Broken Bond: Between Vices and Virtues (BL)
Chapter 163: Under watchful eyes

Chapter 163: Under watchful eyes

After eating lunch together, Knoa expressed boredom inside the unit.

Azrael, noticing Knox would sometimes lose in deep thoughts and stare blankly at his phone, understood that his father’s invitation weighed in his mind more heavily.

To let the omega think without any distraction, he took Knoa outside. They went to the nearest playground in their building.

Thankfully, there weren’t that many adults, but few children were playing. It was also fortunate that their new address wasn’t leaked in the media, and his father still thinks he was living in his mansion.

Several minutes later, while Azrael was sitting on the kiddie bench facing the slides and watching his child, a shadow loomed over him, occupying the colorful, and bouncy chair shaped like a butt next to him.

A hand reached out, holding a lollipop, giving Azrael one. He took it, but instead of unwrapping the candy, he pocketed it, thinking of giving it to Knoa later.

Without paying attention to the guy who sat next to him, Azrael asked directly, his eyes never leaving his son. "What is it? Did you discover something?"

Sandro made a popping sound when he took out the lollipop. He gulped first, then answered, "Yeah, man. It’s something involving your brother-in-law, so I’m not sure how to break this to you."

Sandro’s voice was laced with hesitation. Like Azrael, he watched Knoa who waved at him after meeting his eyes. The kid was lively and looked happy playing outside. He was probably getting bored staying at home for days.

"Athan Horace?"

Sandro turned to Azrael, sporting a baffled look, "Do you have another future brother-in-law?"

He received a chilling gaze from the man. Sandro grinned and replied, "Yeah. That man. He’s like a hawk, diving into everything he finds suspicious involving you and your father. I didn’t know about this before that time he visited your unit."

Sandro played with the candy and continued, "We gave our contact number to people living nearby the warehouses your father frequents, as well as the residences of the men caught by the police involving your boyfriend’s kidnapping. We asked them to call us if they ever saw someone visit those abandoned places.

"Yesterday, we received a call, not just from one of them, but six, to be exact," Sandro stared at Azrael and continued, "They said some men in black came and inspected the area, they also got questioned about the house’s owners. I asked them if they knew who those men were, but they only described their appearances."

Sandro fished a picture the size of a hand in his pocket and showed it to Azrael. The latter snatched the image and briefly glanced at it, before returning his gaze at his child.

Sandro added, "He’s working for the Horaces. Based on their visits and movements, it seemed like they were looking for someone involved in the kidnapping. Not only that, they were also digging into your father’s illegal businesses."

Azrael’s face was expressionless. He responded stoically, "It’s not surprising. They’ve been wanting to put my father behind bars. Do you think they were fooled that my father didn’t really have a hand in the abduction? They stopped pursuing him publicly because of that old man’s claims and blackmailing.

"Horace is probably searching for Philip," Azrael concluded, his head turned to the other side when Knoa chased the ball that rolled. His brows furrowed when he noticed a shadow on the ground behind the slides.

Sandro spoke again but Azrael lifted his hand to stop him. He then pointed at the tall shadow. Sandro’s face changed. Judging from the length of it, it was impossible that it belonged to a child even if the angle of the sun was calculated.

Moreover, a kid only hiding at the back of the house and not climbing the slides? It was suspicious. Azrael and Sandro were hidden from the shadow’s position, so the two could easily narrow their line of sight without getting found out.

"The shadow’s watching your son..." Sandro mumbled, alarmed. He rose but was pulled back down by Azrael. He gave the latter a questioning look, but Azrael just stood and pointed at his son.

"Stay here. Look after Knoa," Azrael ordered. He carefully and silently went over the slides’ house, approaching the shadow from behind. He was cautious, but he forgot that his own shadow was cast on the ground as well, so the stranger noticed it and quickly looked back.

Without wasting time, Azrael lunged at the man. His face was hidden by a black cap. Noticing some of the kid’s attention focusing on them, Azrael immediately locked the man’s head on his elbow, and dragged him behind the slides’ house, away from Knoa’s sight.

Sandro briefly glanced at them, and his lips curved crookedly when he witnessed how Azrael landed a hard blow in the stranger’s stomach after letting his neck go.

The stranger hit the metal climbers and parts of the slides shook from the impact. He grunted and tried to crawl away from Azrael, but the alpha mercilessly stepped on the stranger’s ankle with his heel, pressing it hard to the ground.

The stranger yelped.

Sandro quickly stood and stretched his body, yelping from his cracking bones. Azrael then understood that some people might have noticed them. He sat on top of the stranger, unbuckled his belt, and unhesitatingly tied it to his mouth.

The stranger struggled, but Azrael overpowered him. He yanked the man’s frontal hair and pulled it to him, then he ransacked his head about where he saw the guy.

The stranger gulped and mumbled something, but because his mouth was belted tightly, his words were incomprehensible. Azrael never bothered to loosen the belt since he finally recognized who the man was.

"Owen Mills..." the alpha muttered dangerously.

The man’s eyes widened in fear. His body trembled under the darkened gaze of the alpha looming over him. He breathed loudly and tried to speak clearly, but it seemed like his throat froze and his words were stranded on it, unable to come out successfully.

In the end, Owen Mills wriggled his pinned hands and used his index fingers to point at the apartment building where Azrael and Knox’s unit were.

Azrael halted. His eyes widened. In the blink of an eye, his figure disappeared above the stranger and he was seen running back to the building. Sandro rushed to Owen who quickly sat up and dared to run away.

Sandro kicked him in the head, making him lose consciousness. He then ran to Knoa who was startled by his father’s sudden bolt. He carried the frightened kid and followed Azrael.