Unexpected Marriage With Mr. Leighton: Rebirth of the Villain-Chapter 279: IT FELT LIKE A BETRAYAL

"The relationship between Axel Duncan and your brother? How did you connect Axel Duncan to your brother?" Rize asked, surprised. Rize was not aware of it. Before Ranon emerged, it was very rare for others to ask about the Leightons.

At that time, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, and with the accident involving Daniel, the Leightons had no future until Ranon appeared in public and turned the tables.

People became curious about Ranon; therefore, Daniel’s existence was swept under the rug, especially since Daniel had not made any public appearances since then.

The people had forgotten about Daniel Leighton.

"Just look deeper into it. What the relationship between them is." Hazel could feel that Ranon was reluctant. It got very personal for Ranon, since he was close to Daniel.

Even though Ranon didn’t say it, Hazel knew that Ranon hoped Daniel had nothing to do with all of this.

"Okay..." Rize stretched out the word thoughtfully. "This is becoming dangerous, you know. I could end up getting killed in the process." He leaned back in his chair while Hazel stood behind Ranon, who was sitting in his leather chair, deep in thought. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"If you get killed, I will take care of your son and your mother," Ranon said, which surprised Hazel and Rize.

Hazel didn’t know about Rize’s son and mother, even after years of working together. This information made Rize laugh bitterly.

"Fine. Unless you die first, then I have to figure out how to save my own ass for getting involved in this mess." Rize stood up. "I will be back with new information as soon as possible."

Rize was not happy because Ranon knew about the existence of his family, but then, what else could he do?

Deep down, he was also curious about this problem. Rize had longed for this kind of thrill for a long time.

"Wait for my information," Rize said casually and then left.

Once Rize left, Hazel sat down on the table in front of Ranon. She looked at him. "Do you have a plan to confront Daniel?" She didn’t beat around the bush, as she asked him point-blank.

"I will. But not now." Ranon didn’t meet Hazel’s eyes, but the latter could tell how distraught her husband was.

"Do you want me to leave you alone?" Hazel didn’t know what to say to Ranon to make him feel better. They couldn’t make a plan until Rize returned with the news.

"No. I want you to stay." Ranon pulled her to his lap, and Hazel was shocked because she pressed against his cast.

"Ranon! Your arm!" Hazel tried to straighten up, but Ranon pressed her face against his chest.

"This cast is annoying," he said grumpily.

"Be good, or else the healing process will be prolonged." Hazel tried to find a position that wouldn’t aggravate Ranon’s shoulder injury. "Ranon..."

"Ssh..." Ranon didn’t want to talk. He played with her hair as he was deep in thought.

***

Rize returned around two months later, and thankfully, during this period, nothing eventful happened.

But Ranon didn’t put his guard down; if anything, he believed that Gayle Lennox was already on the move. It was too peaceful, which made it very suspicious.

The cast on Ranon’s arm had been removed, and now Ashlyn could happily cuddle with him again.

Arthur’s condition had gotten better, and from what Hazel learned, Aubrey refused to go out of the house; she was worried that Arlo would take Bryer away and kill her for betraying him.

Hazel couldn’t imagine the two of them ending up like this. She was a little bit upset because if they insisted on being together to the extent of killing her, they should have stuck together until the end.

"Axel Duncan had two sisters," Rize said, after he sipped his coffee.

Two months later, they were back in the study again.

"Had?" Hazel caught it.

"Yeah, one of the sisters committed suicide because her fiancé was murdered by his business partner." Rize then looked at Ranon. "Does the name Luciano Denaro ring a bell?"

Ranon narrowed his eyes. "I killed him." That was his second job when he joined the Lennoxes.

"I am surprised that you have such a background, you know, but your father did a great job covering it up." Rize shrugged his shoulders. "It’s not like I looked into it, unless someone wanted to know about your past."

"So, it has nothing to do with Daniel?" Hazel asked.

"No, it’s the opposite."

Axel Duncan had two sisters; the older one was Issabella, who had a relationship with Daniel, while the younger one was Kyra.

