When the Contract Marriage Ended, He Stayed

###Chapter 113: The Truth Behind Marcus Xavier’s Death

"The Truth Behind Marcus Xavier’s Death." Six large words appeared before Hazel Hawthorne, and her mind went blank. Marcus Xavier’s death had been the talk of the entire city back then. She remembered that even though she was just a child, she had heard a lot about him from her parents.

She knew Marcus Xavier was Aiden Xavier’s father and that he had died mysteriously in a suburban villa when Aiden was fifteen.

The reason his death was described as "mysterious" was that when Marcus Xavier’s body was discovered, he was dressed in women’s clothing, sitting at his desk with a pen in his hand. Besides a mirror, there was nothing else on the desk.

Nothing in the room appeared to have been disturbed. After a lengthy investigation, the police could only rule Marcus Xavier’s death a suicide, and they concluded that his wearing women’s clothing meant he had a cross-dressing fetish.

Hazel Hawthorne wanted to open the file. She was simply too curious. Based on her few memories of seeing Marcus Xavier as a child, she had never believed he had a cross-dressing fetish. Deep down, she didn’t trust the police’s judgment from all those years ago.

However, because Marcus Xavier was wearing women’s clothes when he died, he was branded a pervert by the public. Unable to bear the scandal, Fiona Forrest and the Xavier Family stopped speaking about the matter publicly. Later on, it seemed something had happened to Aiden Xavier as well, and after that, few people ever mentioned the Xaviers’ affairs.

If she hadn’t seen Marcus Xavier’s name, Hazel Hawthorne wouldn’t have suddenly recalled these past events.

After waiting for Aiden Xavier for a long time, Hazel Hawthorne, on a strange impulse, started reading the file on the truth behind Marcus Xavier’s death. Who would have thought she’d become so engrossed that she didn’t even notice when Aiden entered the office? She remained completely absorbed until a soft cough from him jolted her back to her senses.

Lifting her eyes to see Aiden Xavier suddenly standing beside her, Hazel Hawthorne felt like she’d been caught red-handed. She immediately lowered her gaze, not daring to meet his eyes. Her own darted around nervously as she stammered, "When did you get in?"

"I’ve been here for a little while, but you looked so focused that I didn’t want to disturb you." Aiden Xavier calmly gathered the file from the desk, acting as if nothing was wrong. He didn’t seem to hold it against Hazel, nor did he question why she was looking at his things without permission.

Hazel Hawthorne shot to her feet. Staring at Aiden Xavier’s back, she knew she shouldn’t have been secretly reading the file on Marcus Xavier’s death. His death had not only had a terrible impact on the Xavier Family but had also dealt an emotional blow to Aiden himself.

Hazel knew that in Aiden Xavier’s heart, he had always idolized his father, Marcus Xavier. Discovering that his father had committed suicide while wearing women’s clothing must have been a devastating shock to him.

Hazel wanted to explain herself, but felt that would just be drawing attention to her mistake. She wanted to apologize, but since Aiden was pretending he hadn’t noticed anything, she didn’t know how to begin. So she just stared at his back, lost in thought.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to look at it just now." After a long silence, Hazel finally took the initiative to apologize to Aiden. She expected him to lash out at her, but he simply put the file away and turned to face her.

There were no harsh words, no blame, and certainly no accusations directed at Hazel.

Aiden looked at the flustered Hazel and said gently, "You must have gotten bored waiting for so long."

’So it’s okay to look through things when you’re bored.’ That’s what Hazel understood him to mean. She looked at Aiden in disbelief. ’Is this the same Aiden Xavier I used to know?’

’Why has he suddenly become so gentle?’

’Oh my God, a gentle Aiden Xavier is even more intoxicating than the cold and ruthless one.’

Hazel wondered to herself, ’Has Aiden discovered the power of gentleness? Is that why he’s trying this gentle approach, so he can attract even more women to throw themselves at him?’

"Cut out those filthy thoughts. I’m not as disgusting as you think." One moment Aiden had been gentle, but the next his face was ashen as he glared at Hazel. The expression on her face had made her thoughts all too obvious.

He had shown her a little bit of gentleness, and her imagination had immediately run wild. Aiden was exasperated. ’It seems I can’t be too gentle with Hazel,’ he thought. ’She clearly can’t comprehend it, let alone accept it.’

"Aiden Xavier, you change your mood in the blink of an eye! I knew that gentleness was just an act. This is your true self. If you want to yell at me, just say so. Why beat around the bush and make me a nervous wreck? I know it was wrong of me to look at your things without permission..."

Aiden’s face was a blank mask. He gave Hazel a cool glance. "We’re going home."

Hazel had sincerely apologized, but not only did Aiden not appreciate it, he even gave her a nasty look. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Trailing behind him, she raised her hand and started shadowboxing at the back of his head, treating it like a punching bag.

But who could have guessed that Aiden would suddenly turn around? As fate would have it, Hazel’s fist froze right in front of his face, less than a few inches from the tip of his nose. If she’d been a fraction of a second slower, she would have punched him square in the face.

Hazel froze for several seconds, thoroughly frightened by Aiden’s icy, predatory gaze. Her reaction was a beat too slow. Belatedly, she pulled her hand back and hid it behind her. Steeling herself, she met his terrifying eyes and said in a small voice,

"I was just exercising. My arm got stiff from sitting so long."

"It looked to me like you wanted to punch me," Aiden said out of the blue. Hazel was caught completely off guard. She hadn’t expected him to call her out so directly. He was being unpredictable again, and her reactions always seemed to be a few beats too slow when she was around him.

"It seems you have quite a grudge against me!"

Hazel shook her head frantically. "Absolutely not."

Aiden let out two cold laughs and turned to walk into the elevator. Hazel followed at a cautious distance, not daring to make any more strange gestures at his back, since she never knew when he might suddenly turn around again.

Having been caught by Aiden once, Hazel immediately reined herself in.

Hazel was well aware of the danger of pulling a whisker from a tiger’s mouth; she wasn’t about to risk her life for a joke.

"That file from earlier, how much did you read?" Aiden got in the car and started the engine, his eyes not even glancing in Hazel’s direction. His tone was light, betraying no emotion, but Hazel still felt as if she were walking on thin ice.

She knew what Aiden was asking. Her mind raced, trying to come up with the perfect answer.

Aiden must have grown tired of waiting for her reply, because he couldn’t help but raise his voice and ask again. Startled, Hazel flinched and blurted out without thinking, "I read most of it."

Quickly, before Aiden could say anything, Hazel rushed to add, "Don’t worry! Even though I read most of it, I’ll never leak a single word of what I saw."

*****