Unexpected Marriage With Mr. Leighton: Rebirth of the Villain-Chapter 300: DEPRESSION (2)

"Give Ashlyn to me," Greyson said sternly. It was not even a request but a demand. "You are not capable of taking care of her."

Ashlyn hugged Ranon even tighter. She buried her face against the crook of his neck. "No, I will take care of her."

Greyson shook his head. "You will not be able to do that. You can’t even take care of yourself."

However, instead of arguing with Greyson, Ranon entered Ashlyn’s bedroom and locked the door.

He could hear Laurel tell Greyson to leave and not to think about taking Ashlyn away.

"I am her grandfather!" Greyson was adamant. "I have the right to take my granddaughter!"

"And Ranon is her father!" Laurel shouted back.

"Do you think he is capable of being a father right now? Who are you trying to fool?!"

The shouting match continued for a while before Greyson finally left. He was unable to convince Ranon to go out of Ashlyn’s bedroom.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Ranon tried to put Ashlyn on the bed, but she refused to let him go. She was crying without a sound, as her little body was trembling.

"Lie down, okay?"

Ashlyn should weigh nothing for him, but why did she become so heavy? He didn’t have the energy to stand straight by himself, let alone when he had to carry his daughter. Everything felt so heavy for him.

However, Ashlyn shook her head. She refused to get down, and Ranon had no other choice but to put Ashlyn on his lap as he was sitting down on the bed. He leaned against the wall, feeling exhausted and sleepy, even when he had just woken up.

"Why don’t you speak?" Ranon asked. He caressed her back as Ashlyn gradually stopped crying. "Why don’t you want to speak?"

Ashlyn lifted her head and looked at Ranon, but he averted his eyes; he couldn’t see her. It was too much...

But then, Ashlyn pressed her face against his chest, hugging her stuffed bunny. A few minutes later, she had fallen asleep. Her lips were slightly ajar, but she was still clutching onto Ranon’s shirt.

In the end, Ranon slept as well. He was drained...

***

"He still doesn’t open the door?" Laurel asked Renna. It was already night, and the two of them had skipped lunch.

"No." Renna shook her head. "I have knocked a few times, but he didn’t open the door," she said in a concerned tone.

"Don’t you have a spare key here?" Laurel was annoyed with Ranon. He should get himself together. She knew that he was grieving, but it was not an excuse to abandon his child. And now, he acted this way.

"No. I don’t have the spare key for this place. We just moved here."

They moved here because Ranon had trashed their old place. He couldn’t stay there because the place held so many memories of Hazel. But then, he couldn’t bring himself to move away either, because he refused to forget every little thing about her, even though it put him through another agony.

"What should we do now?" Renna had cooked a few meals because Ashlyn had been very difficult to feed, and she thought that with Ranon here, it would improve the little girl’s appetite.

Not only had her appetite been affected, but Ashlyn had also been having trouble sleeping. She would wake up in the middle of the night and cry. She would stay awake and cry the whole night until morning.

Therefore, Laurel or Renna would sleep with her.

However, the father and daughter had been holed up in the room since morning.

"Ranon!" Laurel’s patience had run very thin; she no longer knocked on the door but kicked it. "Get out! Do you want to starve yourself and your daughter?! I don’t care about you! Open the door. We need to feed Ashlyn!"

And when there was no answer from inside, Laurel grunted and turned around to get those men who had been guarding the place. She would ask them to tear down the door.

But thankfully, before Laurel could go through with her plan, the door was opened and Ranon appeared. His brows furrowed. He had just woken up, but Ashlyn was still sleeping.

"Where is Ashlyn?" Laurel immediately pushed Ranon away to get to the little girl.

Ashlyn was still sleeping; she kicked the blanket away, and one of her legs was out.

Yet, when Laurel got closer to her, she stirred in her sleep and reached out to find her father. When she couldn’t find him, she started crying again.

Ranon then walked back and picked her up. She was still very heavy...

***

Today was Ashlyn’s birthday; she turned two years old.