Kyra was supposed to get married to Luciano a week later, but Ranon killed the drug lord, which led to Kyra’s suicide.

"The four of them were very close. I think your brother has a skeleton that he didn’t want your father to know. Being best friends with a drug lord like Luciano will not be good for your image."

Ranon and Hazel knew how much Denzel cared about the image, so it was understandable why no one knew about it.

"When the accident happened that made your brother unable to walk, he was not alone. Issabella was in the car with him, too."

Apparently, Denzel covered that up as well; he learned what kind of family Issabella had and was against it.

Denzel was extremely controlling. He wanted to control every aspect of his son’s life, especially when, at that time, Daniel was his heir.

Denzel’s habit was not a surprise for Hazel and Ranon.

"I could only dig it up that much. I have no clue about the concrete connection between your hit and your brother." Rize stood up. "But I think you’re smart enough to draw your own conclusions from this. You can ask your brother about the real story."

Rize then walked toward the door. He reminded Ranon to transfer his payment, since he had done his job.

"In the meantime, don’t look for me. Working for you stressed me out. I need a vacation."

And after that, Rize left the room, leaving the couple alone with their own thoughts.

If they had previously suspected Daniel’s involvement in the hit on Ranon, now the possibility of it was getting bigger.

However, it was still a bitter pill to swallow for Ranon to admit that his brother wanted to kill him. It felt like a betrayal.

"Ranon..." Hazel called him.

"Please, leave me alone for a while." Ranon covered his face. He didn’t even look at Hazel.

She wanted to tell him that it was better to confront Daniel as soon as possible. They needed to rip the bandage off immediately so they would know what to do next.

However, Hazel kept her advice to herself and left him alone.

She only came to bring him lunch and dinner, but all that time, Ranon would be on his laptop, drowning himself in his work.

"Dada?" Ashlyn tried to open the door to the study room because Ranon didn’t come and play with her. "Mama, Dada?"

Hazel picked her daughter up. "Dada is busy," she said to her. "Let’s play with me. Why do you look disappointed? Playing with me is fun too!"

Ranon didn’t come out of the study room even when the night came. Hazel put their daughter to sleep and went to check on him, but Ranon was still in the same position, doing the same thing.

"I will go to bed."

"Okay. I will go later."

Hazel wanted to say something else, but she was hesitant. In the end, she left Ranon to go to bed.

However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t fall asleep. She kept tossing and turning on the bed, which felt very spacious without Ranon there.

In the end, she decided to check on him again and force him to sleep.

But Hazel couldn’t find him in the study room. She looked around and finally found him standing on the balcony. He was smoking.

It had been a while since the last time he smoked. He quit because she was pregnant. And then, because Ashlyn was around, Ranon never touched a cigarette again.

"Ashlyn will be upset if she smells the cigarette from you," Hazel said. She stood next to him, and Ranon immediately threw the cigarette and stepped on it.

"Why don’t you sleep?"

"I can’t sleep. I think I am used to sleeping next to you; that’s why when you are not there, the bed feels too spacious for me alone."

Ranon cupped her face and kissed her. Hazel tasted the tobacco on his lips.

"Let’s go to sleep," Hazel said when Ranon pulled away. She then grabbed his hand and took him back to their bedroom.

This time, Ranon followed her.

When both of them lay down, Ranon tilted Hazel’s head and started kissing her. He made love to her very slowly, to the point that Hazel got frustrated.

"Ranon..." Hazel tried to grind her body against him, but he held her down.

"No." Ranon kissed her forehead.

He wanted to savor their moment together...

The next day, Ashlyn woke up the two of them. She jumped up and down on the bed, kissing both her father and mother on the cheek.

"Mama... no clothes?" She pulled the blanket that covered Hazel’s body and found out her mother was only in her panties. "Why no clothes?"

Ranon immediately took Ashlyn from Hazel and carried her out of the room while Hazel was still sleeping.

"Why no clothes?" Ashlyn kept asking the question because she didn’t get the answer.