Chapter 66

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- Dane! Are you okay? What happened?

"Haaaa."

Upon hearing Joshua's voice, Dane first let out a deep sigh. After discarding the now useless parachute and walking for hours on the desolate gravel road, he had arrived at the villa and immediately searched the interior thoroughly, surprisingly finding a telephone. Seeing that there was even a computer that could use the internet, he felt so dumbfounded that his energy drained away.

Anyway, the first thing to do was predetermined. When he called Joshua, he heard his voice after quite a long ring. Though Joshua seemed wary of the unknown number at first, his attitude immediately changed when he heard Dane's voice.

"There was an accident. ...Sorry, I let my guard down."

When Dane apologized in a voice drained of energy, Joshua said, "It's okay," and continued.

- It was my fault too for putting everything on you alone. I should have been more careful since Greyson is not an easy opponent... Anyway, it's fine since you're safe. I'll come get you soon.

"The location here is..."

- It's okay, you don't need to tell me. I know.

Joshua spoke before Dane could finish.

"You know?"

When Dane asked in puzzlement, Joshua readily answered.

- Yes, Greyson is there, isn't he?

"So?"

To Dane's repeated question, Joshua cleared his throat with an "umm" and then confessed.

- There are trackers inside the bodies of the Miller family members.

What was this now? As Dane remained silent in astonishment, Joshua continued.

- So if something happens, like now when contact is lost, they use the trackers to find them. They're connected to satellites, so they can be found even if they're underwater.

"Huh..."

The rich really do all sorts of things.

Dane thought, but anyway, it wasn't a bad situation for him. After exhaling a "whew," releasing the breath he had been holding, Dane changed his tone and asked.

"Alright, then how long will it take?"

- I was already preparing. But it's getting dark soon, so it's difficult to leave now. Just wait one day, I'll come as soon as it's light.

"...Alright."

The fact that he had to spend the night with Greyson Miller wasn't particularly welcome, but he had no choice. After a brief exchange of greetings, Dane hung up.

When he came out, the living room was empty. Standing alone in the silence, he suddenly felt a burning in his stomach. He soon began searching the house for food.

The inside of the villa was quite pleasant, as Greyson had said. It seemed to be regularly maintained as there was hardly any dust, and he even thought that if conditions allowed, it wouldn't be bad to spend a quiet vacation here.

If conditions allowed, that is.

Dane's fantasy was quickly shattered when he opened the refrigerator. Inside was just a single loaf of bread with an unknown expiration date. After taking out the bread and examining it briefly, Dane opened the bag and smelled it, but didn't detect anything unusual.

As he was looking at it with suspicious eyes, he sensed someone behind him. Greyson, who had finished showering, was walking toward him wearing a bathrobe and rubbing his wet hair with a towel.

"...What?"

Greyson hesitated, perhaps sensing something dubious in Dane's gaze. Dane, who had been silently looking at his face, held out the bread he was holding. To Greyson, who alternately looked at the bread and Dane's face as if to ask what this was, Dane said.

"Eat it."

"What is this?"

To Greyson, who was looking with a gaze full of suspicion, Dane still answered bluntly.

"It's bread."

"But why are you telling me to eat it?"

Greyson still hadn't let go of his suspicion. Is it because he deceives others so much that he thinks others will do the same to him? Dane thought. Well, he should have lived kindly from the beginning.

"It looks fine, but I don't know what's inside. So I'm telling you to try it."

Greyson looked down at Dane, dumbfounded.

"Do I look like a guinea pig to you?"

Despite the sarcastic remark born of disbelief, Dane didn't care at all.

"You won't die even if you eat this kind of thing, so try it, hurry."

"...Ha."

Greyson pressed his forehead with one hand and looked in another direction. He opened his mouth to refute Dane's words point by point, but seeing Dane holding out the bread toward him, he soon felt defeated. What was the use of all this?

