Not long after Mia Grant left, Kian Keller received a call. The men he had sent to Portia claimed they hadn't seen Silas Grant all day.
"He didn't go to the office today?"
"To be precise, Mr. Grant hasn't left the office since last night."
The subordinate explained they had personally seen Silas Grant enter the company building yesterday. The lights in the top-floor CEO's office had been on all night, and Silas Grant had never left.
They assumed Silas Grant was working overtime and had slept at the office.
But the entire morning passed... and they still hadn't seen him.
They bribed a member of the cleaning staff to find out what was going on.
The cleaner reported that Silas Grant's office door was shut tight, and they couldn't get in at all. His secretary said he was resting and that no one was to go near the office.
It was all too strange. To be on the safe side, they felt it was imperative to inform Kian Keller.
"Mr. Keller, should we send more people..."
"No need." Kian Keller's gaze swept past Serena Grant, who was in his way, and settled on the direction Mia Grant had gone.
"Then we..."
The man's dark eyes instantly grew cold. "Return to Jynsia," he commanded in a low voice.
His subordinate didn't understand.
"He's no longer in Portia." Kian Keller ended the call.
'Silas Grant, that old fox.'
Mia Grant had been gone to the restroom for a while, but he wasn't worried she'd run. He had men surrounding the entire perimeter.
But he hadn't expected Silas Grant to actually be here.
He had suspected Silas Grant wouldn't just sit back, so he had placed eyes in both Portia and Jynsia.
Portia was Silas Grant's turf. It wouldn't have been hard for him to slip away unnoticed.
'But how did he manage to slip into Jynsia undetected?'
The Keller Group's business portfolio was extensive; Jynsia Air, one of the nation's four major airlines, was under its umbrella.
Therefore, if Silas Grant had booked a flight, regardless of the destination, it wouldn't have escaped his notice.
'Unless…'
Kian Keller subconsciously went to finger the beads on his wrist, but his fingertips met empty air.
He glanced down at his bare wrist.
The blood-stained Buddha Beads had been cleaned and returned to him.
But before they arrived, Mia had gotten playful in the car. "Kian, I always see you wearing this. Is there some kind of curse on it? Will taking it off bring you misfortune?"
"No."
Outwardly, everyone assumed he was in poor health and wore the blessed beads for protection.
In reality, it was to suppress his violent urges.
"Can I touch them?"
And that's how they ended up in her hands.
The Sanskrit characters carved into the Agarwood Buddha Beads felt uneven to the touch, showing the marks of time. Every word, every phrase, was a reminder to its owner—
To master the self and act with discipline. To remain vigilant even when alone.
To suppress his violent nature, to restrain his desires.
In the car, he had grabbed Mia's hand. With his other hand, he took the beads, still warm from his own body, and wrapped them strand by strand around her slender, pale wrist.
The divine Buddha Beads that usually shackled his dark thoughts, in that moment, looked like many other things in his eyes.
Like a venomous serpent named Desire, coiling slowly up her arm, its forked tongue dripping venom as it suggestively flickered over the alluring pulse of her veins.
Or the strings of a marionette. The shackles that would bind her for the rest of her life.
Mia felt it tickle and shrank back. He yanked her forward again, using the final loop to bind her fast, tethering her to his side.
And on his wrist, the imprints of the Sanskrit characters remained.
A single strand of beads, connecting two people.
And she wasn't the only one who was trapped.
"Ethan."
Kian Keller took a small step, but a dark figure suddenly flashed before him, blocking his path.
Serena Grant finally waited for him to finish his call before sidling up to him. "Ethan, I have some great news! I'm staying in Jynsia, and I've enrolled at Jynsia U, your alma mater!"
"Once the semester starts next week, I'll be your junior."
"You must know Jynsia U really well, right?"
"You know, my big brother is incredibly busy lately and has no time at all, and my second brother is away on a business trip. So... I was wondering if you might have some time next week to show me around…?"
"Silas Grant doesn't have time?"
Serena Grant looked up and, for the first time, saw a mocking expression on his face.
Kian Keller said, "From where I'm standing, he seems to have plenty of free time."
"My brother…"
"Get out of my way."
Serena Grant flinched. Before her brain could even process it, her body had already moved to clear a path.
—
Seeing Silas Grant, Mia was so overjoyed she completely forgot about the ticking time bomb waiting outside.
Silas Grant lifted her chin, parting her lips for a kiss.
Mia froze, feeling that something was off.
The next instant, the hand she had on Silas's back brushed against something hard and unyielding.
She stiffened, her gaze snapping to the string of Buddha Beads on her own hand.
'Kian Keller!'
'Whoops, I almost forgot about him.'
'I've been gone for so long. He hasn't gone berserk again, has he?!'
'What if he can't find me and decides to trash my funeral?!'
'Even though I'm not really dead, the thought of my own funeral getting trashed is suffocating.'
'It's a good thing I'm not actually dead, otherwise I'd be turning in my grave so hard my coffin lid would pop right off.'
Silas Grant lowered his head to kiss her, but before his lips could touch hers, she pushed him away.
Like a nimble fish in water, Mia easily slipped out of his embrace.
"No, no, Big Brother! This isn't right! Look, just listen to me first…"
'I see him as my big brother! This is a life-or-death situation, what's with all the kissing?'
'Don't we have important things to discuss?!'
'Kissing Silas Grant with wild abandon at my own funeral... *Hiss.* That sounds even more thrilling than dancing on my own grave.'
'It has the feel of a twisted suicide pact, a kind of reckless abandon that says, "My life is worthless, so if you die, I'll die with you."'
'But I'm perfectly alive and well, so why would I be looking for a death wish?!'
'Didn't I fake my death precisely so I could *live*???'
Before she could finish, the ajar door behind them was thrown open.
Or rather, kicked open.
The door slammed hard against the wall, then shuddered and bounced back partway.
Mia screamed and covered her head in fright. Silas pulled her behind him. "It's okay. Don't be afraid."
She peeked out from behind him and saw a large crater in the wall where the doorknob had hit. Plaster dust, like fine white frost, rained down onto the floor.
'Who in the world has such terrible manners…'
When she got a clear look at the figure in the doorway, Mia's hand, which was gripping the hem of Silas's shirt, tightened abruptly, her pupils constricting.
"Well, if it isn't Ethan," Silas said, in stark contrast. He adjusted his glasses, a calm, confident smile still on his face. "I thought it was some handicapped person, unable to use their hands and forced to open the door with their feet."
"You've had a lot of free time lately?" the newcomer asked, strolling into the room.
"How could I? With the Portia project, you caused me so much trouble that I nearly had to spend the night at the police station."
"But in the end… it was all worth it."
Mia had only heard Silas say that Kian Keller had pulled some strings to pin him down, but he hadn't gone into detail.
'I didn't realize it was that serious!'
She looked up and noticed for the first time the dark circles under Silas's eyes.
"Big Brother, you… how long has it been since you slept?"
Silas took a slow breath, feigning deep thought. "Let me see now…"
"Driving nonstop from Portia to Jynsia… a conservative estimate would be about thirty hours."
"You drove all the way back?!" Mia's voice shot up. "Are… are you insane?! You don't care about your own life at all!"
Silas smiled, pinching her cheek. "It's nothing. Just a day and a night."
With that, he turned to face Kian Keller. "It was worth it… to come bring our Mia home."