Chapter 92

Bang, crash, a series of loud noises echoed, scattering hazy dust. Leaving the ominous sounds following the explosion behind, Dane remained kneeling, unmoving. Grayson was the same. Only his eyes shook wildly, filled with longing.

It was only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity had passed.

Suddenly, Dane chuckled. Grayson paused at the sight of his face, twisted in a wry, dumbfounded smile. The moment he felt an ominous feeling, Dane flicked Grayson’s cheek with his second finger, as if playing a prank, narrowing his eyes as he looked into Grayson’s eyes.

“You say such cute things.”

At the light tone, Grayson was forced to admit that Dane hadn’t taken his confession seriously at all. He had spoken with all his sincerity, truly.

Even now, his heart was beating so fiercely, there was no lie in it.

“Dane.”

“Ah.”

When he called his name urgently, Dane suddenly exclaimed as if something had occurred to him. Grayson paused, and Dane looked at him searchingly with a frown.

“Do you happen to know a woman named Larien?”

Grayson didn’t react immediately. He stared blankly into Dane’s eyes before opening his mouth.

“Ah.”

His reaction, just a single word, the same exclamation as Dane’s earlier, made Dane’s eyebrows slowly rise. Grayson subtly averted his gaze, but he knew very well that it wouldn’t end vaguely like this.

“Grayson Miller.”

Soon, as if seeing right through him, Dane called his name. Even that alone, the low voice was a stronger threat to the man who had just confessed his love than a hundred words could have been. Grayson, who had been stubbornly avoiding his gaze with a troubled expression, finally turned his eyes back as if he had made up his mind. Soon after, he put on his usual bright smile.

“You met my sisterrrr. How does she seem to be doing? Was she doing well?”

Dane wordlessly raised his tightly clenched fist, as if to smash his face to a pulp with it. After confirming that Grayson’s lips were drooping as he glanced down at the fist, Dane opened his mouth.

“Confess everything. What happened?”

At the stern tone, as if he wouldn’t be forgiven for even the slightest lie, Grayson scratched his cheek and then sighed.

“I just did a little background check on that woman.”

“That woman?”

Grayson replied shortly at Dane’s frown.

“Sabrina Woods.”

“Huh.”

Dane let out an exclamation as if he was dumbfounded. Grayson immediately protested.

“There’s no way that woman could be pregnant with your child. I was worried you might be fooled by a scammer.”

At the reaction as if he was wronged, Dane was dumbfounded, but he held back and silently urged him to continue. Grayson continued to speak with a still dissatisfied expression.

“When I did a background check, Larien was among the people she had been in contact with recently…”

“You contacted your sister and told her the hospital, right? On the very day I agreed to go with Sabrina?”

Unable to bear it, Dane interrupted, and Grayson turned his head away with a sulky look. This bastard, after being told he was pretty. Dane clenched his fist again, but he couldn’t bring himself to hit him. After all, this guy was the savior who saved Darling’s life.

Besides, perhaps…

The suspicion that Grayson Miller might have been abused still lingered in his heart. Could his other siblings have grown up in the same environment?

“I heard Larien is wanted. It seems like you’re in contact with her.”

Muttering to himself at the thought that there might be a sense of kinship between siblings who share the same pain, Grayson turned his gaze back to Dane.

“No, not at all.”

Dane paused and looked at him. As if asking how he did it then.

“You know, all of our family members have tracking devices on their bodies.”

Grayson pointed out the fact that he had been absentmindedly forgetting. Ah, he continued, seeing Dane inwardly realize.

“It’s easy to find out Larien’s location. I just asked the secretary team to deliver a message. There’s a separate secretary team dedicated to these minor tasks…”

Then, even if she was wanted nationwide, she could be arrested right away, couldn’t she? Dane suddenly thought, but then changed his mind. No one would report their own family.

Seeing Dane speechless at the unexpected scale, Grayson suddenly grinned. The moment Dane stepped back warily, he said nonchalantly.

“Larien is greedy, so she never lets go of someone she has her eye on. Especially if they’re pregnant, I thought she would definitely show up.”

“…Haa.”

Dane sighed involuntarily. It was really tangled up messily. He had seen two Dominant Alphas, whom most people would never see in their lifetime, and they were both Millers. Now, including the Millers he knew through acquaintances, there were three of them. How did so many Millers end up around him?

He rubbed his face with one hand, glanced into the distance for a moment, and then shook off his thoughts. Soon after, Dane stood up and looked down at Grayson.

“If something like that happens again, tell me first, instead of plotting behind my back.”

Grayson followed suit and stood up at the warning, pointing at him with his second finger, and looked down at Dane with a frown.

“I was trying to help.”

“I’m going to ask you sincerely, have people ever been happy when you helped them?”

“Of course. Everyone liked it.”

“There’s no way, I told you not to lie, right?”

Dane’s position was firm. Grayson closed his mouth with a still dissatisfied expression. This bastard lies if you let your guard down. Dane took a breath and exhaled, then warned him one last time.

“Just do what you’re told. Don’t help others on your own, got it?”

Dane waited as if asking for an answer, but Grayson stubbornly kept his mouth shut. There was no need to waste time, so he just turned around, but after walking a few steps, Grayson called out to him from behind.

“I told you I like you. Why aren’t you answering that?”

At the dissatisfied tone, Dane tilted his head back to look at the sky and sighed again.

“Pretty.”

Dane turned around and sneered at Grayson.

“Do you think you’re the first person to confess to me?”

He sneered as he watched the expression disappear from Grayson’s face.

“Has no one ever asked me to marry them?”

Grayson was silent this time as well. Dane felt a momentary pang of sympathy for him. Even while thinking it was a ridiculous emotion, he couldn’t deny that he felt a brief moment of regret and pity. It was forbidden to weaken at times like this. If he wasn’t going to accept him anyway, it was better to reject him coldly, as he had always done.

…But Darling.

None of those who had confessed to him so far had risked their lives for Dane’s poor cat. In that respect, Dane couldn’t help but be weak towards Grayson.

After hesitating for a moment, he let out a short sigh and rubbed his forehead with one hand. Grayson stood silently, watching his emotional turmoil. He couldn’t understand with his heart, but he understood with his head, what kind of torment was making Dane’s mind so complicated right now. Because he was analyzing Dane’s every move, mobilizing all the knowledge he had learned.

Dane finally opened his mouth as if he had decided what to say.

“Miller, I have no intention of dating anyone, including you. So just because you confessed doesn’t mean anything will change for me. I’m grateful for what you did for Darling, but that’s it. Don’t expect anything more.”

Wasn’t this cold enough, yet careful not to hurt him as much as possible? This situation itself was so special to Dane. He had never been so considerate of someone who had confessed to him before.

But the other party was Grayson Miller.

“How about we try dating for three months as a trial?”