Desire Me If You Can [Novel] - Chapter 45

Grayson Miller’s voice trembled as he mumbled, seemingly in disbelief. “So, what I’m saying is,” he continued, “I took the punishment instead of Santiano. You opened the basement door yourself, so it’s all over now, right? The punishment’s been dealt with, and I opened the door to get the kid out. It’s done, everything’s finished. Happy ending!”
Grayson seemed genuinely happy, but no one shared in his joy.
“You son of a bitch, stop with the bullshit and tell me where my son is!”
Santiano’s father shouted in fury. Fortunately, he was so focused on Grayson that he didn’t seem to notice anything else. Seizing the opportunity, Dane silently closed the distance between himself and the man. The man, still unaware of Dane’s quiet  movements, shouted, waving a pistol.
“Tell me! Where did you hide my son? If you don’t speak, I’ll blow your head off!”
The situation was critical. Any mistake, and a bullet could be fired, and it could all be over.
It’s okay, Dane reassured himself. He had trained for situations like this thousands of times and had even faced them in real life more than once. A civilian was no different than a child in this kind of scenario. The only thing to watch out for was that gun… just the gun…
At that moment, Grayson locked eyes with Dane. Dane quickly placed his second finger to his lips.
“Shut up.”
It was the universal language of silence, but unfortunately, it didn’t work.
“Wait, you shouldn’t be here right now.”
Grayson suddenly said. Just as Dane’s face twisted in horror, Santiano’s father turned and pulled the trigger almost simultaneously.
“You son of a bitch!”
Dane yelled as he swung his fist. With a full swing, he didn’t hold back, and Grayson staggered significantly. If there hadn’t been a tree behind him to break his fall, he might have ended up awkwardly rolling on the ground. Blood streamed from his split lip as he wiped it with the back of his hand, and Dane continued to yell mercilessly. “What the hell were you doing there? You pulled the kid out, so why the hell were you still there?”
That wasn’t the only thing. Dane had nearly died because of this damn bastard. Why did he have to act like that there? Even a three-year-old would have caught onto that. If Santiano’s father hadn’t suddenly turned his body, causing the gun’s aim to waver just a little, Dane would have been choosing a coffin that matched his height by
now.
“You crazy bastard, if you don’t give me a reasonable explanation, you’re dead today! Got it? Huh?” Dane’s anger surged to the point of shouting. There was no way he would let this slide without a satisfactory explanation. Of course, even if the explanation was good enough, he was planning to half-kill him anyway.
Grayson opened his mouth as Dane roared like a wild beast.
“I was just helping Santiano. Why are you mad?”
Grayson frowned and looked down at Dane. For a moment, Dane’s fist, which was about to fly toward Grayson’s face, stopped in midair.
… What? This bastard.
Dane blinked, surprised. The crazy words were absurd, but the problem was that Grayson’s expression was too serious. It wasn’t some off-color joke or a ridiculous excuse. Grayson Miller was being serious. He genuinely believed that he helped the child. He even looked a bit aggrieved. Dane let out a breath of disbelief.
“Are you seriously saying that? Are you out of your mind?”
Dane spat out through gritted teeth, but all that returned was Grayson’s still furrowed brow. Now, Grayson tilted his head to the side, and Dane, gritting his teeth, snapped back.
“Why the hell were you there in the first place? Didn’t you hear why the kid was in the basement? Are you going to tell me you thought they were playing hide-and-seek?”
The idea that this man had been confined there due to some unavoidable circumstance was utter nonsense. He must have stayed there willingly, and if that was the case, there was only one thing to be heard here.
What the hell was he doing there while the kid was being abused?
Grayson blinked, looking confused as he shook his head.
“Of course not. Santiano said it, that he was being punished for doing something wrong.”
“And you left him there like that? You even went in there with him?”
Dane groaned through clenched teeth, and Grayson looked at him in confusion, his blue eyes darkening with anger. Dane had no need to hear any more. It was time for action, he thought, clenching his fist.
“He couldn’t come out because he was being punished, so I stayed with him.”
The fist Dane had been about to swing froze mid-air. He stood there, staring at Grayson, too stunned to speak. “…What?”
The question slipped out between them, and Grayson casually replied.
“I stayed with him because I thought he’d get bored alone. Isn’t that fine? What’s the problem?”
He seemed genuinely not to understand. Slowly lowering his hand, Dane spoke in disbelief.
“If you’d just brought the kid out from the start, wouldn’t that have ended everything? Why the hell did you have to stay there?”
Dane glared at Grayson’s face, waiting for more nonsensical ramblings. Grayson laughed, almost helplessly, as he answered.
“If I just walked out on my own, I’d get in more trouble. It wasn’t time yet, you see.”
“…What?”
Dane reacted the same way again. Grayson, seemingly unconcerned, added an explanation.
“The time, you know. When you’re being punished, there’s a set time. It’s better to just stick to it and wait it out than leave early and get into more trouble. If you stay for the full time, the punishment ends once it’s over.”
Having said that, Grayson looked down at Dane with a full smile. It was the same smiling face he always wore, but Dane stared at him, his expression confused and dazed as if he had been punched.
No way, it couldn’t be. Dane repeated to himself. I’m imagining all of this. There’s no way something like this could happen, this bastard is Miller. No, absolutely not…
“Ashley Miller abused you?”
Dane asked him suddenly. He didn’t even mean to, but the words came out before he could stop them, and he was shocked by his own words. What did I just say? How did that nonsense come out…
Grayson, still smiling, blinked at Dane, seemingly unfazed by the question.
“Abused me? Me? Did that happen?”
He stared at Dane as if he genuinely didn’t understand. Dane looked at him in silence, his face frozen. There was no sign of Grayson being flustered or playing it off. He truly thought that he was just punished and that it wasn’t abuse.
With such an innocent look on his face.
After a moment of silence, Dane slowly released his clenched fist, still speechless. His face was as stiff as it was in his mind, and he stared at Grayson. It wasn’t until a few more seconds passed that the words finally came out.
“So, back then, you wanted someone to be there with you?”