Hazel had to walk toward the other car. With the door open and no chance to escape, she had no other option but to get in. She had hardly gotten into the car when the door slammed shut, and she heard a gunshot.
Then there was a confused burst of gunfire, mixed with an angry query, "Who are you? How did you sneak in?!"
Hazel was in shock and tried to hide in the car. The driver's door flew open, and a man grabbed the driver by his jacket and threw him out. He quickly sat in the driver's seat and slammed on the gas, the car rushed away like an arrow.
Another shot rang out, but they were too far away.
"Hold tight!" The man's voice was cold.
Hazel clutched the handle of the car and stared blankly at the man in the driver's seat.
He was the one who had forced her to get into the car with a gun, and she was quite sure she didn't know him, but he saved her, for now.
Cars roared up behind him, and the man slammed on the gas again to shake off them. He was having a hard time getting rid of them, but they were at least a few car lengths behind them.
"Who are you?" Hazel came to her senses and questioned the man.
"I am James Howard."
Just when she thought he wouldn't answer, the man told her his name truthfully. She was stunned for a moment before she asked. "Do we know each other?"
She looked closely at James, whose face was very angular and solemn but was somehow reassuring, and that kind of reassurance was typical of a soldier or a policeman. Hazel had often been in contact with the police, but his fierce temperament and killing intent were not what the police would train for.
"No," said James in a deep tone.
"Then why did you save me?" Hazel looked at him warily. "Or are you not here to save me?"
Instead of answering, he looked straight ahead and asked, "Are you the Denmark couple's daughter?"
"Who told you that?" She was more alert. Sure enough, as Isaac said, when her story came to light, both the right people and the wrong people would know.
But which side did James belong to?
"Aunt Jennie," he answered. Aunt Jennie? Hazel was in a daze. Jennie was there when she revealed her identity, and she seemed to have something to say but choked it back.
However, since Jennie had told him, at least the man was credible. Suddenly, something occurred to her, and she was a little amazed. "You're a kid from the orphanage, too?"
"Yes." He nodded.
"Do you also know Joshua?" There was a touch of joy on her face.
"It's hard not to know a hypocrite like that." He sneered, and his voice was full of contempt.
She frowned in disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, and her alertness rose. "You aren't saving me because you are friends with Joshua?"
"I would not dare to have that kind of friend!" His cool face suddenly softened. "I'm doing it for your biological parents."
She was in a trance. She had heard Joshua repeatedly mention that her biological parents were very kind, but only at this moment did she feel the depth of how much good karma they had planted. But why did two people who were so good have to go through so many tribulations in their life? With that in mind, she was a little dispirited.
Then she looked at James again, frowning despite herself.
James was a man who she could believe, or at least she sensed that he was harmless to her. However, he seemed to get a little carried away when she mentioned Joshua.
"Why do you hate Joshua Denmark?" she asked.
James frowned again. "You should stay away from him. He's not as simple as you think! I've been looking into the men going after you for a while now, and they're related to the Denmark Group!"
Denmark Group? Hazel's brows were knitted more tightly. It seemed that those who tried to kill her were from the Denmark Group. Were the directors so impatient?
"Are you doubting Joshua?" She was a bit shocked.
"I'm not going to doubt anybody," he said in a deep voice. "All I know is, if you have an accident, the biggest beneficiary is him! Just like your parents."
He shut up immediately and stopped talking.
She was in a daze because she had already figured out what he wanted to say, even if he didn't finish his sentence. Was James Howard actually suspecting Joshua was involved in her parents' death?
"That assumption is too horrible to even think about. Wasn't my parents' death an accident?" Her expression was very serious. "You've been with Joshua longer than I, haven't you? Don't you really know what kind of man he is? No matter what misunderstanding you have, I don't want you to think the worst of him like this!"
"I said," He looked a little impatient, "I just saw who benefited in the end. Besides, how can there be so many accidents in this world?"
She was tongue-tied because, according to him, Joshua really had something to do with it. What shocked her more was the meaning in his words. Was it her parents' death, in fact, not an accident?
If not, it was murder!
She suddenly felt a pain in her c.h.e.s.t. Her parents were so kind, but they had to endure the loss of their daughter, but how much did their enemies hate them? Enough to kill them?
Taking a deep breath, she said seriously, "I believe Joshua. If there's anything fishy about my parents' death, it's irrelevant to Joshua. I'll prove it to you!"
Since it may not have been an accident, of course, she had to trace the cause.
"Oh? Replying to Joshua's force?" Unexpectedly, he looked sideways at her. It was the first time that he looked at her after the rescue.
He still remembered Marcus Denmark and Cate Joseph in his mind. Hazel looked like them, her eyes looked a lot like her mother's. But the difference was that Cate's eyes were always tender while Hazel's were lively and playful as other girls.
"If I really rely on Joshua's force, you won't believe me, will you?" she said seriously, "If you think he's a suspect, I'll hide it from him and look it up myself. If I find out it has nothing to do with him, please don't continue to misunderstand him!"
He raised his brows in surprise. "Do you care what I think of him?"
"Joshua cares." She bit her lip slightly. "You were really good friends, weren't you? Joshua mentioned you, and I think he cares about you very much."