Unexpected Marriage With Mr. Leighton: Rebirth of the Villain-Chapter 268: DO YOU LOVE ME?

"Oh, so that’s how you call your cute little sister. A stray dog?" Hazel narrowed her eyes dangerously, and for a split second, Logan feared for his life.

There was no way he wouldn’t remember she had threatened his life before. Not to mention her scary husband.

Both of them were right for each other.

"Who is that?" Hazel dropped it, as her curiosity won. "Who were you talking to?" She was sure it was a child, because you didn’t talk that way with an adult.

"No one?"

"It sounded like you were talking to someone. A child." Hazel saw a flicker in Logan’s eyes before he concealed it with his usual nonchalant attitude. "Your child, maybe?" She threw a random guess, but Logan reacted strongly to that.

"What, child? My child? Oh, please, you are so desperate for drama, aren’t you?" Logan rolled his eyes. "That’s my friend’s child. I spoke to him briefly because he idolizes me. I can be a cool uncle, you know." He prided himself.

"Archie, huh?"

The corner of Logan’s lips twitched when he heard that, but he waved his hand. "There is nothing important. By the way, why are you here? Let’s go back."

There was something weird about Logan, and Hazel could tell, even though he pretended to act normally, but she could feel his agitation.

"You felt off, you know." Hazel followed him back into the room.

"Dad has never been putting in an effort to celebrate our birthday." Logan shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe I am a little bit jealous of Ashlyn."

"Do you want to sit on his lap too?"

"I will skip that part."

***

The day of Ashlyn’s birthday ended up not so bad, aside from the fact that Laurel sent a ton of toys for the little girl.

"That’s not a gift! Where do you think I have to put them?!" Hazel was exasperated as she talked to Laurel on the phone.

"Well, Ranon owns the building; he can open one flat to store all the gifts."

"Are you crazy?" Hazel hissed, but Laurel laughed because she got on her nerves. She seemed to be out of her mind because she didn’t get a chance to get Ashlyn on her birthday, as she didn’t want to go to the Roses.

"I will come over tomorrow. She is mine for a whole day," Laurel declared.

"Fine. As long as you don’t bring her out of the building." It was good for Laurel to come over, since Hazel and Ranon would leave for their mission.

"Where’s the fun of it?" Laurel was upset.

"No, don’t go outside the building," Hazel said firmly. It would have been different if Ranon and Hazel were there, as they were when they went outside yesterday. However, Laurel wasn’t fully aware of the danger, and that lack of awareness made the situation even more dangerous.

"Okay, okay. We will play with all of her toys. It’s a good thing that I bought her a lot, right?"

Hazel groaned. They talked a little bit more, but it was more Laurel who complained about Alen’s stiffness. The man didn’t speak unless he was spoken to, making things awkward.

After dumping all of her complaints, Laurel finally hung up the phone, and Hazel could go back with her husband and daughter.

Ranon was trying to put Ashlyn to sleep, as she would sleep in her room from tonight on. All of her presents were there; most of the gifts came from Laurel.

"I wonder which toy store your sister robbed." Hazel sat down next to Ranon, and Ashlyn immediately climbed to her lap.

She didn’t want to sleep in the new room; she wanted to go back to her and Ranon’s bedroom to sleep with them.

"Mama, up... up..." Ashlyn raised both of her arms, reaching for her mother to pick her up. She was reluctant to sleep in here. "Up, up, Mama..."

"Maybe it’s too early for her to sleep alone." Ranon frowned as Ashlyn approached him because Hazel didn’t want to pick her up.

Her big, brown eyes stared at him as she pursed her lips. "Da, please... up, up."

In the end, the three of them slept there so Ashlyn would get used to her new bedroom first before she could sleep alone.

"I think we get this on the wrong footing," Hazel said, as she watched her daughter’s sleeping face. "I need to read more books about parenting."

