Unexpected Marriage With Mr. Leighton: Rebirth of the Villain-Chapter 127: MESSING UP WITH ARLO

’You don’t deserve her. Don’t you even realize, whenever you see her in the eyes, that you are not even worth her time? Look at yourself.’

And there were a lot more things that Olivia’s father said to Marcus.

Olivia knew how manipulative her father was. All the people in their circle were like that; that was why she despised them all.

Therefore, she could imagine the impact that one-hour conversation could have on Marcus.

However, that was not the only thing that devastated Olivia, because she learned what kind of hell Marcus had to go through with the crowd he was with.

That was the stem of the change in Marcus’s behavior.

He couldn’t leave them because they were the only source of money for him, and he needed that money to bring food for his sister and keep her educated.

’She is the only hope that I have. I don’t want her to live like me.’ Marcus then laughed bitterly. ’But I think I have ruined my relationship with her too, just like how I ruined ours.’

Marcus didn’t smell tobacco or alcohol for the first time after a long time. He was sober.

’I need help, but I don’t know where to start...’

That was the last thing he said before he ended the story. He asked Olivia if there was something that she wanted to ask, but she said nothing.

This was the story that she really wanted; she had been asking the same question over a few years since Marcus changed, but he had never given her a definite answer. His reply would always be vague, and more often than not, he would be angry and hurt her physically.

However, when Olivia was about to give up, he came with everything that she wanted, all the things that she begged from him.

This was different. It felt different; but because of that also, it played with her mind.

’It’s not easy to leave the crowd. They will not let me go easily... But, for you, I will try. I don’t want to live like this anymore.’

He promised her that. It sounded genuine, but so did the rest of his broken promises before that.

***

His house no longer felt like home for Carl. With Laurel still being very cold, the entire house didn’t feel the same.

Carl couldn’t stand it. He had apologized, but Laurel was still the same. He was angry and also annoyed with how nonchalant she was.

Therefore, he decided to go to his mother’s house. He didn’t notify Amelia first, since he didn’t think that was necessary.

However, when he arrived at Amelia’s house, he found a man entering a car with his mother standing next to the car; she was smiling and talking lightly. There was nothing suspicious about it.

Yet, Carl didn’t want to interrupt their conversation; thus, only when the car left did he approach his mother.

"You are here!" Amelia looked surprised. "Why didn’t you tell me that you wanted to come?" She grabbed Carl’s hand and took him inside. "Have you eaten?"

The warm welcome was great; Carl didn’t feel invisible, but still, it didn’t make him feel good. It almost felt like he was being greeted by a hostess in a restaurant. There was nothing special about it.

"No, not yet."

Amelia frowned. "Come. I will cook something delicious for you. Did you come alone? Will your father come too?"

"I don’t know. He is still in the office." Carl shrugged his shoulders. "Can I sleep here tonight?"

"Of course."

Carl didn’t really like to sleep here, but he wanted to know whether Laurel would look for him or not if he didn’t come back without asking her permission or even saying anything.

He wanted her to look for him so he would feel like he mattered to her.

Throughout the night, Carl didn’t sleep. He waited for Laurel’s call or even text to ask about his whereabouts; yet, even after the morning came, there was not a single message from her.

James must have known his whereabouts from Amelia; thus, he didn’t look for him too.

Feeling dejected, Carl decided not to come to school for that day and chose to sleep throughout the morning and afternoon while Amelia would occasionally check in on his condition.

"I know this is hard for you." Amelia hugged her son. "I know it. She always makes things hard for you, and I am sorry because I can’t protect you, my son. She is really evil."

"Mom, please. Don’t talk badly about her. I don’t want to hear that." Hearing Amelia curse at Laurel didn’t make Carl feel better. "I think I want to go home."

He skipped school; he hoped Laurel would learn about it and get mad with him. He would rather her be angry than be ignored.

***

Aubrey couldn’t forget; that moment would forever be etched in her mind; there was no amount of crying that would erase it. No matter how many apologies Arlo offered to her, it wouldn’t cover her wound.

It had been three days since she came back home, and ever since, Arlo stayed with her. He didn’t leave her side and gave her whatever she wanted.

If what happened in the hospital had never happened, Aubrey would be on cloud nine to receive such treatment from Arlo.

However, no matter what he did, she couldn’t shake off the anger and jealousy.

No matter what came out of his mouth, Aubrey would always hear the way he whispered River’s name when he got his release.

"Do you still love her?" Aubrey asked Arlo angrily.

"It has been days. Can you drop it?" Arlo asked tiredly. One moment, Aubrey would look nonchalant, as if she had forgotten about that disastrous moment, but the next moment, she would look angry.

Even a small mistake would incur her wrath.

At another time, she would be sad. She would cry so hard, and Arlo had to be there to calm her down because she started hyperventilating.

The change in her mood was rather extreme.

"You still love her." Aubrey swatted his hand away when he was about to touch her. "I am carrying your baby, but it’s her whom you are thinking about!" Aubrey screamed at him. Her father was not at home.

Clearly, Arthur didn’t have any idea about it; his anger ceased a bit because Arlo took the responsibility and decided to stay in his house to take care of Aubrey while Elise couldn’t care less about her own daughter. She cared more about her party with her friends.

"Don’t make a wild conclusion."

"Do you love her?"

"No." Arlo looked Aubrey in the eyes when he said that and then hugged her. "I don’t love her."

Hearing that, Aubrey burst into tears; she cried so hard. Her emotions were a mess, and her mind didn’t help her at all by giving her all the worst possibilities that could happen.

"Don’t cry; it’s not good for the baby."

Aubrey hugged him tightly, and Arlo had to ignore a call on his phone; but after it kept ringing, which indicated it was something urgent, Arlo had to pull Aubrey away from him and picked up the call.

"What is it?" Arlo was not in the mood for bad news, but unfortunately, that was what he got. "What do you mean?"

Aubrey stopped crying and wiped her tears when she saw how irritated Arlo was. "What happened?" she asked when Arlo cut off the phone call.

"I need to leave." Arlo kissed her cheek. "I will try to return for dinner."

Even though he said that he would try to come back for dinner, Aubrey knew better; that he wouldn’t be here.

"What’s wrong?" Aubrey pressed the matter.

Arlo slowed down and explained to her briefly. "The cyber protection in the factory is down; someone messed with the system."

***

"It’s very disappointing that my honeymoon has to be interrupted by this news," Ranon said lightly, but you could feel the disdain in his voice. "I assumed you can handle it just fine."

On the other hand, Hazel was enjoying her dinner. She was rather surprised that Ranon remembered she had an allergy to prawns when she herself forgot about that since River didn’t have that kind of allergy.

She listened to his conversation with Arlo and frowned. Based on what she heard, she could get the gist of it, and she was speechless.

"Don’t tell me you did that because of the bruise?" Hazel blinked her eyes; she stopped eating. The wind from the beach carried a salty taste to her mouth.

Ranon didn’t reply to that, but his silence was enough of an answer for Hazel.

"You will be at a disadvantage."

"No, the contract said his company would be the one who would be responsible for covering the loss of production when the company couldn’t operate since the system is down."

"Still, you will suffer loss too."

Ranon plopped a piece of mango into her mouth. "I can handle the loss."

"What if they knew that you were the one who messed with them?"

"If I can mess up their system and break through their cyber protection, that means there are a lot of things they need to fix and improve. They should be grateful that I tested their system’s capabilities."

"You are so wicked..." Hazel said with admiration.

"I need to reconsider using their service in the future."

Not only overprotective, Ranon was also holding a grudge, which was kind of hot in Hazel’s eyes.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