By Zephyria 
“Ezra……!”
A frail voice broke the silence. Dane and Joshua turned their heads to see a gaunt woman, worn out from fighting illness, leaning against the open front door, watching them.
“Sandra! What are you doing? I told you to go back to your room……!”
A flustered Ezra shouted urgently, hurrying toward her. Sandra wasn’t the only one there. A startled little girl, clutching a teddy bear as big as herself, was hiding behind her legs. Ezra looked back and forth between them, at a loss for words.
“It’s nothing, go back inside. You need to rest, quickly……”
“Ezra.”
He tried to rush her back to her room, but Sandra wouldn’t listen.
“Why is Dane here? At this hour. And why are you crying?”
“N-no, I’m not crying. Dane just, well, he was passing by. Right, Dane?”
He shouted urgently, seeking confirmation, but Dane didn’t answer. Ezra’s face quickly crumpled at his colleague’s cold reaction.
“Ezra.”
Sandra called his name again.
“Tell me the truth, did you do something you shouldn’t have? Because of my hospital bills?”
“No! No, no…….”
Ezra denied it vehemently, but his voice soon trailed off weakly. A heavy silence descended behind him as he covered his face with one hand. In the stillness, so quiet it felt like even breathing had stopped, they stood there blankly for a long moment.
“Honey.”
Sandra spoke softly to Ezra, who had begun to sob, his shoulders shaking. She gently stroked her husband’s arm and whispered.
“It’s okay. Don’t cry, it’s okay.”
As she gently embraced Ezra, he began to cry out loud. Sandra stroked his back as if to comfort him. With a pained expression, she kissed Ezra’s cheek and head, then swallowed hard, as if forcing something down, before speaking.
“Let’s give Dane what he wants.”
Ezra didn’t move for a moment. After a few more seconds of silence, he slowly pulled away.
“Those bastards might kill you and our children.”
Sandra said in a trembling voice.
“That’s why we need to tell the police and get protection. And……”
She added after a pause.
“If this happened because of me, then I’m responsible too. I have to pay the price.”
Ezra quickly turned pale. But Sandra was resolute, as if she had already made up her mind. She then turned her gaze to Dane and said.
“Protect the children, Dane. These kids are innocent.”
At Sandra’s plea, Joshua, who had been watching until then, spoke up.
“The Miller family will protect them, don’t worry.”
And he smiled at the child, as if to reassure her. Despite him being a stranger, the child quickly dropped her guard and smiled back. Joshua, still wearing a neat smile, subtly shifted his gaze to the teddy bear the child was holding. He narrowed his eyes and stared at it for a moment.
“We have no intention of harming your family.”
Dane spoke.
“Ezra has to pay for what he did, but he’d better speak quickly. The later it gets and the greater the damage, the greater the price he’ll have to pay.”
“Ezra.”
Sandra called her husband again after hearing Dane’s words.
“Do the right thing, honey.”
Her smiling face was nonetheless full of concern and bitterness for him. In the end, Ezra had no choice but to nod.
Desire Me if you can
While Ezra took the child and his wife back into the house and came out again, Dane and Joshua stood outside, waiting for him. Dane, who had taken out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, offered one to Joshua, but he shook his head in refusal.
“You said you needed money, so why didn’t you sell that necklace? Is it a precious heirloom or something?”
Joshua frowned as he spoke, and Dane, who had lit his cigarette, blew out a puff of smoke before asking.
“Necklace?”
“The necklace the teddy bear was wearing.”
Joshua pointed to the house with his finger and continued.
“I know that brand a little, and I’ve seen that necklace before. It’s probably worth around $400,000.”
His tone was calm, but Dane immediately coughed violently. He coughed and his shoulders shook, and he belatedly turned to Joshua and asked in a raised voice.
“W-what, how much?”
“400,000.”
Joshua repeated the same words as if it were nothing. As if it were an everyday occurrence for him. Dane blinked at him in disbelief.
“You’ve really made it…… Congratulations. Wow, I never would have guessed…….”
Joshua smiled at his friend, who was exclaiming in admiration.
“Thanks, but it’s just that the person I happened to fall in love with was rich. It’s not like I lucked out and found a sucker.”
His tone was calm, but Dane clearly saw a thin vein throbbing in his temple. He smiled strangely and added mischievously.
“It’s even better because you love them and they’re a sucker. I’m jealous, so jealous.”
Joshua frowned at the hand patting his back as if he meant it. Of course, he wasn’t one to let it go.
“I heard Grayson pours it on once he falls for someone, why didn’t you leech off that bastard?”
Dane glanced sideways at him when he asked sarcastically, then chuckled. An awkward silence hung between them. Joshua was the first to speak.
“How should we call those bastards out?”
Dane blew out smoke again and spoke.
“Ezra has to figure it out.”
“I guess.”
Joshua readily agreed.
“He even called out that Grayson, so he’ll come up with something.”
Joshua closed his mouth and then frowned. Dane, who glanced at him, asked.
“What’s wrong?”
Joshua paused before speaking.
“What that bastard said earlier.”
Dane waited silently for him to continue. Joshua continued to speak.
“I understand everything else, more or less. Well, it’s a common story. How he called out Grayson too…… well, that’s not difficult. Anyway, they worked at the same company, and I understand everything…….”
“But? Hurry up and say it.”
Dane urged him impatiently. Joshua looked up at him with a frown and said.
“The one thing I don’t understand is why Grayson followed those bastards so obediently.”
Dane paused and looked at him. Joshua asked again.
“Why? Why did he follow those bastards so willingly? What did they threaten him with?”
The Grayson Miller that Joshua knew was definitely not that kind of man. Dane agreed with that. If there had been an attack and he had been assaulted, he would have used that as an excuse to beat the other party half to death. But why? Why?
Just then, Ezra opened the front door and came outside. Dane blew out a long stream of smoke and looked at him.
“We’ll have to hear it from him directly.”
Joshua nodded at his low voice.
“Yeah, that’s the only way.”
Desire Me if you can
Ezra was pacing anxiously around the car. Dane and Joshua were hiding in the roadside bushes, watching him.
“Do you think those bastards will really come?”
Dane answered Joshua’s question.
“If they don’t come, we’ll have to think of another way.”
There was no other way now. The news that Grayson had gone missing had already been delivered to Ashley Miller, and a group of people under his orders were already scouring all of California. There was only one reason why they hadn’t appeared in front of Ezra yet. It was because Joshua had insisted that it would be more efficient for Dane and him to move alone.
In fact, he was right. They were highly trained soldiers, and this kind of operation against civilians was, in a sense, trivial. No matter how much the kidnappers had honed their skills, they couldn’t compare to soldiers who had actually fought in combat.
But that was only until they found out the bastards’ hideout. Once they had assessed the situation, Joshua would immediately send information to the ‘team’. After that, all they had to do was buy time until the team arrived.
“……They’re here.”
Dane whispered in a low voice. And as he said, a car was approaching from afar, its headlights shining. After confirming that it was the same type of car that Ezra had mentioned, the two exchanged glances.
+sel8t add
4 billion won is about 500 million in Korean currency.