Desire Me If You Can [Novel] - Chapter 43

Suddenly, the conversation veered off in an unexpected direction, and Dane cut the child off before he could continue. Once the child stopped talking, Dane frowned and spoke again.
“Tell me more about your friend. So, you haven’t seen him for a few days?”
“Yes.”
The child nodded and replied.
“I told the adults, but no one cares. But you’re a firefighter, so you’ll listen to me, right? You’ll find my friend, won’t you?”
The child asked for help from the “firefighter,” just like he had been taught in school.
“…Ha.”
Filled with trust and hope in his bright, shining eyes, Dane sighed deeply as he looked up at the sky. “So.”
He blinked a few times, then lowered his head. His eyes were clearly different from before as he looked at the child.
“Where does your friend live? Lead the way.”
“Yes!”
The excited child ran ahead. Dane chased after him and asked.
“What’s your friend’s name? You need to tell me the name!”
The child kept running but turned around to answer.
“Santiano! Santiano Domingo!”
“Damn,”
With his long legs, Dane quickly caught up to the child in just two steps. Without stopping, he grabbed the back of the child’s neck and lifted him, carrying him under his arm as he kept running.
“So, where is it?”
“Right here!”
Following the child’s direction, Dane immediately turned. Before long, the sky started to darken, and raindrops began to fall.
Faint sounds could be heard. Santiano, lying helplessly on the ground, flinched. He had been unable to drink a single drop of water for days and was completely exhausted. In the end, he had used every last ounce of his strength to call for help, but the result was disastrous. He had barely believed he could escape, but the man he thought would save him had instead jumped in here himself.
It was impossible for Santiano to push the door open with his own strength. Grayson had no intention of helping him escape. All that remained was despair.
Grayson, who had been lying next to Santiano holding his hand, opened his eyes. He, too, had heard the sound. The irregular noises that had been faintly heard began to grow more frequent. It seemed like it was raining.
How strange, rain in California.
Now that he thought about it, there had been an unusual weather event during a winter a while ago, where heavy rain had lasted for days. When was that season again?
After briefly recalling, he concluded that it was going to get cold. After all, the temperature was bound to drop. “Santiano.”
Grayson called the child’s name and rose to his feet.
“Santiano, aren’t you cold?”
The child didn’t respond. Grayson lightly shook Santiano’s shoulder as he lay there silently and spoke again. “Santiano, are you okay? Did you faint?”
He waited a moment as if expecting an answer, then spoke again.
“Is he dead?”
“Here!”
The child, hanging on Dane’s side, stretched out his hand and shouted. Dane quickly scanned the house the child pointed to. It appeared to be just an old, ordinary house. It did feel somewhat gloomy, though, perhaps due to the atmosphere.
“Hey, you can go in through that door!”
Following the child’s instructions, Dane rushed toward the side door but stopped briefly. If he charged in suddenly, he could be caught for trespassing. And what if the person inside had a gun?
Trusting only the child’s words and rushing in was too risky. If he got shot for trespassing, that would be the worst-case scenario. Getting shot in the stomach was something he definitely wanted to avoid.
“You stay here. Don’t move.”
After safely setting the child down, Dane first checked inside through the window. The dim, quiet interior gave no sign of life. Santiano might really be lying in bed, sick. It could also just be the child’s wild imagination.
While thinking this, Dane turned around. The spot where he had set the child down was now completely empty. Alarmed, he stood still and looked around, only to suddenly hear a voice calling out.
“Sir, sir!”
At the sound of the child whispering urgently, Dane immediately turned around and froze. The child had already opened the side door and was peeking out, him to come.
“You little…”
Dane barely held back the curse, the child having quickly disappeared inside. He had no choice but to run after the child who had snuck inside.
“You, I told you to stay put…”
He muttered in a low voice but the child didn’t seem to have heard him. With an anxious gesture, the child pointed to a large cellar door. As Dane’s gaze followed the child’s, the child shouted.
“It’s here! Santiano is here!”
Dane furrowed his brow. He could still turn back. Opening the basement door and checking inside would cross the line. If there was nothing there, the child would probably say they should enter the house instead.
“Santi, answer me! Santi, Santiano Domingo! I’ve come to save you!”
As he stood with a serious expression, Dane heard the child’s desperate voice.
Before he could say anything, a faint voice reached his ears.
“Alice? …Alice?”
The weak, strained voice sounded as though it was squeezing the life out of its owner. Upon hearing this, the child became even more desperate.
“Santi! It’s me, I’ve come! I’ll save you now! The firefighter is with me…”
“Step aside.”
After moving the anxious child aside, Dane grabbed the cellar door handle. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself and lifted it.
Creak. A heavy, ominous sound echoed through the air. At the same time, the surroundings suddenly became bright. A lightning strike illuminated the basement as brightly as midday. And Dane saw it. The child lying at the bottom of the stairs, and Grayson Miller looking up at him.
At that moment, a loud thunderclap rang out above them, and rain began pouring down.
Dane stood frozen, staring for a few seconds without saying a word.
What is this?
After blinking a couple of times, he mindlessly thought:
What am I looking at?
It seemed like Grayson was having the same thought, as he just kept looking up at Dane.
“What…”
Dane opened his mouth first.
“What are you doing here?”
It was such an unimaginable situation that he asked with an expression he rarely showed. It was that absurd. Had he been kidnapped and locked up? Who would lock up someone like him? How? No, the door wasn’t locked. If it was him, he could have easily opened the door from the basement, right? So, he locked himself in? Why?
But he didn’t dwell on it for long. Alice suddenly screamed and ran into the basement.
“Santi, Santi! Get up! I’ve come!”
Dane felt the cold rain hit his face. The rain had now fully started pouring down. Dane snapped out of it, hurriedly ran down the stairs, and scooped up the child lying on the floor. There was no time to ask Grayson anything, question him, or even beat him if necessary-he could do all of that later. The priority was the child’s safety.
“Captain, it’s an emergency. We found a child lying unconscious. Yes, it seems like abuse. The child is still conscious, but very weak. We need to get him to the hospital first…”
Speaking quickly over the radio as he practically ran, Alice sprinted behind him, trying to keep up. Left behind, Grayson stared up at the wide-open door, standing there in the pouring rain.
“Aah…”
Grayson muttered to himself with a sigh.
“This is going to get me in trouble.”