Chapter 201: SEDATIVE
Arlo approached Aubrey with an icy demeanor, filled with a fierce desire to kill her. Gone was the love and adoration he once had for her, feelings that had existed during their secret affair behind River’s back. Now, his eyes reflected none of that warmth.
The excitement of being in a secret relationship faded quickly, and now, as the reality of their actions sank in and the consequences weighed heavily on their consciences, everything fell apart.
Arlo felt nothing but hatred towards Aubrey; he saw her as the murderer of his lover.
He went to the morgue to see River’s body, but he couldn’t stay for long because he couldn’t stomach the sight of her.
That was the woman whom he once loved the most; even now, he still wanted her, but what lay in the compartment in the mortuary cabinet were only bones and rotten flesh.
If the report didn’t say it was River, he would never believe that. The image haunted him in both his sleep and his waking moments. He felt as though he was going insane.
And now, he was going to avenge River’s death so she would have her peace and stop terrorizing him.
"Arlo! Are you crazy!?" Aubrey screamed when Arlo aimed his gun at her. Bryer cried even harder, as if the baby could feel the distress of the situation and the fear that emanated from his mother.
"Put the gun down!" Michael shouted as he suddenly burst into the room, hitting Arlo’s hand away. The bullet went off course and hit the table next to Aubrey.
Arlo had truly intended to kill her; it wasn’t just a threat. If Michael hadn’t intervened in that heated moment, Aubrey would have had a bullet hole in her head, just like the table next to her.
The fear and relief that washed over her made her legs go weak, and she fell to her knees with the screaming baby in her arms. Thankfully, she didn’t drop Bryer, either; instead, her grip on her son tightened.
Before her, Michael yelled at his brother harshly. He snarled at him and said all the profanities he could think of.
Aubrey had never seen Michael this mad at his brother, especially for her sake. He used to adore his older brother to the point that Arlo was his role model.
But, even so, Arlo still didn’t show proper emotions. His eyes fixed on Aubrey; they were filled with hatred and silent rage.
And when Aubrey thought Arlo would shoot his brother to shut him up, he simply turned around and left the room.
"Can you get up?" Michael asked Aubrey. He towered above her with a deep frown. "Are you okay? Come here, give me the baby."
Aubrey shook her head. She was still in shock to speak, but she needed her baby for comfort. He was the only one she had.
"Don’t be stupid; you agitated the baby. Give him to me." Michael stretched out his arms to take the baby away, but Aubrey snapped at him.
"No!" She glared at him with ferocity. "Don’t touch my baby! Don’t you dare touch him!"
The desperation in her voice and the helplessness in her eyes made Michael stop. He held her elbow instead to help her stand up. "I will take you to your bedroom."
Aubrey was still guarded, but she followed him. She looked around, just in case Arlo would ambush and shoot her, though it was stupid to think he would do such a thing, since he had openly tried to kill her, but Aubrey couldn’t shake off this fear.
"You shouldn’t have provoked him," Michael said. "He is not in his right mind nowadays. Learn to live as quietly as a mouse; only then can you survive here." He glanced and gave her a disdainful stare. "Think of this as your karma."
Michael didn’t know the details about the operation to eradicate the Lozen family, but even if he knew, there was nothing he could do. It was not like his father and brother would find value in his words.
More so, there was no one in that family he wanted to save. Their father wouldn’t make his move toward Bryer, because the baby was Arlo’s son.
Michael was not really fond of seeing Aubrey alive if it were not for his nephew’s sake.
"If this is my karma, then you will find your karma worse than this," Aubrey said, and Michael didn’t heed her words.
It was more like a desperate threat from a helpless person who wanted the universe to work on her vengeance.
***
"Are you sick?" Ares asked as he put the hospital report on Ranon’s desk. He had visited the hospital that morning for a thorough check-up and wanted the results as soon as possible. "Why did you decide to go to the hospital all of a sudden?"
He looked at him with a frown. There was nothing wrong with Ranon. His complexion was fine, and he even smiled more after Ashlyn was born. He became more approachable.
"What is that report about?" Ares asked, his curiosity piqued. From the other room, he could hear Renna was singing for Ashlyn and occasionally would make a noise. But he didn’t see Hazel anywhere.
"Nothing." Ranon opened the envelope and read it. His expression didn’t change when he figured out that his guess was right; there was a trace of sedatives in his system.
Hazel must not expect Ranon to go to this extent and move quickly. If he had waited a little bit longer, he wouldn’t be able to figure it out.
However, Ranon knew there was something very wrong with him when he woke up this morning. He slept very deeply; it was not normal. He didn’t even hear the baby was crying.
He was not extremely tired or anything, but even if he was, there was no way he didn’t stir. He was always a light sleeper.
Therefore, there was only one explanation for that. He didn’t even have to guess to know who had given him the drug.
"What is it? What did the report say?" Ares moved closer to read it as well, but Ranon stood up and put the papers into a shredding machine, getting rid of them. "What the hell, Ranon? What is that? Do you have cancer or something? Why are you being secretive?"
Ares watched in disbelief when he saw the shredded papers. Ranon was acting weird now, and his guess was running wild.
"Are you being poisoned or something?" Ares looked at Ranon with suspicion. "Did she do something to you?"
Ares had been against Hazel, and after the recent event, he was very vocal about Ranon leaving Hazel, but this friend of his had not yet said anything about where he stood in this matter.
For Ares, Hazel was too unpredictable. She was not like Ema, who would betray Ranon and stab him in the back, but Hazel was someone who would stab him in the back in a literal sense. She didn’t have any qualms when she killed that man in Olivia’s apartment.
Ares managed to get his hands on the CCTV that day, which was not being released, since Ranon wanted to cover Hazel’s involvement. And in the recording, he saw the cold-blooded expression on Hazel’s face when she pulled the trigger, as if she had done it countless times.
If even Ares could see that, more so Ranon; yet, that man still had not yet made any decision to proceed with the divorce.
"Don’t be ridiculous. I am fine." Ares almost guessed it right. "Don’t even think about finding the copy of it." Ranon knew what was in Ares’s mind, and he warned him.
Meanwhile, Ares regretted not seeing it first before he handed over the report to Ranon; now he couldn’t find out what the medical report said.
"Where is she? I didn’t see her when I arrived." Ares followed Ranon out of the room. Without a doubt, he went to pick up his daughter from Renna.
"She visited the Roses."
"Why?" As far as Ares knew, Hazel didn’t have a good relationship with them. Not even once had she visited them since she married Ranon.
"There is something she wanted to get from her old bedroom." Ranon knew that was a lie. Her location informed him that Hazel had come to the candy shop again. There must be some information she wanted to retrieve.
Ranon could figure out, too, why Hazel needed her to be in a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, after hearing Ranon’s response, Ares decided to drop the topic since Renna was present. He knew she might inform Hazel about their conversation if he dug deeper about her.
"If you’re not planning to return to the company, I will submit my resignation letter at the end of this month. Working with your father is a nightmare—no hard feelings."
"None is taken."
"The boards are another nightmare, too."
It was chaos ever since Ranon refused to come. Some of them judged him for his performance and for the fact that he had mixed family matters with business, but after they felt the impact of his absence, they scrambled to beg Ranon to return.
Yet, whether it was criticism or pleas, Ranon didn’t budge.
"You can hand over the resignation later," Ranon said, which surprised Ares. "Lucian already did."
"What? Why don’t you tell me?"
"Because you are too busy to care about my marital problems," Ranon replied without even sparing him a glance, as his focus was on his daughter. He adored her so much that you could see it from the way his eyes lit up upon seeing Ashlyn smile.