There she was...River. Alive and breathing. She was thinner than Arthur rembered and slightly pale, with hair that had grown very long.
Arthur didn’t rember the last ti she grew her hair that long, since it was not convenient for her line of work.
She looked different, but she was his daughter. The daughter he thought had died, the daughter that he had buried and cried over.
She was here now.
Arthur couldn’t help himself; he walked over toward River. He hastened his pace when he got closer to her, and when he was close enough, he hugged her tightly. He almost crushed her.
"River, it’s you! It’s really you! I know it! I know that you will survive! You will co back alive!" Arthur cried.
This was the first ti he cried so openly and let his vulnerability be in full display. He missed his daughter so badly that he didn’t even realize it until she was in his arms again.
"Oh, God! You are here!" Arthur had never believed in anything before this. But he started to pray when he lost his daughter. "River! Oh, my God! My child!"
Rye was also dumbstruck to see River, because he was there when Arthur broke down, thinking that she had died and he had to bury her.
But currently, she was here.
Rye had tears in his eyes, too. He was also close to River. He was one of Arthur’s trusted n who had taught River everything that she knew and the skills that she had.
Of course, he was more than happy to see that River was still alive. He couldn’t explain it in words. River was like his own daughter, too.
anwhile, River just smiled at her father. She looked exhausted. There was a slight bruise on the corner of her eyes and her forehead, but overall, she was fine.
"I am glad to see you, too, Dad," River said.
No one noticed how lukewarm River’s response to her father was; neither Arthur nor Rye did, as the two of them were too high in their emotions.
"There are a few things that I need to discuss." River didn’t expect to see her father and Rye here, but then it was a good thing, because what she was going to discuss included them, too.
"That can wait. Let’s go back first. We need to get you to the hospital." Arthur caressed the wound on her neck that River didn’t realize was there.
However, River scrunched her nose when she heard the word hospital. She had stayed there for a long ti. She had developed an allergy to being near that building in the near future.
"No, this is very important. We need to discuss this now." Subtly, River pushed away Arthur’s arms from her. "Let’s get inside."
River took a step aside, and only then could she see Lucian and... Ranon.
Lucian frowned when he saw her. The look that he gave River made her a little bit uncomfortable, since she used to talk casually with him. They were close enough to be called friends.
But right now, Lucian was on guard with her presence. The unfamiliarity was palpable in his eyes as if he were staring at a danger and was on high alert when River approached him and Ranon.
On the other hand, Ranon... His face was devoid of emotions. He was staring at River, but it was hard to tell what was on his mind.
It took everything in River not to walk toward him and hug him.
She stopped for a while, standing in the middle of the room, unmoving. Her eyes t his, but she didn’t know what to do.
She was afraid to make a move. Ranon was not an easy person; if he decided to hate her, then no amount of her effort would change that.
"Oh, that’s Mr. Leighton. Ranon Leighton. I think you already know him. You called him." Arthur wanted to introduce Ranon, but then he rembered that it was Ranon that River had called before.
"Yes... I know. Can we discuss sowhere? But before that, do you have sothing to eat? He needs so food." River nodded over her shoulder to a little boy, who was standing silently at the door. He looked afraid. "Co here." River stretched out her arm to Archie, who imdiately rushed out to grab her hand and planted his face against her back.
"No way! That’s Archie, right? Or is this another boy with the sa face?" Lucian imdiately recognized him because they had been looking for him when the disaster happened.
"Yes, it’s Archie," River confird.
"How could you get him?" Lucian asked out of curiosity.
However, it was Ranon who finally opened his mouth after a long silence. "Let’s get inside." He turned around and then left.
Seeing his back, River felt her chest tighten slightly. She was disappointed that Ranon didn’t recognize her, but it would be crazy if he did.
Ranon must have spoiled her rotten, because his ignorance toward her at the mont almost felt like physical pain. This was not the way he used to treat her.
Ten minutes later, all of them gathered around the table. Apparently, Ranon had asked his n to get so lamb chops from the Imperial Restaurant when he arrived here.
No one noticed that, because they were on edge waiting for River.
Her eyes lit up when she saw the food. She didn’t have any intention of eating and wanted to get down to business imdiately. But when she saw the lamb chops, suddenly she felt hungry.
River didn’t say anything as she accompanied Archie to eat, but her subtle reaction didn’t go unnoticed by Ranon.
That was the look that his wife would have whenever she saw her favorite food. He rembered that Hazel had four portions of lamb chops the first ti they t, and she ate a lot of them when she was pregnant with Ashlyn.
He clenched his fists tightly until his knuckles turned red when a swirl of emotions hit him, but his expression remained the sa.
Probably, in this room, only Ranon knew about the lamb chop, because even Arthur and Rye didn’t know what River’s favorite food was.
They were only happy to see her eat heartily.
"Slow down," Arthur said to River as he put a glass of water for her.
"I am glad to see you again, River," Rye said.
"Thank you, Uncle."
And after that, River spent almost two portions of lamb chop on her own, while Archie was eating timidly beside her.
Once they finished eating, the little boy looked exhausted and sleepy. River wanted to lie down too, but she couldn’t.
"I will take him to sleep. After that, we will talk." River stood up and then led Archie to one of the guest rooms.
One more thing that Ranon noticed: River shouldn’t know about this house, but she did. She even knew where the spare key was, since she opened the door with it. She didn’t wait for soone to open it for her.
And now, she knew the layout of the house and the guest rooms.
River must have been very exhausted and had a muddlehead, since she was not careful enough with the way she acted around here.
Subconsciously, Ranon followed River to the guest room.
***
"How could you lose her?!" Rafael was so mad. He threw his phone across the room. The little item cracked when it collided with the wall.
anwhile, all of the n around the living room lowered their heads. They were afraid to see how furious their boss was.
There were two dead bodies in the middle of the room because they had failed to capture River.
However, Rafael felt more upset with himself for losing her. Even though she accompanied him and acted obediently, he should have known better than that, knowing she was a manipulative bitch.
River smacked his head and ran away. He managed to grab her by her hair and slap her face once, which made her fall to the ground and cry.
Rafael felt bad because he didn’t an to hurt her, but when he was about to apologize and co closer to him, River butted his head with hers and stole his car key. She ran away with his car.
On another occasion, Rafael would be impressed, but at this mont, he was pissed.
They found the car an hour later, but they couldn’t find River anywhere.
The train ticket she bought said that she headed toward Aspen City, and Rafael had deployed his n to look for her there.
Yet, none of them returned with a satisfying report.
"Find her! I want her!" Rafael roared angrily. "But don’t you dare hurt her!"
This was the difficult part; River was not an innocent, helpless woman; she knew how to fight and was a trained assassin. How could they capture her without hurting her?
***
"Don’t leave here," Archie said and yawned. He snuggled into the blanket and yawned.
"I will be here. Sleep, okay?" River caressed Archie’s back to help him sleep. This was what she always did with Ashlyn. Her baby loved it.
"Are they good people?" Archie asked. He had closed his eyes.
"Yeah... they are good." Well, aside from Lucian, the rest were questionable, to say the least.
It didn’t take long before Archie finally fell asleep. And when River was about to stand up and leave, soone called her.
"Hazel."
"Yes?" Out of instinct, she responded to the na and turned around to see Ranon.
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