CHAPTER 160: THE KIDNAPPING

"You told him to leave the apartment?" Ranon raised an eyebrow, rapping his fingers against the table as he leaned back in his chair, gazing out at the bright sky. It was a lovely day, and he had been thinking about taking Hazel out. "But I heard from James Starling that you dragged him out of the apartment."

"Dragged him out?" Hazel frowned at the accusation. "That’s a lie! How could I drag him out? I am pregnant, remember? I can’t do that without harming my baby. It wasn’t me; it was the bodyguards! Those bodyguards you sent with me and Nolu did it." She placed the blame on them with no hint of remorse.

Nolu glanced at Hazel through the rearview mirror, grimacing as he felt he had been thrown under the bus.

Meanwhile, Hazel continued explaining her side of the story to Ranon, blissfully unaware of Nolu’s grievances. He and the other bodyguards did it because Hazel was the one who ordered them to do so, okay?

"Why are you there in the first place, wifey?" Ranon asked, and the term of endearment made Hazel giggle. It felt cheesy, and it was the first time he had ever used that word for her.

"I am helping your sister, hubby, because, for whatever reason, she thought I could drag her creepy soon-to-be ex-husband away from her apartment. If you want to place the blame, blame her, not me."

"And why did you agree to her request to come?" Ranon pressed again. He glanced at Ares, who was placing another document on his desk.

Ares stared at him with confusion, seeing Ranon smile while talking on the phone. It was rare for him to enjoy a conversation like this.

"Well, what can I do? My heart is very soft," Hazel replied. "She kept begging me to come, and out of the kindness of my heart, I couldn’t ignore her distress, so I came."

"Fine, just don’t do it again." Ranon waved Ares to leave because he kept staring at him, yet Ares didn’t budge. "Where are you right now?"

Hazel then mentioned that she was heading to meet Olivia; she told him the address of the café she would be going to.

"If that’s not important, don’t go," Ranon said because he was thinking of taking her out.

Just then, before Hazel could respond, there was a loud crash that echoed through the phone, the sound of metal colliding sending a shockwave through Ranon.

"Hazel?" he called, alarmed. The commotion on the other end intensified, with screams piercing through the line.

Ranon’s smile vanished in an instant, replaced by dread as he realized that something terribly wrong had happened.

"Hazel!" he shouted again, but the line went dead.

In an instant, he sprang to his feet, startling Ares with the abrupt shift in his demeanor. "What happened?" Ares asked, confusion etched on his face.

Ranon didn’t answer, as he left the office immediately with Ares trailing behind him, sensing the gravity of the situation.

A knot tightened in Ares’s stomach, and he knew that something had gone horribly wrong with Hazel upon seeing Ranon’s reaction.

***

Olivia waited at the café, her anxiety growing as time dragged on. She glanced at her phone again, frowning at the screen. "Wait, why can’t I call her?" she muttered, feeling confused.

Just earlier, she had messaged Hazel, and she agreed to come, but now, more than an hour had passed, the estimated time Hazel was supposed to arrive, and yet she hadn’t shown up.

To make matters worse, Olivia’s attempts to reach her were met with silence. She shifted her focus towards Lyle, who had convinced her to set up this meeting in the first place. She was still in the dark about his true intentions.

Lyle had mentioned there was something important he wanted Hazel to know regarding the Lozen family and the Barlowe family.

He had somehow learned that Hazel had a connection with River, and while Olivia wasn’t surprised given her family’s penchant for digging into others’ secrets, she felt a sense of unease.

"Why don’t you just tell me what it is?" Olivia pressed. "If you are going to talk to Hazel about what happened between the Lozen and the Barlowe families, I can relay the message to River. Don’t you think I could do that? You are not exactly close with her."

Olivia’s confusion deepened; she remembered that Lyle had only met Hazel once; it was when she had been hospitalized after Marcus hit her.

Even after what she said, Lyle remained steadfast. "I have told you before, Olivia. I can’t share this information until she is here. I don’t want to repeat myself."

"Well, you can tell me, and I can relay it to her," Olivia insisted.

