Chapter 159

"Ezra...!"

A frail voice broke the silence. When Dane and Joshua turned their heads, they saw a gaunt woman exhausted from battling illness leaning against the open front door, looking at them.

"Sandra! What are you doing? I told you to go back to your room...!"

Flustered Ezra urgently shouted and hurriedly approached her. Sandra wasn't the only one there. A surprised-looking girl was hiding behind her legs, holding a teddy bear as big as herself. Looking between the two, Ezra didn't know what to do and continued speaking.

"It's nothing serious, go inside quickly. You need to sleep, hurry..."

"Ezra."

Though he urgently tried to send her back to her room, Sandra didn't listen.

"Why is Dane here? At this hour. And why are you crying?"

"No, no. I wasn't crying. Dane just, well, stopped by while passing. Right, Dane?"

He shouted urgently as if seeking agreement, but Dane didn't answer. At his colleague's reaction of just looking at him with a cold face, Ezra's face immediately contorted.

"Ezra."

Sandra called his name again.

"Tell me the truth, did you do something you shouldn't have? Because of my medical bills?"

"No! No, no..."

Ezra strongly denied it, but soon it weakly faded away. Heavy silence fell behind him as he covered his face with one hand. In the stillness where even breathing seemed inaudible, they just stood there blankly for a while.

"Honey."

To Ezra, who had begun sobbing with shaking shoulders, Sandra spoke in a low voice. She gently stroked her husband's arm and whispered.

"It's okay. Don't cry, it's okay."

When she gently embraced Ezra, he began crying out loud. Sandra patted his back as if comforting him. With a pained expression, she kissed Ezra's cheeks and head, then swallowed once as if barely pushing down something rising, and opened her mouth.

"Let's do what Dane wants."

Even after that, Ezra didn't move for a while. After a few more seconds of silence, he slowly pulled away.

"Those bastards might kill you and our children."

At his trembling voice, Sandra said.

"That's all the more reason we should tell the police and get protection. And..."

She added after a pause.

"If this happened because of me, then I have responsibility too. I have to pay the price."

Ezra immediately turned pale. But Sandra seemed already resolved and was firm. She soon turned her gaze to Dane and said.

"Protect the children, Dane. These kids are innocent."

At Sandra's plea, Joshua, who had been watching until then, opened his mouth.

"The Miller family will protect them, don't worry."

And he smiled at the child as if to reassure her. Despite being a stranger, the child quickly let down her guard and smiled back. Joshua still wore a neat smile as he shifted his gaze to the teddy bear the child was holding. Soon he narrowed his eyes and looked at it for a moment.

"We have no intention of harming your family."

Dane opened his mouth.

"Ezra will have to pay for what he did, but it would be better to speak quickly. The longer it takes and the greater the damage, the greater the price he'll have to pay."

"Ezra."

After hearing Dane's words, Sandra called her husband again.

"Do the right thing, honey."

Her smiling face was nevertheless full of worry and bitterness about him. In the end, Ezra had no choice but to nod.

* * *

While Ezra sent his child and wife back to their room and came back out, Dane and Joshua stood outside the house waiting for him. When Dane took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, then offered one to Joshua, he shook his head and refused.

"If he needed money, why didn't he sell that necklace? Is it some precious keepsake or something?"

When Joshua frowned and spoke, Dane, who had lit his cigarette, puffed out smoke once and asked.

"Necklace?"

"The necklace the teddy bear was wearing."

Joshua pointed toward the house with his finger and continued.

"I know that brand a little, I've seen that necklace before. It's probably worth about 400,000 dollars."

Though his tone was calm, Dane immediately burst into rough coughing. Coughing and shaking his shoulders, he belatedly looked back at Joshua and asked in a raised voice.

"How, how much?"

"400,000."

Joshua still nonchalantly repeated the same words. As if such things were routine for him. Dane blinked at him in amazement.

"You really succeeded... congratulations. Wow, I didn't see you that way..."

Toward his friend who was exclaiming with admiration, Joshua smiled slightly.

"Thanks, but it just happened that the person I fell in love with was rich. I didn't luckily catch a sucker."

Though his tone was calm, Dane clearly saw thin blood vessels rising at his temples. He smiled strangely and mischievously added.

"It's even better that your love is a sucker. I'm so envious."

At the hand patting his back as if sincere, Joshua frowned. Of course, he wasn't one to just endure it.

"I heard Greyson pours out tremendous amounts once he falls for someone, why didn't you try clinging to that bastard?"

When he asked sarcastically, Dane glanced at him sideways and chuckled. An awkward silence settled between them. Joshua was the first to speak.

"How should we call out those bastards?"

"Whew," Dane puffed out smoke again and spoke.

"Ezra will have to figure it out himself."

"True."

Joshua easily agreed.

"Since he lured out that Greyson, he'll think of something."

Joshua closed his mouth and then immediately frowned. Dane glanced at him and asked.

"What's wrong?"

Joshua paused and then opened his mouth.

"About what that bastard said earlier."

Dane silently waited for his words. Joshua continued.

"I understand everything else roughly. Well, it's a common story. How he lured out Greyson too... well, that's not difficult. Anyway, they worked at the same workplace, I understand it all, but..."

"But? Speak quickly."

Dane urged him as if frustrated. Joshua looked up at him with a frowning face and said.

"The one thing I don't understand is why Greyson obediently followed those bastards."

Dane stopped and looked at him. Joshua asked again.

"Why? Why did he so meekly follow those bastards? What did they threaten him with?"

The Greyson Miller that Joshua knew was absolutely not that kind of man. Dane agreed with that part. If there had been an attack and he was assaulted, he would use that as an excuse to half-kill his opponents and still have more to give. But why? How?

...Could it be.

A past memory suddenly came to Dane's mind.

'I thought you would have done that.'

These were words Greyson had said when he was misunderstood for beating up the homeowner at a fire scene. Why was he suddenly remembering that now?

No way, that can't be.

Dane immediately denied it, but nevertheless his heart kept becoming unsettled.

If that bastard did the same thing this time...

When he felt as if a bleak wind was stirring his heart, Ezra happened to open the front door and come outside. Dane looked at him while exhaling smoke long.

"We'll have to hear it directly from him."

At the low voice, Joshua also nodded.

"Yeah, that's the only way."

* * *

Ezra was pacing around the car anxiously. Dane and Joshua were hiding in the roadside grass, watching him.

"Will those bastards really come?"

At Joshua's question, Dane answered.

"If they don't come, we'll have to think of another method."

There was no other option now. The news that Greyson had gone missing had already been delivered to Ashley Miller, and a series of groups following his orders were already combing through all of California. There was only one reason they hadn't appeared before Ezra yet. Because Joshua had argued that it would be more efficient for him and Dane to move alone.

Actually, those words were right. They were highly trained soldiers, and this kind of operation against civilians was trivial in some sense. No matter how much the kidnappers had honed their skills, they couldn't compare to soldiers who had actually fought in combat.

But that was only until they found out the bastards' base. Once the situation was assessed, Joshua would immediately send information to the 'team.' After that, all they had to do was buy time until the team arrived.

"...They're here."

Dane whispered in a low voice. And as he said, a car approached from the distance, shining its headlights. After confirming it was the same type of car Ezra had mentioned, the two exchanged glances.