I Faked My Death—Now I Have to Tame the Crazy Men I Left Behind-Chapter 59 - 57: Held in His Mouth

Mia Grant frowned in annoyance and pushed him away.

Unlike the last two times, Yates Donovan didn’t budge an inch.

He pressed down, burying his face in the crook of her neck, his body as immovable as a mountain.

Yates Donovan chuckled by her ear, amused by her futile effort.

"How many times have I told you? We can talk, but don’t get so close!" Mia Grant took a deep breath and shoved him hard.

This time, he swayed, and his lips, still warm with his breath, brushed unexpectedly against her earlobe.

"..."

They both froze.

His slightly moist lips lingered by her ear, an intimate caress worthy of a lover.

Mia Grant appeared perfectly calm, but her ears betrayed her, burning hot.

Yates Donovan snapped out of it and watched as her ears visibly reddened.

He seemed a little surprised, raising an eyebrow.

He stared for a few seconds at the spot he’d just kissed, then turned his head to look at her face.

Mia Grant’s gaze was slightly vacant, her thoughts a mystery.

He stared at her. "I didn’t mean to do that."

"..." Mia Grant lowered her long lashes and met his gaze. "So, can you get up now?"

"Of course." Yates Donovan smiled, nodded, and slowly straightened up.

Mia Grant breathed a sigh of relief. ’Talking to him before always felt like trying to reason with a bull. Now, it seemed, the bull could finally understand.’

She’d only just let out half a breath when a sudden, wet sensation touched her ear.

Mia Grant shuddered, frozen in place.

She looked down in horror.

The man who had just been about to straighten up was still leaning over her, his face buried in her neck.

And now, he had taken her earlobe into his mouth, his tongue tracing it lightly.

Mia Grant trembled and placed her hands on his shoulders, trying to push him away.

Sensing her resistance, he began to nibble and bite at her earlobe. The sensation forced her body to go limp. The fingers she had placed on his shoulder tightened involuntarily, bunching the fabric of his suit jacket and wrinkling it.

It was like an electric shock. A strange sensation instantly swept through her.

In truth, Mia Grant’s ears were even more sensitive than her waist, a fact few people knew.

She raised her hand to slap him.

But she missed.

Just before her hand could connect, Yates Donovan released her, quickly straightening up and putting distance between them.

If Mia Grant had held back with her last slap, not intending to do real harm...

...then this time, as her hand swung down, he could feel the air stir from the force of it.

’Yeah, if that slap had landed squarely on my face, I wouldn’t be able to show myself in public for a week.’

Mia Grant’s slap met nothing but air.

Yates Donovan, grateful for his quick reflexes, couldn’t resist a taunt. "Try to be a little faster next time."

"...You said you didn’t mean to!" Mia Grant kicked him.

"Yeah." He didn’t dodge this time, simply smiling as he brushed the dusty footprint from his pants.

"I only said the *first* time wasn’t on purpose. I never said anything about this time."

’This time, it was completely intentional.’

’I’m not trying to get out of it, am I? Aren’t I bravely owning up to my mistake?’

’I got what I wanted today.’ Yates Donovan felt pleased in both body and soul. He stopped teasing her, his tone turning more serious. "My relationship with Kian Keller is exactly what you think it is."

"So, stay away from him."

"He’s not someone to be trifled with. He might look like he wants for nothing, but in reality, he’s the greediest of them all."

Yates Donovan leaned lazily against the wall and lit a cigarette.

Before he could even bring it to his lips, Mia Grant snatched it from his hand, threw it to the floor, and crushed it under her heel. "There’s a patient in here!"

"..." Yates Donovan ran his tongue over his teeth, his gaze sweeping over the sickly-looking guy on the bed with extreme annoyance. He frowned.

He didn’t have a single good feeling about Hayes Hughes.

Telling Hayes Hughes the truth about the attack on him abroad... that was purely an attempt to get someone else to do his dirty work.

He’d hoped Hayes Hughes would go after Kian Keller.

He thought he’d found a smart man, but it turned out the guy was an even bigger fucking idiot than Kian Keller.

Yates had practically shoved the evidence in his face, but the man didn’t do a single thing.

’A total sucker.’

’Who else would Kian Keller go after, if not a fool like that?’

’It almost made him want to stick a knife in the guy himself.’

Logically, he never should have saved Hayes Hughes today.

It was just as Mia Grant had said: he wasn’t that kind, nor did he have that much free time.

He saved Hayes Hughes for Mia Grant, of course.

But on closer inspection, there were really two reasons.

One, it was rare for Mia Grant to ask anything of him. She had suddenly reappeared after being gone for so long, and he wanted to see what was happening.

Second, he had a vague sense that to Mia Grant, Hayes Hughes was a kind of "white moonlight" figure.

While this white moonlight was alive, his power might not have been so great—no different from a stray grain of rice stuck to your clothes.

At most, she might miss him from time to time.

But if the white moonlight were to die...

...the destructive power of that memory would be unstoppable.

So if anything happened to Hayes Hughes, he would live in Mia Grant’s heart forever.

Irreplaceable.

’How could I let that happen?’

’How could he possibly allow that? He wasn’t a moron like Kian Keller.’

’What good would killing Hayes Hughes do him?’

Tch.

’It would be far more satisfying to kill Kian Keller first.’

He flipped the pack of cigarettes in his hand and casually tossed it into the trash.

Yates Donovan’s expression turned serious. "I’m being serious with you, so listen. Anyone who hangs out with Silas Grant can’t be any good, can they?"

At his words, Mia Grant’s gaze drifted over him.

She suddenly smiled and nodded. "I agree with that. You finally said something that makes sense."

Yates Donovan paused for a moment, then laughed along with her. "I never claimed to be a good person."

"I’m not like those two, putting on a respectable act and wrapping you around their little finger."

"Search your heart. Among the three of us, who are you most comfortable with when you’re alone together?"

"It’s me, isn’t it?"

"..."

Without a moment’s hesitation, a figure surfaced in Mia Grant’s mind.

Without a doubt, it was Yates Donovan.

’Why him?’ The reason seemed simple enough.

’He had no "corruption value" to worry about.’

She could be with him without any reservations, without any pretense. She could just be herself, without worrying about whether he’d like it or get angry.

And yes, he was crazy. His madness sometimes left her completely flustered.

But at the same time, his craziness was always right there on the surface.

Just as he’d said himself, he never claimed to be a good person. He didn’t slap any noble labels on himself.

To outsiders, he was just a rich heir, a playboy whose interests lay not in the family corporation but in endless partying and living a carefree life.

He was definitely not a good man, but he never pretended to be one.

His badness was pure and simple.

Unlike Kian Keller and Silas Grant, whose exteriors were deceptive.

If Yates Donovan were just a little more normal, she felt they could have been great friends.

It was like that one winter morning, during the first snow. She was lying in the snow in the Grant Family’s backyard, staring blankly up at the sky.

Suddenly, someone lay down beside her.

He’d said to her, "The snow really is more beautiful from this angle."

He’d propped his head on his arm, turned to her, and his eyes had crinkled into a smile. "Happy winter, fiancée."