Well, in her defense, she had been rather busy all this time, plotting and trying to avoid getting killed during their attempts.

***

"Are you sure about this?" Dalton asked Ranon. He disagreed with the fact that Ranon and Hazel would be the ones leading the mission. It could be very dangerous.

Lucian was also there, and he was worried as well. Thankfully, Ares was too busy to deal with the situation at the factory, which was set to be shut down following the second fire. Otherwise, he would have been the first to raise his objections.

"I will not let my wife go out there alone." Ranon put on his gear. It had been years since the last time he was on a mission.

The missions that he went on before were not as big and as organized as the Lozens’, as they were more like street assassinations. Unlike the missions that the Lozens had, the people that he killed were not prominent figures.

But they were no less dangerous, since Ranon’s target could be the leader of a gang.

"What if neither of you needs to go out? They have their own people to do it. We only need to wait it out." What Dalton meant was the people from the Lozens. "They know what they have to do more than the two of you."

Ranon lifted his head and looked at Hazel, who briefed the three men who would come with them. "Maybe you are right." He put a pocket knife on his leg. Based on his encounter with Arlo, he was not a good fighter.

The challenge would be determining how to get to him while interacting with his security guards as little as possible.

"Ranon, why don’t you go back to the company and do those annoying documents that you have been postponing?" Lucian suggested, but this suggestion was only rewarded with Ranon’s menacing look. "I am just saying. It sounds safer."

***

They were coming.

Aubrey was informed that her father would come and get Arlo. No, Arthur would send his people, but they were coming.

It went without saying that if Arlo were in their hand, his end wouldn’t be good. Aubrey had never witnessed what kind of torture they performed, but from the story that she heard, it would leave you begging for death instead.

Currently, Arlo was watching a movie with Bryer beside him. The little boy was curling his small body beside his father, talking incoherently.

Even though Bryer was already a year and a few months old, his speaking skills had not yet improved, and only recently had he been able to walk.

That was why Becca had been very disappointed, and put it on Aubrey’s bad gene, which caused this because Arlo and Michael were excellent. They were rather advanced for children around their age when they were at Bryer’s age.

"It’s time to sleep," Aubrey said as she approached her son.

She could breathe a little bit better when they moved to Arlo’s house because she didn’t need to deal with Becca’s constant criticism.

Of course, that woman didn’t make it easy for them to leave, but she couldn’t blame Aubrey because it was Arlo’s decision, and she knew Aubrey had no sway over her son.

Arlo barely looked at her after all.

And ever since she was away from the Barlowes’ house, she felt lighter... happier, if you could say that? Arlo also paid more attention to Bryer.

Did he change? Was he capable of change?

Would it be wrong for her to betray him? Maybe things finally got better between them. Maybe, finally, Arlo understood that he wouldn’t get River back, and he should focus on the family he had.

"No, let him stay a little bit," Arlo said. He put his arm around Bryer as the little boy rested his head against his chest.

Probably... Arlo finally became the father that Bryer needed. Would it be wrong for her to deprive her son of the chance?

"What happened?" Arlo could feel Aubrey’s strange look on him.

"Nothing." Aubrey then sat next to Bryer, and she watched the movie too, even though she couldn’t focus. She kept staring at the clock on the wall. It was close to midnight. They would be here soon.

Should she tell Arlo about what was going to happen? Should she betray Hazel and her father?

Aubrey then stared at Arlo, who was sitting next to her. She didn’t know what got into him, but he controlled his temper better when he was back at his own house.

"Tell me, what do you want to say?" Arlo paused the movie, and Bryer blinked his eyes because it had suddenly stopped. He tugged at his father’s front shirt to get his attention, but Arlo was staring at Aubrey. "It’s not ’nothing.’ What do you want to say?"

What did she want to say? That a few people from the Lozens would be here to get him? Asking him, why the sudden change?

However, what came out of her mouth was something else. "Do you love me, Arlo?" Aubrey asked.