Once again, they didn’t prepare a party for her. Ranon was not in the right mindset to prepare anything, and Ashlyn didn’t seem to be fond of having so many people around.

Therefore, they would only have dinner together with the people that she was used to interacting with.

Surprisingly, Ashlyn was fond of Cam. She would follow him around and be clingy with him if Ranon was not there.

"Why is she closer to him than to me?" Laurel was unhappy when Ashlyn was playing with Cam while they were preparing dinner.

"She knows good people," Ranon replied. He was sitting next to Laurel, fiddling with his pen because he had the urge to smoke and drink. It had been two days since he had drunk even a drop of alcohol or had a cigarette.

It was even harder than when he stopped smoking during Hazel’s pregnancy.

Occasionally, he would have an urge to lash out. Other times, he didn’t have the energy to lift a finger or get out of bed, but later on, he would go out to join Arthur and Desgar’s men to hunt down the McKennas’ people.

They were getting closer. It was only a matter of time before they could get their hands on Deryl and Kyle. According to their informant, the two of them now run the family, while Lyle’s whereabouts remain unknown.

"What do you mean? I am not a good person?" Laurel was fuming again. "It would be better if you were the mute one. Whatever you say pisses me off," Laurel grumbled.

She watched how Ashlyn would glance over toward Ranon from time to time, as if to make sure her father was still there.

"So, Greyson will come?"

"Hm."

"Logan and Dylan, too?"

"No."

Ranon would kill Logan the second he saw him. He was going to kill him anyway, but not now. Ranon was just... exhausted.

Daniel wouldn’t come either, since he had been under house arrest after Ranon broke his legs for good. Now, he didn’t need to pretend to use his wheelchair anymore. He could use it for real.

Meanwhile, they still had Issabella.

However, that woman was not right in the head. She couldn’t be of use as a bargaining chip to get Axel Duncan either, because apparently, Axel didn’t care about her.

It seemed Issabella was not the sister that Axel was fond of.

Ashlyn looked up from the board game she was playing with Cam. She then went to Ranon to hug him. She gave him kisses on both cheeks before returning to play with Cam again.

But Laurel was being petty. She hooked her finger on the collar of the little girl’s shirt and pulled her back.

"Don’t you want to give me kisses too?"

Ashlyn then kissed Laurel on the cheeks twice.

***

The dinner went uneventfully. The tension was palpable, especially when Greyson arrived. He was still adamant about taking Ashlyn away, and Laurel kept her eyes on him, just in case he would sneak the little girl away.

However, as they ate and Lucian started to tell a few jokes to lessen the tension, it went well enough. Ares arrived a little late because he needed to finish some documents first.

Usually, he would complain to Ranon since he neglected his duty, but this time, he didn’t voice it.

Later on, Desgar and Arthur also arrived, and so did the twins and their brother. It was quite lively, and even though this place was not as big as the penthouse, it was enough to accommodate all of them.

Close to nine, Ashlyn had yawned, and Ranon carried her up to put her to bed. She still felt very heavy for him...

"I will not leave," Ranon said, because his daughter gripped his front shirt tightly; she refused to be put down.

This became something normal now that Ashlyn would be like this when she was about to sleep.

In the end, as usual, Ranon would sit her on his lap, and she would sleep, pressing her face against his chest as Ranon patted her back.

When Ashlyn had fallen asleep, Ranon would put her down. But this time, before he could do that, Greyson entered the room.

"She is sleeping; we will talk outside." Ranon glared at Greyson. Ashlyn would become very clingy if she woke up.

Once Ranon had tucked Ashlyn in, he walked outside with Greyson, who followed him after he stared at his granddaughter for a long moment.

Ranon took him to the balcony, while the other people started drinking.

"What do you want to say?"

"My offer is still valid. Let me take care of Ashlyn." Greyson didn’t make a demand this time, but he gave Ranon a reasonable thing to think about. "I know how Ashlyn resembles Hazel so much, and every time you see her, you will see Hazel in her. The same thing happens to me."