CHAPTER 163: WHERE IS RIVER?

Aubrey was trying to reach her father from the hospital. After a few attempts, she finally got through to Arthur, but he sounded like he was in a rush.

"Father, please. I need you to be here!" she urged, desperation creeping into her voice.

Before Aubrey could finish her plea, Arthur interrupted her. "I can’t. I have something important to do. Call me later," he dismissed her coldly, hanging up on her.

"Am I not important to you, Father?" Aubrey cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. She lay in the hospital bed, battling pain, and her mother’s indifference only added to her distress.

Elise appeared bored, even though she had agreed to accompany Aubrey. It was painfully apparent that she lacked the emotional capacity to provide any comfort; she simply wanted the ordeal to end quickly.

"Father!" Aubrey called again, but she soon realized that Arthur had hung up. Her father had never hung up on her. The realization broke her even more, intensifying her physical pain.

In her desperation, she decided to reach out to someone else. This time, Aubrey called Arlo, praying he would pick up as she dialed his number. He needed to know what happened to her and their baby.

Yet, the same thing happened with Arlo.

He didn’t answer Aubrey’s call immediately, and when he finally picked up, he ended the conversation abruptly. "I will call you back. I am busy right now." That was all he said, leaving no room for Aubrey to explain her situation.

When the call ended, Aubrey felt utterly devastated.

The physical pain she endured was nothing compared to the aching despair in her heart. She wanted to scream at both Arlo and her father for the way they treated her.

She was carrying his baby, yet he couldn’t care less. Why were they treating her like this? Her father and Arlo seemed to dismiss her so easily, as if her existence was a nuisance for them.

Seeing her daughter weeping, Elise finally stepped in; she approached Aubrey and snatched the phone from her hands.

"If you want to stay alive, at the very least, focus on yourself and the baby. There is no need to waste your energy on people who don’t care about you," Elise stated coldly, putting the phone away even as her daughter tried to get it back.

Aubrey looked pitiful, but Elise showed no compassion. "Stop crying. What are you crying for? They have made it clear that you can’t bother them, so don’t. Have the dignity not to beg for their attention. It’s so embarrassing."

"It’s easy for you to say that because you don’t have a heart! You only care about yourself!" Aubrey screamed at her mother, her pain intensifying with her anger.

Yet, Elise remained indifferent. "You can call me heartless, but that’s how I survive. Do you think I want to be in tears like you? I don’t give a damn about people who don’t care about me. One thing is for sure: I will never beg for attention. What you are doing right now is embarrassing. Stop crying and focus on your baby. They will come eventually; where else would they go?"

Frustration clouded Aubrey’s thoughts. She wished it was easy for her to be as heartless as her mother, but unfortunately, that wasn’t her strong suit.

Even though Elise was with Aubrey at that moment, the stress of the situation caused Aubrey to go into early labor. The doctor had just checked on her and said they needed to operate immediately; otherwise, they risked losing the baby.

"No, Mother! I cannot do this! I can’t!" Aubrey cried as she gripped her mother’s hand. "Please stay with me. I am afraid. I am scared. Mother, please!"

Aubrey felt utterly alone. Ever since she was little, she hadn’t thought much about Elise’s lack of affection, not just for her but also for River.

But, deep down, she always longed to be close to her mother, admiring Elise’s heartlessness as if it were a form of strength.

Yet, because Elise never showed any affection, Aubrey struggled to connect with her.

In the beginning, Aubrey had always imagined Arlo would be there with her during the delivery of their son. But neither Arlo nor her father was present, only her mother.

"Mother, please stay with me. I am scared! Oh, God..." Aubrey’s anger towards her father and Arlo faded away, replaced by a strong fear. She needed support, and at that moment, her mother was all she had.

For a brief moment, Aubrey feared that Elise might leave her.

Silence stretched between them as Elise remained stoic, even when Aubrey squeezed her hand tightly.

"Mother, please stay... I can’t do this alone..." The thought of labor terrified Aubrey; she felt unprepared. The baby shouldn’t come now.

