CHAPTER 253: OUTSIDE THE GATES

Clyde sat in his car in a daze, Dean’s message replayed in his mind like a broken tape. Micah was unwanted in the Ramsy family. All these glamorous banquets, guests, speeches and cake were a charade.

Clyde’s breath came slower. He stared through the windshield, but his eyes didn’t focus.

He wanted to get out. Barge into that banquet. Take Micah’s hand in front of everyone. Pull him into a hug. Tell the whole Ramsy clan that they were idiots for not seeing what they had.

Micah has me, he wanted to say.

The Du Pont patriarch stands with him. Anyone who dares to look down on him can answer to me.

But he stayed still. He knew Micah wouldn’t want that.

His heart ached.

He knew too well the pain of being unwanted. When he was a kid, his father had punished him several times, looked at him as if he were another person... blamed him all the time for being the reason he had lost his loved ones.

Even though he had his brother, sisters, nephews, and nieces now, it still hurt to remember that.

So what about Micah?

He had no one.

The whole family didn’t want him. How did he feel? How much did that hurt?

Clyde placed his forehead against the steering wheel. His hands trembled slightly where they gripped it. He swallowed the lump in his throat. His eyes stung. He shut them tight, trying to lessen the pain.

He had to control his impulses. He shouldn’t act rashly. That wouldn’t help.

Fine. If they didn’t want Micah, it was their loss...

Micah was his.

Clyde leaned back against the leather seat and stared up at the ceiling of the car, eyes clouded.

He would bring Micah over to his side. Slowly, steadily. Give him anything he wanted. Shower him with so much love and affection that he would never feel cold again. That he never had to question whether he belonged.

He would be Micah’s family. Not out of pity. Not out of responsibility. But because he wanted to. With his whole heart.

Clyde took a deep breath and looked up. A flicker of movement caught his eye. There, near the entrance, stood a boy. Dark hair. Slim build. Slightly hesitant posture.

Clyde recognised him instantly. It was that dark-haired boy he had seen at La Riviere. The one Micah wanted to help.

So he had been invited...

But Clyde hadn’t.

Something tugged at his chest. But oddly, it didn’t twist the way jealousy usually did.

Maybe what those idiots had said was right.

Micah hadn’t invited him because he cared. Because he didn’t want Clyde to hear the cold truths Dean and others had picked up on tonight.

He didn’t want Clyde to see how hollow his place in that family was.

Clyde closed his eyes. Even if he was just deceiving himself, if it was a lie he was telling himself, he didn’t care. He would stay by Micah’s side either way.

****

Time passed.

Clyde sat in the driver’s seat of his parked car, phone clutched loosely in one hand, thumb absently tracing the screen. His jaw was tight, eyes fixed on the empty road ahead, but his thoughts were on something else.

Micah hadn’t replied. Not a single word.

The message he sent hours ago still sat unread. Clyde had checked several times, hoping it had changed. But the same screen stared back at him.

His chest felt congested. He exhaled through his nose. He was worried about Micah. What if something happened to him? What if someone bullied him? Make him upset?

Clyde’s fingers hovered over Micah’s name. But instead, he tapped Dean’s number.

It only rang twice before Dean answered, voice curious but cautious. "Uncle?"

"No news? Did the banquet end?" Clyde asked. His tone was flat, devoid of pitch.

"No. But the birthday boy disappeared," Dean replied quickly. His voice dropped lower, filling with irritation. "I heard it is always like this. Some say the Ramsy family tell him to leave early, fearing he would embarrass them or something."

Clyde’s hand stilled on the steering wheel. He said nothing for a long time.

"I see," he murmured finally. "Keep listening. Let me know if they say anything else. What they gossip about."

"Oh... right," Dean said, hesitating a little. "Well, we didn’t hear anything about Asena... or see anyone who looked like her... sorry, uncle."

Clyde pressed his fingertips to his temple and rubbed lightly. "She won’t be there."

"Huh? Wait, what?" Dean asked, voice filled with confusion. Then, after a few seconds of thinking, he continued. "Got it. I guess you’d know better."

Clyde’s lips twitched. He could imagine exactly what Dean and Jacklin had been thinking. Asena was probably already labelled as his girlfriend in their heads. Some mysterious girl he kept hidden...

But the truth... the truth was ridiculous. Asena was Micah... and how could Micah attend the banquet as two people at once?

"I’m hanging up," Clyde said coldly. He didn’t wait for a reply before ending the call.

He lowered the phone and stared out at the faint outline of the estate, glowing faintly with distant golden lights. Somewhere behind those gates, a celebration was still happening. But Micah wasn’t among them.

Clyde’s throat tightened.

Where was he then?

Why hadn’t he answered?

He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but his gut told him something was wrong.

His fingers moved again, almost by instinct, opening Micah’s contact and hitting the call button.

It rang once. Twice. Three times.

No answer.

Clyde let the phone drop onto the centre console with a soft thud. He leaned back against the seat, running a hand through his hair, then resting his palm over his mouth.

He had no idea what to do. For once, the poised and calculated Du Pont patriarch felt lost.

He sat there in silence. In the dark. His eyes flickered to the dashboard.

More than two hours had passed since he arrived. Maybe he should just leave...