By Zephyria 
twenty nine
Dane stared at the man across from him, his brow deeply furrowed. Joshua Bailey met his gaze with the same expression he had worn earlier. Dane blinked a couple of times, then opened his mouth a beat too late.
“There was something I wanted to say last time, but…”
“Thanks for your concern, but I get regular mental evaluations. I’m not crazy. Ashley Miller hired me.”
Joshua quickly blurted out the words first. Thanks to that, Dane could only shut his mouth and stare at him. It was then that he noticed something strange.
“Ashley Miller? That man?”
“Yeah.”
Joshua nodded and said,
“The Ashley Miller you know, Chase and Grayson’s Papa.”
Dane opened his mouth to speak, but only his lips moved. Dumbfounded, he blinked, then belatedly frowned at Joshua, one hand on his forehead.
“That man hired me protection? Why?”
“Of course, he’s worried about you.”
The more he heard, the more absurd it became. Seeing his scowling face as if urging him to continue, Joshua continued.
“He seems to think Grayson might hurt you. Anyway, he requested protection for you. I refused at first, but…”
Joshua narrowed his eyes and stared at Dane with suspicion.
“I had to come myself to find out what the hell is going on.”
“Why the hell would he think that? What would I and that bastard do, damn it!”
Joshua coldly retorted to Dane, who was repeating Joshua’s words and exploding with anger.
“How did I know you were here?”
Dane paused for a moment. Joshua still coldly added to him, who was only blinking at the unexpected point.
“The Miller Family has a secretarial team that manages the family’s affairs.”
“…So?”
When Dane asked after a pause, Joshua gave a simple answer.
“The employees working at Grayson’s mansion immediately reported to them that you had left. And they told me you were here.”
Dane suddenly had nothing to say. At this point, it was as if Joshua knew almost everything. He should be grateful that he didn’t grab Dane by the collar.
There was only one way to go about this.
“I swear, Grayson Miller and I have nothing to do with each other. We had sex, but that’s it. It’s all over now, all of it.”
Dane strongly asserted his innocence.
“Can’t you tell by the fact that I’m in this cheap hotel?”
That was too clear of an evidence. Joshua, who had long known that Dane’s wish was to catch a rich sucker and live off him, had no choice but to believe it.
“…Well, you are that kind of guy.”
Joshua reluctantly nodded and stroked his chin. If there really was something between Grayson and Dane, Dane would not have missed the opportunity. He could easily picture Dane floating on an air mattress in the huge pool in the garden, leisurely drinking beer and sunbathing.
To give that up and sleep alone with a cat in a dirty hotel with bugs crawling around and cracks in the walls, it just didn’t make sense.
“Okay, then. Let’s pretend nothing happened between you and Grayson.”
“Not pretend, nothing happened.”
“Anyway, Ashley Miller thinks you’re in danger.”
Joshua said, ignoring the stubbornly insistent words. He continued to speak to Dane, who frowned as if he didn’t like the reaction.
“No matter how you two broke up, we don’t know if Grayson accepted it willingly. Ashley Miller’s opinion was that if he didn’t accept it, the situation could become dangerous.”
“Grayson Miller might kill me?”
Dane twisted his lips and chuckled, but Joshua’s face remained expressionless. Feeling embarrassed for no reason, Dane scratched the back of his head and grumbled.
“Even so, does it make sense to guard me? Even if Grayson is a Dominant Alpha, he’s just a regular person…”
Dane stopped there. What he was about to say wasn’t exactly wrong. Anyway, Dane had received formal training in the military. He was a veteran who could subdue an opponent and take a life in an instant.
But Grayson’s strength could not be ignored. If he had really tried to subdue Dane, maybe…
“They’re incredibly strong, those guys.”
Joshua said, as if he had seen through Dane’s thoughts. When he paused at the quiet voice and raised his head, he met Joshua’s serious face.
“I know because I’ve fought Chase. That guy is also incredibly strong… He just didn’t use it properly because he didn’t have the technique, but these days he’s a bit much for me too.”
“You’re going to have bodyguards hanging around anyway, so why did you teach him self-defense?”
At Dane’s point, Joshua sighed and shook his head.
“Something like that happened. Anyway, that’s why I came all the way here in case something happened. I confirmed that he wasn’t nearby, but…”
He trailed off, sounding somehow uneasy. When Dane frowned, Joshua tilted his head and muttered.
“It’s strange, I sent Team leader to Grayson’s house? But he said the house was too quiet. He looked inside and said no one was there, so maybe they went to a party or something?”
Pheromone Party.
They thought of the same thing. It was a place that Dominant Alphas usually went to, and since he had broken up with Dane, there was no reason to avoid it.
“It must be time to release Pheromone. Or maybe he left to find a new love.”
At Dane’s indifferent words, Joshua stroked his chin and said.
“I guess so, maybe…?”
Dane looked at Joshua with a very annoyed expression. Seeing his expression, Joshua couldn’t doubt him any longer, so he finally nodded. But even so, something unknown kept squirming unpleasantly in one corner of his heart.
Desire Me if you can
Haa, haa.
Ezra rushed into the house, gasping for breath. The interior, where everyone was asleep, was as silent as death. Only his noisy breathing echoed eerily.
What have I done?
His heart was pounding and he couldn’t stand it. He rushed to the kitchen, turned on the faucet, and put his mouth to it. Only after gulping down the flowing water without even taking out a cup did he finally calm down a little. Ezra wiped his mouth with his arm and barely turned off the water.
I couldn’t help it, I really couldn’t help it…
He kept repeating the same words. He was holding a thick paper bag tightly in his arms. On the way back, Ezra found the paper bag that they had thrown into the back seat of his car. It contained the promised money. The moment he checked the wad of money, Ezra wanted to scream.
Bastards, bastards…! His heart was devastated by a mixture of humiliation and anger at the fact that they had laughed and mocked him to the end, and the relief that he had found the money. He belatedly teared up and quickly rubbed his eyes with his arms, then staggered across the living room.
When he went up to the second floor and checked Sandra’s sleeping face first, his heart became heavy again. Ezra stared at her gaunt face for a while, then turned and headed for the children’s room this time. The children, who couldn’t even imagine what their father had just done, were sleeping with innocent faces, tossing and turning in their beds. Tears welled up in his eyes when he saw his peaceful children’s faces. He covered his mouth with one hand and took a rough breath, then kissed each of them on the forehead before quietly trying to get out.
It was then that the object came into view. The bracelet that his daughter’s teddy bear was wearing. Ezra stared at the bracelet for a moment, which shone brightly even in the dim moonlight coming through the window.
No way, that’s impossible.
He shook his head and quietly left the room. It was too long of a night. He wanted to lie down in bed soon. He had to forget everything, completely.
Everything.