And eventually, Elise squeezed back Aubrey’s hand, providing the support she desperately needed.

After hours of grueling pain, Aubrey finally gave birth to a son, just thirty-one weeks into her pregnancy. She looked pale and exhausted, and as she began breastfeeding her baby, she fell into a deep sleep.

Only then did Elise attempt to reach out to Arthur and Arlo, but both had turned off their phones. They likely recognized Aubrey’s habit of calling repeatedly and chose to focus on whatever was important to them at that moment.

Elise’s eyes turned icy as she shifted her gaze from the phone back to her sleeping daughter. A nurse approached her and asked, "Do you want to see the baby?" The infant needed to be put in an incubator.

Elise simply waved her hand. "No, I don’t want to," she replied lightly.

Meanwhile, Arthur was making moves against Hazel, and Arlo, along with his father, was discussing the unsettling news they had just received: Lozen had kidnapped Hazel.

***

This would be the first time Hazel had seen her father again after several months, and it was clear that this meeting would allow them to discuss what really mattered.

Initially, Hazel’s eyes were covered, so she had no idea where they were taking her.

However, the moment they got out of the car and took her inside a room, after that, they removed the cloth from her eyes, and Hazel immediately recognized her surroundings.

"Wait right here," her kidnapper instructed her, urging her to sit in the chair. Hazel did as she was told, having no intention of escaping.

This was the moment she had been waiting for, her meeting with her father.

It took an hour for Arthur to finally come and see her. He knocked on the door, unlocked it, and stepped inside.

As he entered, Hazel felt a surge of mixed emotions. It was still difficult for her to face him.

With Arlo and Aubrey, her desire for revenge was clear; they had killed her. But with Arthur, she felt uncertain.

After her initial anger subsided, she realized she didn’t hate him, at least not to the point where she wanted him dead, but she couldn’t dismiss him so easily, either.

After all, Arthur had shown blatant favoritism between her and Aubrey, yet he had also exhausted every resource to find out what had happened to River. Hazel noticed that effort, surprised that her father would go to such lengths; she hadn’t expected him to care at all.

"Good evening, Mrs. Leighton. I am sure you still remember me. We have met before," he said.

"Yes, I remember you," Hazel replied, still seated in the chair, trying to make herself comfortable.

As River, she had been in this place countless times before, which stirred up a mix of memories. Everything felt familiar but strange at the same time.

"I am sorry for the way we met. Please don’t be afraid." Arthur’s voice was reassuring, attempting to make Hazel at ease.

’Afraid?’

Hazel thought to herself. If anything, fear was the last emotion she felt at that moment. It was Arthur who had trained her in such a way that she no longer felt fear.

It was strange for him to act so kindly towards her when all she had known was his strong, harsh side, where he had trained her rigorously.

Now, however, with Hazel in front of him, he was speaking to her gently.

"May I know why I am here?" Hazel asked, her tone controlled and calm.

This composure made Arthur question the woman before him. His men had informed him of how collected Hazel was.

Initially, he had expected her to be screaming, crying, or trembling with fear, and now, witnessing it himself, he knew they were telling the truth.

"I didn’t mean to trouble you or cause any issues with your husband, Ranon Leighton. But I need a moment to talk with you," he explained.

"And you couldn’t find a more conventional way to speak to me than by kidnapping me?" Hazel retorted. "Maybe you should have just invited me to dinner. That would have been less extreme, don’t you think?"

Arthur considered this. "In normal circumstances, that would be ideal, but given our situation, I don’t think Mr. Leighton would be happy to learn I invited his wife to dinner."

"Perhaps if you hadn’t just tried to kill him, he would have been more welcoming."

"My mistake," Arthur replied. "I didn’t mean to attack him. This is strictly a business matter, but I wanted to clarify that the last attack didn’t come from me."

Hazel was already aware that it was the Barlowe family stirring up the discord between them.

"And why should I believe you after everything you have done to me?" She challenged.