with Ranon almost all the time, as he was talking to Lucian and Ares.
The two of them could only scratch their heads to see how Ranon spoiled his daughter.
"Renna, I’m grateful to have you in Hazel’s life," Ranon said. This caught Renna off guard, but she smiled sweetly.
"I am also grateful to have her in my life; she is a sweet child." Renna rocked Ashlyn to calm her down while she told Ranon a few stories about Hazel’s childhood, but of course, they didn’t include the abuse from the Rose family.
Ranon listened attentively to her, but in the end, he said, "She has a peculiar taste for cucumber juice."