Unexpected Marriage With Mr. Leighton: Rebirth of the Villain-Chapter 95: A PHONE CALL WITH RAFAEL

"I thought this was going to be a private dinner. I don’t know if this was going to be a meeting."

"Hey, what does that mean?" Lucian complained. It took a lot of effort from him and Ares to be able to tag along.

"It means I don’t expect you to be here. I thought this was a date, or are we going to have a double date?"

Lucian grimaced while Ares scrunched his nose. "Seriously..."

Seeing their reaction, Hazel chuckled and then sat down on the chair across from Lucian, while Ranon sat down beside her.

"Is this your way to thank me for the information that I gave you?"

"What kind of information?" Lucian asked.

"Wait, are you going to say that the information Ranon had about Rafael Scar actually came from you?" Ares asked. He put two and two together easily.

"Yes. Why are you surprised with that?"

"No way." Lucian shook his head and then looked at both of them. "Are you sure the information is trustworthy?"

Hazel clicked her tongue. "The trust issue that Ranon has must have been influenced by you."

Lucian scoffed. "Don’t you think it’s the other way around?" He looked at Ranon for a backup, but the man was sipping his drink calmly.

"Well, do you want to have a bet with me?" Hazel grinned, and for some reason, Lucian had a bad feeling about this.

"What kind of bet?" he asked carefully.

At first, Hazel didn’t want to help Ranon more than leaking some information for his advantage, but because of the bet, she would ensure the success of the deal.

***

After the dinner with the three men who were talking about nothing but business, which gave Hazel a headache, but thankfully the lamb chop was very delicious, so it did comfort her a bit, Hazel called Rafael.

She was going to win this bet with Lucian no matter what. Her competitive side was piqued.

Therefore, once she returned to her bedroom, she changed her clothes and prepared for the conversation with Rafael; she checked on the Barlowe family’s and the Lozen family’s activities first.

After that, she made a call to Rafael by using a private number that he couldn’t trace back to her. This time Hazel used River’s identity.

Because Hazel’s voice and River’s were very different, she used a towel to muffle her voice, the method that she used when she called Olivia a few days ago.

She couldn’t get River’s voice, and she didn’t have the device to alter her voice. It was the easiest method so he wouldn’t be able to track her down and knew it was Hazel Rose.

It was already in the middle of the night, and actually it was not appropriate for her to call him during this time.

However, who cared? This was her first active step towards her revenge to ruin them all.

It surprised Hazel that Rafael actually picked up her phone call on the second ring. But what shocked her even more was that he immediately knew it was her.

"River." Rafael called her name, and Hazel went blank for a moment. She didn’t expect Rafael would have guessed that it was she who was calling him.

How did he know that?!

River used to memorize his phone number. Because she was used to calling him, he was a middleman between her father and the Blackthorne Company regarding their illegal activities. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

Hazel cleared her throat and regained her composure. "I am glad you know it is me immediately. How do you know that?" Hazel asked with a frown.

She thought she was going to prove herself just like what she did to Olivia. That woman needed a lot of convincing.

She already prepared a few things that only River had knowledge about, especially the matter between the Lozen family and the Blackthorne company or even the things about Rafael that only River knew.

However, all of her preparation was not needed.

For a brief moment, there was only silence. Rafael didn’t say anything. "Hello?" Hazel called for him. She started to think that this man was drunk or something, and somehow, he made a lucky right guess.

Hazel was still using the towel to muffle her voice. After all, Rafael was going to have a business cooperation with Ranon, and she needed to prepare herself for an unexpected moment where she might run into him in the future.

"What is it? Cat got your tongue?"

"Is this really you?" Rafael’s brows knitted together. "What happened with your voice?"

"Nothing," Hazel replied nonchalantly. "Why? You don’t like my new voice?"

"I like you. Does it count?"

Hazel rolled her eyes. She forgot how flirtatious this man could be; it was already a pain in the ass when she had to deal with him as the middleman for his company and her family’s business.

"How are you?" Hazel kept this conversation casual and boring.

"Where have you been?" Rafael seemed to move to a quieter place because Hazel noticed the noise in the background gradually faded away. "Where have you been? I heard a rumor that you have gone missing. The last deal I had with your lovely family, I had to communicate with your father, and you know how much I don’t like him."

"Why don’t you like my father? He is adorable." Hazel could imagine how Rafael rolled his eyes upon hearing that.

"He said that you have gone for a mission; that’s why you can’t accept any phone calls or be contacted. But I also heard a few rumors that someone managed to kill you. Now here you are, calling me. I know that’s not true unless I am being called by a ghost."

"Oh, seriously, if I am a ghost, you are not even on the list of people that I want to call."

Rafael chuckled with her remark. "I am glad that you are not dead."

"Don’t worry, I intend to live forever. So far so good." Hazel was being sarcastic right now. She had always been like this; therefore, she missed the sound of relief in Rafael’s voice.

"I know. You are so hard to kill."

"Is that a compliment?"

"Well, you can think whatever you want. Oh, I also heard the rumor about Arlo and your sister; they are engaged now. Though, not many people knew about it."

"I am not calling you for a gossip." Hazel was still not happy to hear the sound of their names. "If there are not many people who know about it, how do you know? You are not even within my circle."

"River, you are so cute. You know, I have so many informants around me. So, it’s not really hard to know what’s going on with my business partners. You know, an internal conflict can affect a business.

"Thank you for keeping me updated about that. Yeah, they are engaged now. Oh, if you want to hear more juicy gossip, I will tell you that Aubrey is actually pregnant."

It was childish for her to be this petty, but she was on the path of revenge to tarnish their names. More so, sooner or later they would know that Aubrey was pregnant since she must have been showing right now; it has been a few months.

And with that, Hazel also realized; she and Aubrey were pregnant almost at the same time; they were only a few months apart.

The thought of it made her nauseous.

"Wow, are you trying to be petty here?" Rafel immediately understood her intention. "A bad rumor can affect a business too. Now, tell me, how do you feel about it? I have warned you that Arlo is a piece of shit, and your sister is not different. Are you sulking? Is that why you are running away from home?" Rafael was teasing her.

"Sulking?" Hazel scoffed. "I never sulk. If I am running away from home, it means I have something better to do."

"And when will you return? Are you not going to do anything about your sister? After all, she has taken your man from you. Are you not going to do anything about it?"

"She didn’t take my man; she took my problem." The corner of Hazel’s lips curled in disgust. "She can have him."

Hazel despised the sound of Arlo’s name, especially when she had to mention the two of them.

"You have never gotten along with your sister."

"Obviously, after all, I am a Scorpio, and she’s a bitch."

Rafael laughed so hard; he was wheezing when he heard that. It took him a while and a loud yelling from Hazel for him to gain his composure.

"You are a psychopath, River."

"I think you need to appreciate my effort not to be a serial killer, Rafael."

Rafael leaned his tall body against the wall. He enjoyed this conversation with River. It had been a very long time since he talked to her. Even though she was not using her own voice, it didn’t matter; he knew it was really her.

Her dark humor and her sarcasm were something that only she could pull off.

"So why are you calling me?" He calmed down now.

"I heard you have a deal with Ranon Leighton.".

"Oh, I appreciate it when you are interested in me, River." Rafael smirked. Now he was curious about what the relation between River and the Leighton family was.

"Your activity is not very hard to track down."

"And what do you want? If you grace me with your phone call, I will assume there is something that you want from me."

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