Chapter 207: A NEW CONTRACT
Ranon flicked her forehead lightly. "Stop thinking something dirty. I need to take a bath, too," he said as he sat down behind her.
"I am not." Hazel lied through her teeth.
Meanwhile, Ranon squirted the shampoo and applied it on Hazel’s hair. It was rather tricky to take care of her curly hair, but Ranon learned about it, and he had become more knowledgeable than her.
"When will you start the new company?"
"By the end of this year," Ranon replied, which meant three months from now. "I will be busy by the end of this month to prepare everything... Do you want to hire a babysitter?"
Ranon didn’t mean to demean her as the mother, but there was this tacit understanding between them that Hazel didn’t want the role. She had made it clear from the beginning. She even willingly handed over the primary care for their child to Ranon when they divorced.
"Renna is too old to take care of Ashlyn all the time."
"Hm." Hazel nodded. She closed her eyes to enjoy the massage on her scalp. "I want to see the new hire, too." She was going to do a background check on that person, even though Ranon would have done that, but there was no harm in double-checking everything.
"Got it."
Hazel leaned over and rested her back against his chest. This was very comfortable. She was not used to being taken care of; as River, she did everything on her own, and she was proud of it whenever she could deal with her own issues.
However, Ranon made her rather lazy. She loved to be pampered by him. He made her relax, and somehow, she knew she was well-protected and safe with him.
Moreover, Hazel could use his influence in her plan. She had seen what kind of crazy connection he could pull off when she killed someone in Olivia’s apartment. She didn’t need to be interrogated when she didn’t even have a license to hold a weapon.
But her gun was being confiscated by Ranon. She needed to find a new one.
Thinking about the divorce, Hazel was reluctant to give up this comfort. She wanted to enjoy it a little bit longer. Probably, she had become too greedy.
"Let’s renew our contract," Hazel said, getting comfortable with him. "I can’t ruin your reputation even more, right?"
Because she didn’t see his face, Hazel didn’t know that Ranon was smiling at her words. "That’s a good decision."
***
"Hazel?" Renna was cooking breakfast when Ranon came to the kitchen to look for his wife. "Hazel is doing exercise. She said she was going to run."
"Run?" Ranon woke up and found the bed was empty. This was unusual. Hazel usually woke up later than him.
"Yes." Renna chuckled a bit. "She has been worried about her weight; she is afraid you will not find her attractive anymore."
Such an excuse could fool Renna, but not Ranon. This had nothing to do with her weight. "She is being silly," Ranon commented lightly and thanked Renna for the coffee.
"If she can’t lose her weight, do you still love her?" Renna must be bored to ask such an idle question, but she was curious.
"I will," Ranon replied without thinking twice. He was going to keep her anyway.
"Will you still love her if she is full of stretch marks?" Renna was amused by her own game, and Ranon didn’t stop her.
"I will."
Renna laughed. "What a liar." She put a few cookies on a plate and served them to Ranon. "I think you will also love her even if she is a killer."
Hazel had been watching horror movies during her pregnancy, and at some point, Renna must have joined her too; thus, this is where the comment came from.
"I will bury the body," Ranon replied with ease. She did kill someone.
However, Renna didn’t think about it and only laughed it off, thinking how cute this couple was and hoping they would stay like this forever.
Later that afternoon, when Hazel was with Renna and Ashlyn, Ranon called Lucian to come over. He didn’t tell him what he needed him for, but Lucian came with a small bouquet of flowers.
"This is for Ashlyn," he said, handing over the flowers to Hazel, who rolled her eyes.
"Fine." She asked Renna to find a vase to put the flowers in. Lucian indeed heeded her request not to bring any toys or baby-related items, but he was being sneaky and brought flowers instead. "Why are you here, Mr. Lawyer?"
"Your husband called me." Lucian had mixed feelings about Hazel, but not as strong as Ares, who was completely against their relationship and wanted it to be over soon.
In Lucian’s eyes, the two of them were good together, and in the matter of how dangerous Hazel was... well, Ranon was not an angel, either.
If he could say, Ranon was a fallen angel.
"Oh." Hazel didn’t comment after that; she knew why Ranon called him. She had agreed to his request after all. "He is in his study room. Get some drinks from the fridge, just in case it takes long."
"Don’t you think this is the moment where you should offer me a drink rather than have me take it myself?"
Hazel waved her hand at him. "You have been here longer than I." This was the same apartment that Ranon had occupied ever since before he got married to her. "It can be said you were the first wife before I married him."
"Wait, what?" Lucian exclaimed, bewildered by her twisted perspective. "Am I considered an ex now?"
"What? Do you want to be the concubine?" Hazel laughed merrily to see Lucian’s expression as he went to the kitchen and got a can of soda before he faced Ranon.
There were only two possibilities; it was either he wanted to discuss the process of the divorce or...
"We agreed to extend the contract," Ranon said once Lucian settled down and drank his drink. He almost choked when he heard that.
"Why?" The first thing that Lucian imagined was Ares’s strong reaction when he learned about this.
"It benefits both of us."
Lucian didn’t believe that immediately. He squinted his eyes. "What kind of benefit do you get from her? We know that she held so many secrets from you, Ranon. It can endanger you."
"Is that supposed to deter me?" His life had been filled with danger even before he became part of the Leighton family. Recently, however, things had taken a turn; he had experienced a spark when he became the target of an assassination, and that was when Hazel entered his life.
"It should be." Lucian shook his head. "But I don’t think you will listen to this. You need to explain this to Ares. I am sure he will not agree with this decision."
"I don’t need his approval in my private life."
Ranon was not wrong about that, and usually he had great judgment; but when it came to women... Even Lucian doubted that. He didn’t have a good track record with Ema.
Ranon and Ares had a fallout when Ranon chose to believe Ema’s words over Ares’s when he saw her and Denzel Leighton together.
Ranon believed her until the end when finally Ema herself told him that she was with his father. Ranon could be blinded by love.
That was what Ares and Lucian were worried about.
And now Lucian could see the sign of it. Ranon was hiding behind the cover of a marriage contract, but he wouldn’t be able to convince them otherwise, that he started to fall for her.
"Ranon, be honest with me. Do you like her?"
"She is the mother of my daughter."
Lucian shook his head. "You know what I meant." He was a little bit agitated because he couldn’t get a straight answer from him. "She can be dangerous. She can endanger you and Ashlyn with whatever problem she puts herself in with the Lozen and those people from that world."
Ranon grabbed the can in Lucian’s hand and gulped it down, giving him time to phrase his words: "Whether I am with her or not, she is still the mother of my child. I am not going to make my child motherless. She is under my protection."
There was a finality in the way Ranon spoke, which meant he had made his own decision and nothing could change his mind. Lucian knew him for so long that he knew what it meant.
Even if he attempted to dissuade him, it would be a futile attempt.
"I hope you know what you are doing, Ranon. Remember the last time you were like this; it wrecked your life."
Ranon put down the can. "But it put me in a high position." He wouldn’t be sitting in wealth if it were not for Ema’s betrayal.
"Ares wouldn’t like to hear this."
"I will handle him."
It was in the evening when Lucian was done drafting the new contract for this couple, and he handed Hazel a copy for her to check.
"What kind of spell did you put on him?" Lucian narrowed his eyes. "He has never been so generous in a deal like this. Even to me, as his best friend, he is still very calculative."
Hazel grinned. "Had good sex and gave birth to a beautiful daughter; maybe you can try that."
"No, thanks. I doubt he will be as gentle with me as he is with you."
"Gentle? It’s not even close." Hazel winked at Lucian.