"No, that’s not how this works." Lyle’s tone was firm, his posture resolute, yet Olivia found it suspicious.

He had been pressuring her to ensure that Hazel came to the café but emphasized not to mention anything about his presence. Why the secrecy?

"Well, now she’s not here, and I can’t reach her. What do I do?" Olivia felt her frustration grow with each passing moment.

After three hours of waiting, she was far too irritated to even finish her meal. The mounting anxiety gnawed at her as she pondered Lyle’s motives, wondering what exactly he was planning.

"Tell me where Marcus is." Lyle changed the topic.

"You know what?" Olivia asked, frustration evident in her voice. She had been waiting for Hazel for three hours and was growing increasingly impatient.

She’d been sitting here, sipping her drink and nibbling on her food, but her irritation was directed primarily at Lyle.

He hadn’t said much aside from inquiring about her relationship with Marcus, a topic she was uncomfortable discussing.

"I don’t want to talk about Marcus, okay?"

"Fine." Lyle agreed to drop it.

But that only led to a suffocating silence; her brother just stared at his phone, which further annoyed Olivia.

"So, what now?" she pressed, feeling the tension rise. "Hazel may not come, and you are not going to tell me what you want from her or what kind of information you want to say. Are we just going to sit here all day?"

Olivia turned her gaze outside the café, where the sky was beginning to darken. The sun had slowly descended towards the horizon, painting the sky in vibrant hues of red color.

The café was now filling up with people returning from their long day at the office, yet Lyle remained silent, staring at his phone as if he was waiting for something.

When a message notification popped up, he snatched his phone and read the message before standing up from his chair.

"What is it?" Olivia asked, her curiosity piqued.

"I think you need to go home, Olivia. Let’s meet again another time," Lyle said, his expression serious.

"What?" Olivia was in disbelief. "I drove for an hour just to have you tell me you are leaving? What should I say to Hazel if she shows up? She will be furious if I don’t have any information for her! At the very least, you can tell me what kind of information you have for her," Olivia insisted.

But Lyle shook his head. "I am sorry, Olivia, but I think you don’t need to wait for Hazel. Just go home." That was all he said before he left the café abruptly, without offering any explanation.

Olivia sat there, fuming as she watched him go. Being dismissed like this only fueled her irritation further.

With Hazel unreachable, Olivia decided she’d wait for another hour. If Hazel hadn’t shown up by then, she would leave for good. She didn’t have time to wait all day.

Still, a nagging feeling tugged at her. Lyle was acting unusually; he seemed more secretive than ever, and it was odd that he suddenly wanted to meet with Hazel.

It was all very suspicious...

***

Hazel found herself in a perilous situation, despite being surrounded by six bodyguards, including Nolu and Yara.

They had been ambushed at a location that had clearly been chosen as a battleground. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Arthur was behind this maneuver and that Olivia had been deceived.

"Well, it’s nicely done," Hazel muttered under her breath, shaking her head in disbelief.

The collision with another car had left her feeling a bit dizzy, but instinctively, she wrapped her arms around her belly, trying to protect her baby.

She was well aware that she had baited Arthur into kidnapping her, but it never occurred to her that her father would resort to such brutal methods, especially knowing she was pregnant.

He should have known better than to harm her, yet desperation seemed to force him to do whatever it took to get her away from Ranon’s protection.

"I wonder how Olivia will react when she learns the truth that she has been deceived," Hazel murmured to herself.

Around her, chaos erupted as people poured from their cars, engaging in fights. Gunshots rang out, followed by shouts and orders.

"Stay inside the car, Mrs. Leighton," Nolu instructed, signaling Yara to stay close to Hazel as he went out of the car. The vehicle was bulletproof, providing a layer of safety for Hazel, but she didn’t want to be safe.

She wanted to be ’kidnapped.’

Thankfully, Hazel was still rational enough; her security was paramount, after all. It would be foolish to expose herself to danger.

Here, Hazel miscalculated her father’s move. She thought he was going to take her quietly, not come at her with full force like this.