Chapter 158

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Whew.

Ezra stared at one wall with hazy eyes and let out a deep sigh. His mind was blank and nothing came to him. He habitually moved his hand to bring the glass to his mouth, then suddenly stopped. Only then noticing the empty glass, he cursed in a low voice.

As he tilted the bottle that was already nearly half empty, he suddenly felt a presence. Ezra, who had turned his head, froze in place. His gaunt-faced wife was standing leaning against the paneling.

"Sandra..."

Ezra was momentarily flustered and completely sobered up. When he hurriedly got up and approached, he saw shadows cast on her sunken cheeks, making her look even more haggard. His heart ached and he held back tears that seemed ready to pour out as he opened his mouth.

"Why did you come out? Do you need something? Should I get you some water?"

She shook her head at her husband who was hurriedly looking around.

"No, it's fine. You weren't sleeping, so I wondered if something was wrong..."

"Nothing's wrong, don't worry."

He readily said this and kissed her forehead, but Sandra still looked up at him with a worried expression.

Recently, her husband had been like this every night. He would pretend nothing was wrong, then after putting the children to bed and being left alone, he would often drink in the kitchen until he was drunk and fall asleep face-down on the table until morning. Sandra couldn't help but worry about Ezra's behavior.

"What's wrong? Ezra. Tell me too, is it because of money?"

"No, no, Sandra. It's not that."

"It is, that's exactly what it is. I'm sorry, because of me... I'll try asking my father one more time."

"No, don't. It's okay, Sandra. Really."

Sandra's mother had passed away early and her father had remarried, cutting off contact long ago. Even in such circumstances, she had barely mustered the courage to ask for help, but he had coldly refused. Instead, Sandra had only received a bunch of curses and cried for half a day. He couldn't let his wife, whose health was already poor, suffer such humiliation again.

"It's okay, Sandra. I can endure more."

Ezra said this while holding his wife tightly. But actually, Sandra's words weren't wrong. Ezra's family situation wasn't much different - he had been estranged from his parents for a long time, so the two only had each other in the world. So it was natural that they were even more precious to each other, but...

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock.

It was when he let out a short sigh. Suddenly startled by the sound of knocking on the front door, Ezra was shocked. Sandra, who was in his arms, also seemed to flinch. They looked at each other with puzzled faces. Who could it be at this hour?

"Go to the room."

After telling Sandra this, Ezra turned and left the kitchen. When he checked through the living room window to see who was standing outside the door, he was surprised. One of the two men was a familiar face. Seeing the incredibly tall red-haired man, he hurried to the front door in confusion. Ezra opened the locked door and stuck his head out.

"Dane, how did you come at this hour..."

Before he could finish speaking, Dane first grabbed his collar and pulled him. Before Ezra could figure out what was happening, he crashed into the wall with a thud and screamed. Then immediately Dane got in his face and spat out.

"What did you do to Greyson?"

31

At the sudden situation, Ezra immediately turned pale. Between his flustered panting breaths, a terrible smell of alcohol could be felt. Dane, whose brow was deeply furrowed, ground his teeth and spat out.

"Did you sell out Greyson somewhere and now you're just drinking? Ezra, I'm disappointed in you. I didn't know you were such trash."

"Se-sell out, no, no, that's not, I don't, don't know, anything, I don't know!"

Dane tightly grabbed the neck of Ezra, who was frantically stammering. Immediately his breath was cut off and painful groans flowed out. Ugh, gak, Joshua, who had been silently watching Ezra barely making sounds with his face red from blood rushing to it, opened his mouth.

"Go easy, Dane. If he loses consciousness, we'll just waste time."

The man with a cold voice and expression was more terrifying than Dane, who seemed angry to the top of his head. He checked the watch on his wrist and said in a chilly voice.

"Let go for a moment, he's going to faint."

At those words, Dane made a short "tsk" sound and released his grip. At the same time, Ezra collapsed to the floor.

"Gak, gaak, cough cough... gaak."

Dane looked down for a moment at him shaking his whole body and gasping roughly, then glanced at Joshua. When Joshua, who had been looking at his wristwatch, briefly nodded, Dane immediately grabbed Ezra by the scruff of the neck, lifted him up, and slammed him against the wall.

