Chapter 235: HAZEL’S CRITICAL DECISION
Hazel looked calm, but her mind was racing when she walked with quick steps in the hospital corridor. Ranon was hospitalized in the Central Hospital after a terrible car accident.
She would be foolish if she thought it was simply an accident. The McKennas made their move.
"We need to change the hospital. Ranon will not have his surgery here," Hazel said to Ares, who handled all the administration.
Ranon needed surgery, but his life was no longer in danger. Still, changing a hospital would be risky at this moment.
"Pardon me?" Ares turned around and looked at Hazel with bewilderment, as if he had never seen her before.
"We are not going to have him operated on in this hospital." Hazel strode across the room and took the document in Ares’s hand. She glanced at it. It was a consent form.
"Are you out of your mind?" Ares blinked his eyes, as if to regain his senses.
Hazel left all of her bodyguards at home to stay with Ashlyn and only took Yara with her. Nolu argued that the house was secure and that they didn’t need to stay there when their main priority was Hazel’s safety.
However, a single cold glance from her was enough to silence him.
’You can stay just like I told you to do, or you can go, and I will find someone else to fill your position.’
That was all Hazel said, and Nolu immediately knew how serious she was. Ranon almost fired him on several occasions because he couldn’t keep track of his wife, but it was Hazel who talked him down and kept her bodyguards.
Therefore, if Hazel said she was going to let him go, there would be no question that it would be the final decision.
Coupled with the fact that he couldn’t report this to Ranon, Nolu stayed with the other bodyguards to keep their eyes on the little one, while Yara came with Hazel to the hospital.
"No. You are not taking him anywhere," Ares said sternly. He was about to snatch the consent form from Hazel, but she was faster than he was.
"Are you his wife?" Hazel asked with an even tone, eerily calm to face Ares’s anger. "No? Then move."
There was a solid reason for her decision to change the hospital. Hazel wouldn’t do that if she didn’t think it was necessary. It was way more than just necessary in this case.
Central Hospital was under the influence of Rafael Scar. That was why Rize chose to receive treatment from questionable doctors in the dirty place at the backside of the brothel instead of going to the hospital.
Hazel couldn’t trust Rafael Scar, especially after she learned more about him and the Lozens. He was the one who burned the candy shop. Rize strongly believed that too. Therefore, Hazel needed to be on the prudent side.
Rafael Scar had an agreement with the Lozens before; Hazel wouldn’t rule out the possibility that he worked with the McKennas now.
And it was dangerous to have Ranon operated on in the hospital under his influence. Hazel wouldn’t take that risk.
"Don’t be ridiculous!" Ares was livid. He raised his voice now. Hazel was shorter than him, but she lifted her chin and stared straight into his eyes unflinchingly. "You will not move Ranon anywhere!"
"I don’t have time to argue with you. If you want an explanation, I will give you one after I move him out of this hospital."
Hazel didn’t have time to argue with Ares; she walked toward the door and was about to leave so she could handle all the administration to move Ranon to a different hospital, but Ares grabbed her arm to stop her.
Wrong move.
Hazel spun on her heels, grabbed his arm, and pushed him against the wall. "Look, I do this for Ranon’s safety. If you don’t want to help, don’t intervene. I will explain to you later."
Once she was sure Ares wouldn’t hold her back, Hazel went away.
It was not like Ares didn’t have something to say, but he was shocked by the sheer force that Hazel displayed. He knew from Ranon that she could fight, but the way she shoved him against the wall surprised him.
Ares didn’t expect Hazel to do that. This didn’t settle well with him.
On the other hand, Yara was no longer surprised by what she had seen Hazel do, especially in the past few days. Without a doubt, her madam was more than capable of handling Ares.
It didn’t take long before Hazel managed to get everything in order and move Ranon three cities away. It was not a big hospital, but it was not within Rafael’s influence.
More importantly, the doctors were able to perform the surgery that Ranon needed.
***
"What does she think she is doing?!" Denzel was enraged when he learned about Ranon’s car accident, but even more when he learned that Hazel had moved him three cities away, to a hospital that he had never heard of. "Does she want to kill him?!" He couldn’t contain his anger.
Ranon’s car was hit by a drunk driver. The driver had been arrested, and now he was being interrogated by the police.
It looked like it was an unfortunate accident.
Furiously, Denzel called Hazel’s phone. She didn’t pick up on the first try, but after several attempts, her voice finally reached him, and Denzel didn’t hold back.
"Get Ranon back to the Central Hospital! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" Denzel spat a few hurtful words after that, while Ema was standing behind him and watched everything unfold.
Her expression didn’t show any emotion, but she felt good to see Denzel lash out at Hazel. But at the same time, she was worried about Ranon. What did Hazel think she was doing?
"Hallo?! HALLO?!" Denzel looked at the phone in his hand in disbelief. Hazel just hung up on him! The audacity of that woman was unimaginable! "Prepare a car! I am not letting that woman kill my son!"
Ema was more than willing to do it, since she wanted to see Ranon as well.
However, Denzel was not the only person who was furious when they learned about Hazel moving Ranon to another hospital.
"How could you let that happen?!" Kyle hissed viciously at the phone when Rafael informed him about this. He had planned this move carefully, rejecting Lyle’s suggestion to make a direct attempt, caught Ranon off guard, and killed him.
"What should I do? Prevent her from taking her husband away? She will be suspicious." Kyle couldn’t see him, but he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly while staring at the city landscape from the window in his office. "The fact that she moved her husband is proof that she sensed something was not right with the accident."
"You should do something to make him stay and perform the surgery there." Kyle was livid, but he kept his voice in check.
"I have done everything as the usual procedure, Mr. McKenna, but I can’t do more than this. I will not ruin the hospital’s reputation for your mission. The bounty you got for killing Ranon Leighton will not cover the backlash I will have to face."
Rafael didn’t reject Kyle directly when he asked for a favor from him; he didn’t want to get on the McKennas’ bad side, since that family was rising in power.
Therefore, he felt both glad and surprised that Hazel was tactful enough to change the hospital, even though it only heightened his curiosity about that woman.
"I will help you, but I will not push my luck too far."
And with that, the conversation ended, which annoyed the hell out of Kyle. He then called his younger brother to his study.
"The plan changed," he said. "We will do it your way."
Lyle stood in front of his brother and nodded. He understood what it meant. After talking about a few more things and about the details of it, Lyle left to make preparations.
***
Hazel ignored most of the phone calls from Denzel as she faced Ares and Lucian, who demanded an explanation from her about why she changed the hospital.
Currently, Ranon was undergoing surgery. It would take an hour and a half; after that, he would be required to stay for a week or two, depending on the final result of the operation.
The media, however, had caught a whiff of Ranon’s accident, and now they swarmed the Central Hospital, but Ranon was no longer there.
"You are overthinking things," Ares said begrudgingly. He leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms in frustration, while Lucian remained silent after Hazel explained her reasoning to them.
She didn’t tell them more than what they needed to know, especially about her visit with Ranon to the brothel to find Rize.
However, Hazel informed them about the attack on Ranon and stated that the McKennas and the Barlowes would target him again.
"How do you know a lot of these things?" Ares squinted his eyes, observing the woman who was eating before him.
"You don’t need to know that," Hazel replied without looking at Ares. "The only thing that you need to know is, I will never harm Ranon."
"But where are we now?" Ares waved his hands to their surroundings.
"Are you serious? Do you blame me for this?" Hazel lifted her head from her food. She drank her water deliberately slowly. "Are you trying to say that Ranon is in danger because of me? Let me remind you about something, Ares." Hazel’s voice took a sharp turn.