novelraw Chapter 125 - 123: He Bit This?
Chapter 125 - 123: He Bit This?
"W-What’s wrong?" He stood frozen in the doorway. Mia Grant had no idea what was going on, but his quiet gaze made her heart pound.
At the sound of her voice, Kian Keller also stopped. He glanced first at Mia Grant, then back at the others.
Behind the desk, Silas Grant sat with his hands clasped on the tabletop. The smile on his lips held no genuine emotion, and anyone familiar with him could discern the true meaning behind it.
He watched everything unfold in silence, like the master pulling the strings of the entire game.
Yates Donovan raised an eyebrow, snapping out of it. He smiled and said, "It’s nothing. Your dress is nice."
"..." Mia Grant fell silent, looking down at her clothes.
This wasn’t the outfit she’d been wearing when she first walked in.
Of course, Kian Keller wouldn’t notice the difference. But Yates Donovan couldn’t pretend he didn’t.
Because he was the one who had personally picked out the dress she wore this morning. He had hand-delivered it to her bedside.
She hadn’t slept well last night. When she woke up, she was still groggy and had stumbled into the bathroom to shower, still in her pajamas.
A little later, she had asked him to leave her clothes by the bathroom door.
He’d deliberately ignored her request, insisting on handing them to her himself.
A layer of condensation coated the frosted glass of the bathroom door, just as it did the hand she extended through the opening.
Droplets of water trickled down her slender, pale arm.
She reached for the clothes in his hand, but he lifted them higher, pulling them just out of her grasp.
After a few rounds of this game, all traces of her grogginess had vanished. Exasperated, she had shouted his name from inside the bathroom.
She was standing right behind the door, her silhouette a hazy, indistinct shape against the glass.
She had nothing on but a single bath towel.
From her movements and tone, he could even picture the frustrated, embarrassed look on her face.
And now...
The white dress accentuated the delicate, rosy skin of her cheeks and neck.
She was like a delicate flower, waiting to be plucked.
Yates Donovan walked in with a smile.
’Someone else must have already seen this shy, flustered look on her.’
"What a shame."
His voice was pitched at a moderate volume as he dropped the cryptic comment, then sat down next to Mia Grant.
No one there, aside from Silas Grant, knew what he found so shameful.
Some things, it seemed, were best left unsaid.
After sitting down, Yates Donovan continued to stare at Mia Grant. "What are you standing for? Sit down."
Mia Grant sat down hesitantly and asked in a low voice, "Why did you come here with Kian Keller?"
’I thought you two were sworn enemies.’
Yates Donovan tilted his head with a smile. "I was worried you’d walked into the lion’s den and wouldn’t be able to get out."
"As for Keller..." His voice was just loud enough for everyone in the office to hear. "I’m scared to death, you know? Had to drag some poor bastard over to take a bullet for me."
"Besides, he’s half-dead anyway. Might as well put him to good use—he’ll die a worthy death."
"..."
’What the hell does he mean, "put him to good use"?’ Mia Grant pinched his thigh and warned in a low voice, "Stop spouting nonsense!"
She hadn’t forgotten how sensitive Kian Keller was about his injured leg. How could he stand to hear something like that?
’That was just like Yates... His words were as nasty as ever.’
He was about to laugh when his eyes suddenly caught the dip of her collar as she looked down.
His gaze froze.
There, on her fair skin, were several intersecting red marks, both eye-catching and searing.
Those weren’t mosquito bites, nor were they from an allergic reaction. Even a single... touch... couldn’t have possibly left marks like that.
’They must have been made by someone lingering there, again and again.’
The smile in his eyes silently fractured.
In an instant, the atmosphere around him grew so oppressive that even Mia Grant noticed.
She instinctively drew back, putting some distance between them.
But then she saw his lips curl into a smile, his charming eyes crinkling as he did, making him look completely harmless.
It was as if that fleeting moment had just been her imagination.
Before Mia Grant could speak, Yates Donovan stood up. "Are you all going to talk now? I’ll take her outside."
"There’s nothing she can’t hear," Kian Keller said, stopping him.
Yates Donovan grabbed Mia Grant’s wrist, pulling her up from the sofa.
He turned to the two old geezers over by the desk and said provocatively, "Are you sure that what you’re about to discuss is something she’s allowed to hear?"
"Don’t go corrupting a little kid, now."
Silas Grant shot him a deep look, then pressed the intercom button to summon Eric.
"Take them to the reception room next door."
"I..." Mia Grant was reluctant to go with Yates Donovan. She had a feeling something was off about him.
But she didn’t want to face all of them at once, either.
’Running away may be shameful, but at least it’s effective.’
"Let’s go." Yates Donovan gave her no chance to refuse, pulling her out of the room.
Eric led the two to the reception room door, but was immediately called away by a phone call from downstairs.
Just as Mia Grant was about to enter, a hand tightened around her wrist.
She turned to see Yates Donovan smiling.
"...What is it?"
Yates Donovan helpfully pointed. "There’s a security camera in there. We’d be better off waiting somewhere else."
"Are you trying to make a run for it?" Mia Grant sighed. "It won’t work. Eric has people watching all the exits. Besides, there’s no reason to run off now. My brother said he’d let you take me back to Jynsia later."
"Exactly. I just want to talk to you in a different spot, that’s all."
"What’s wrong with talking here?"
"I have a nasty way of speaking. He won’t be happy if he overhears, you know."
"..."
Mia Grant glanced at the camera, then asked where he wanted to go. The break room was right next door.
Without a word, Yates Donovan led her away.
’After all, they were in the Hughes Corp building. Mia Grant wasn’t too worried.’
The door to the stairwell was pushed open.
Simon Adler stopped talking mid-sentence and glanced up.
No one was coming down.
He couldn’t see who it was at all.
Hayes Hughes was the first to look away, intending to leave. But before he could say a word, a soft moan drifted down from above.
"..."
The expressions on both men’s faces changed instantly.
Simon Adler found it outrageous. The top floor was exclusively for Silas Grant’s inner circle. What employee would be so audacious? Slacking off during work hours was one thing, but to do... *that*... in the stairwell?
He had no tolerance for such behavior and started up the stairs to confront them.
An arm suddenly shot out, blocking his path. He glanced to the side and saw Hayes Hughes, his expression unreadable, whispering, "Why don’t you head down? We can talk some other time."
He spoke in a hushed tone, as if afraid of disturbing the two troublemakers upstairs.
Simon Adler sized him up and was about to speak, but Hayes Hughes silenced him with a single look. Choking back his words, Simon took a deep breath. Left with no other choice, he replied in the same hushed tone.
"It’s only been a few months, and you’ve grown so magnanimous, Second Young Master Hughes."
"I really don’t understand how you can be a Hughes."
"I can’t call you Hayes Hughes anymore. I should just call you Buddha. You’re far more saintly than that Keller fellow."
The words had barely left his mouth when a startled cry came from above. "Let go! Someone will see!"
"Who knows how you got these red marks on your neck."
"But one thing’s for sure—it wasn’t just from sucking."
"Look at these marks. Why are you trying to hide them? Don’t you know marks like these can be dangerous? You really just let him do it?"
"And here... is this a bite mark?"
"Tsk. That old geezer, Silas Grant... he really didn’t hold back."
He lowered his head.
Mia Grant pounded on his shoulder. "Don’t..."