"Huk!"

Rubbing his head against the wall as he swallowed his breath and screamed, Dane growled in a low voice right behind him.

"Speak up, the more you drag this out, the rougher this side has to get."

"Le-let, let me go... ugh!"

Ezra struggled to break free, but being drunk and with Dane's tremendous strength, all he could do was writhe while rubbing his body against the wall. Joshua, who was watching, swept his fallen hair back behind his forehead and advised.

"There's no time. Let's just load him in the trunk."

"Wh-what?"

Surprised Ezra's eyes went wide. Joshua looked at him with an expressionless face and said.

"It'll be noisy if we make a fuss here, everyone's sleeping. We should be considerate of the neighbors."

He was speaking as if quite thoughtful, but his true intention was elsewhere. It would be troublesome if someone heard screaming and reported to the police. Noticing the hidden meaning and turning pale, Joshua added to Ezra in a deliberately kind tone.

"When you cut off fingers, even the bravest soldier screams from the pain."

His smiling face looked so fresh, but that made it even more chilling. Looking at the man's green eyes, Ezra thought he must be an extreme Alpha. How else could he say such horrible things so cheerfully? Like a California billboard with someone smiling while holding a freshly picked orange under bright sunshine.

"No, no! Please, spare me... no!"

As Dane lifted him up, Ezra screamed. Dane, glancing down at him struggling, said.

"He's noisy, I should knock him out."

"No, no! Wait! Wait!"

At the sight of him about to cover his nose and mouth, Ezra screamed, turning pale.

"I did it, I did it. I did it..."

He confessed while sobbing. Dane exchanged a brief look with Joshua, then put Ezra down. The two men stood straight and looked down at him with cold faces.

"Speak, what happened."

Between his sobs, Ezra began to stumblingly reveal what had happened. Starting from when a man approached him while he was worrying about money, to receiving money and luring Greyson out, and finally his last memory of Greyson being kidnapped in front of him.

Dane, who had been listening with a menacing face, let out an incredulous exclamation after he finished speaking.

"So you've been keeping your mouth shut all this time? As if nothing happened?"

"I was suffering too...!"

Ezra cried out sobbing.

"I, I was also constantly tormented by guilt. Even now I can't sleep, because of me... because of me, Miller..."

At the sight of the man lying on the floor crying like a child, Dane and Joshua were silent for a moment. Though they had somewhat expected this, knowing the reality was even more absurd. Dane pressed his forehead with one hand and spat out curses in a low voice. Joshua, who was watching from the side, stroked his chin with one hand and fell deep into thought.

Time passed again. They couldn't keep hesitating like this forever.

"Speak."

At Dane's rough voice, Ezra, who had been sobbing until then, stopped. Looking down at the swollen face of the grown man looking up with tears still welling, Dane ground his teeth.

"Tell me where those bastards are."

"I don't, don't know... really, I don't know."

Ezra repeatedly shook his head in denial.

"I just brought Miller to the place those guys told me to. And that day was the last... after that, we never contacted each other even once. Really."

He repeated the same words as if pleading to be believed. At those words, Dane frowned and came up with a solution.

"Then tell those bastards to come out."

Ezra's eyes went wide in shock. Dane continued threateningly.

"Say whatever you need to make those bastards come meet you. We'll handle the rest."

"No... no, no, that's!"

Ezra instantly turned pale and shook his head frantically.

"So-sorry, but if that happens, Sandra, my children will be in danger! Do you know how scary those bastards are? They know everything about me. If they find out I said even this much, those bastards definitely won't leave me alone. They might harm my children, my whole family!"

At Ezra's desperate wailing, Joshua, who had been silently watching until then, opened his mouth in a quiet voice.

"Do you think Ashley Miller will leave your children alone?"

At those words, Ezra froze completely. The residential area where darkness had fallen instantly became quiet. Joshua looked down at Ezra, who had become dazed as if his soul had left him, and gave an ultimatum.

"Choose. Will you keep your mouth shut and have those bastards kill you all, or confess now and have only you pay the price to Ashley Miller?"

Ezra couldn't say anything and just looked up at them. The cold night wind brushed past their bodies.