Greyson silently stared at Dane, then took the bread as if snatching it and bit into it, chewing vigorously. After devouring half of it at once, Greyson silently returned the remaining bread, and only then did Dane bring it to his mouth.

"......"

After taking a bite, Greyson shrugged at the gaze that looked at him with furrowed brows.

"I didn't say it was delicious."

Dane glared at him once more before reluctantly eating all the remaining bread with a distorted face.

How did it come to this?

Belated regret washed over him, but he already knew the reason. It was because he had stupidly fallen for it. For that bastard's third-rate acting.

Looking at Greyson's shameless face, he felt his blood boil again.

Because you're worth it.

Joshua's words suddenly came to mind. That would have included the belief that Dane wouldn't fall for Greyson. Dane, feeling an uncommon sense of self-loathing, instead directed his arrow at the root cause.

"I didn't know you could pretend to be in pain so well. Maybe the one who should have been an actor wasn't Chase Miller but you?"

Dane couldn't contain his anger and sneered. Greyson's face bore his usual relaxed smile.

"I've been told I have good acting skills, but that doesn't mean I can change my complexion. There was just a little help."

"Help?"

When Dane asked with a frown, Greyson readily answered.

"I took a drug. A specially made drug. It only works on phenotypes like mine."

Dane blinked upon hearing this and asked half-doubtingly.

"You deliberately take a drug that makes your condition worse?"

"Yes. When I take that drug, my insides really turn over and I feel like I'm going to die. But the effect only lasts about 10 minutes."

Greyson laughed out loud again, "Haha." What was so funny? Dane looked at him, dumbfounded.

Extreme Alphas are not easily affected by drugs or alcohol. Since they need to consume an enormous amount to see any effect, it's almost meaningless. If there's a drug that causes abnormalities in them when they take it, what would it do to ordinary people?

It wouldn't end this simply.

"You carry such a drug around?"

"I take it when I'm in a bad situation. It gets better after about 10 minutes."

Greyson said with a grin this time too. A bad situation. He must mean cases like now, such as kidnapping.

<Don't you know why extreme Alphas always have bodyguards? Do you know how many criminal organizations specifically target those bastards!>

Wilkins's words suddenly came to mind. Perhaps it's a drug they carry around in preparation for such times? For example, to make criminals let their guard down...

In fact, Dane had been deceived too, so he had nothing to say. That's a damn effective drug. Just as he was inwardly cursing, something flashed through Dane's mind.

"Is that also why you know how to undo handcuffs?"

To Dane, who asked with a frowning face, Greyson raised the corner of his mouth.

"I've learned various things in preparation for contingencies."

Dane pondered those words for a moment and then asked with a suspicious expression.

"Is that also why you're good with sticks?"

"That's right, my father taught me directly."

Then Greyson tilted his head as if curious.

"How did you know? Did Bailey tell you?"

"Well..."

Feeling uncomfortable as if they had shared gossip, Dane trailed off but soon changed the subject and asked.

"You weren't hit by Ashley Miller?"

"Papa? Me?"

Greyson put on an exaggeratedly surprised expression. Suddenly, Dane noticed the cause of the strange sense of dissonance he had been feeling from him. His emotional expressions were sometimes excessive. It had unconsciously bothered him, but he hadn't realized it and had passed it by, but suddenly it caught his eye.

As if he were imitating exactly what he had learned.

"Papa doesn't hit us. I was strangled when I was very young, but that was only once."

At Greyson's calm words, Dane quietly looked at his face.

"What you just said, is it true?"

To the quietly asked question, Greyson stretched the corners of his mouth and smiled brightly.

"No."

"You fucking bastard."

I thought so. Dane cursed at him. He felt pathetic for almost being fooled again. Already having been deceived once and ended up like this.

He immediately turned around and went into the bedroom. As soon as he lay down on the bed, fatigue washed over his entire body. The long day was finally ending. He soon fell asleep with a deep sigh, hoping that nothing more would happen.

And that night, something unexpected occurred.